News

Attempt to change Serbian history in the UNESCO

Serbia prevented, after the diplomatic war in the UNESCO Committee for the Protection of World Cultural Heritage an attempt to rename the monasteries of the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Kosovo and Metohija from the Serbian heritage as "Kosovo's heritage", Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Vuk Jeremic said today in Becici.
 
"The sanctities of the SOC are not and cannot be the cultural monuments of Kosovo" Jeremic stressed.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill takes part in the opening ceremony of Slavonic Unity Festival

On 25 June 2011, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia arrived in Bryansk and proceeded to the juncture of borders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to take part in the opening ceremony of the “Slavonic Unity-2011” International Festival.

One Christian in the world dies for faith every five minutes - statistics

The Russian Orthodox Church urged well-developed countries to set up an effective system of protecting Christians, in particular using financial factors.

"The European Parliament in its Resolution of January 20 mentions the necessity to set up a specific mechanism of influencing the countries where Christians are persecuted. I think this mechanism can be reduced to a brief formula: economic and other aid should be granted in return for guaranteed security for religious minorities," head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion said at a Friday briefing in Moscow.

Greece's centenarian flag-raiser dies

For nearly half a century, she raised a Greek flag every day at the border with Turkey - a simple act that elevated her to national status.

A funeral service was held Monday for 107-year-old Vasiliki Lambidou in the village of Marasia, located in the country's remote northeast. She died on Sunday.

European Council of Religious Leaders to meet in Moscow for the first time

The European Council of Religious Leaders will hold its annual meeting from June 21-23 in Moscow for the first time. As was proposed by the Russian Orthodox Church, the ECRL will consider Human Rights and Traditional Values in Europe.

The ECRL is one of the four regional interreligious councils under the World Conference of Religions for Peace. It unites authoritative religious leaders in Europe including Christians, Jews and Muslims and provides for the participation of other traditional religions represented in the continent. Founded in Oslo in 2002, it consists of 45 members.

International Conference on “Christian Charity in History, Historiography and Contemporary Culture” opens in Moscow

The International scholarly conference on "Christian Charity in History, Historiography and Contemporary Culture" opened at the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow on 16 June 2011. The conference is sponsored by the Institute of World History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Pontifical Committee for Historical Sciences, and the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazma, representing the Russian Orthodox Church with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, conveyed greeting from the Patriarch to the participants.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, sent greeting to the organizers and participants of the conference. Bishop Ivan Jurkovich, Apostolic Nuncio in the Russian Federation, read out greetings from the State Secretary of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcizio Bertone.