Agreement on cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Academy of State Service is signed

On 29 December 2009, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia visited the Russian Academy of State Service under the President of the Russian Federation (RASS), where he, together with the rector V. Yegorov, signed an agreement on cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the RASS.

The agreement would serve to "the strengthening of spiritual and moral principles in Russian society..., and cooperation both in studies of the development of relations between the Church and the state and education."

The agreement says that cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the RASS is aimed at the promotion of effective relations between the Church and the state; professional training of civil servants, clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church, instructors for the theological educational institutions of the Church and theological departments of secular institutions of higher education; and implementation of the educational and research programmes. The document stipulates that complementary agreements could be signed for implementation of concrete lines of common work.

The Ss Cyril and Methodius general church post-graduate and doctoral courses is the main partner of the RASS.

Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Academy of State Service will include round table conferences and conferences of experts who will discuss the matters of mutual interest, as well as the research, methodical and educational programmes.

In compliance with the Agreement, the Moscow Patriarchate will render expert assistance to the RASS in the realization of projects in the sphere of Church-State relations and supply instructors for special study courses. The RASS will hold study courses in the church educational institutions, render consulting assistance for state accreditation of the church educational institutions, provide venue for meetings, and coordinate cooperation between federal agencies of state service and diocesan institutions of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Source: www.mospat.ru