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| 1 |
ID:
088143
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| Publication |
2009.
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| Summary/Abstract |
THE INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITY of the Russian Orthodox Church today has four main areas of development. The first priority is to preserve the unity of the Church and ensure the spiritual life of the extensive church diaspora living outside the canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). The second priority is to develop fraternal relations with all local Orthodox churches. The third priority is of a religious-public nature, and it is to maintain dialogue with other Christian confessions and organizations, as well as with representatives of Islam, Judaism, and Buddhism on matters relating to the preservation of moral values in the modern world. Finally, the fourth priority could be defined as the ROC's cooperation with the foreign policy agencies of various states, as well as with international public and interstate organizations in the interest of preserving peace and the fundamental values of public life.
Presently, the ROC is the largest local church in the Orthodox world. Orthodoxy is not an ethnic religion of Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans or other peoples. It is global Christianity committed to preserving apostolic faith. It is open to the individual of any ethnic background. The church is a living and tangible embodiment of this principle, since it comprises representatives of numerous nationalities. The ethnic diversity of the Russian Orthodox Church is a source of its vitality and its weal.
One important goal of the Moscow Patriarchy is to preserve and uphold church unity, which is currently being confronted with some challenges. The unity of the church, bequeathed by the apostles, is a great value and should be appreciated as such not only by the bishops but also by each cleric and lay person. Church unity is the treasure that our predecessors preserved despite the ordeals that they had had to go through. This gift, augmented over centuries, cannot be dissipated overnight for the sake of time serving political considerations. Unfortunately, presently, there are ongoing attempts to destroy the sacred space of Holy Rus', created by St. Prince Vladimir, and spread discord and disharmony between millions of Orthodox Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Moldovans, and representatives of other ethnic groups comprising the multiethnic flock of the Russian Orthodox Church
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