On 22 March 2019, a round table conference on Church, Power, People: New Challenges to Brotherly Peoples and to Global World took place at the President Hotel in Moscow. The meeting was organized under the auspices of the Civic Chamber of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. The conference brought together various scholars, writers and cultural figures from both countries. Taking part in the meeting were also representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church: Archpriest Sergy Zvonarev, secretary for far abroad countries of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Archpriest Feodor Povny, rector of the Church of All Saints in Minsk; Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, rector of the Church of St Theodore the Studite in Moscow; and Priest Roman Bogdasarov, staff member of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces.

The participants in the meeting emphasized the necessity to strengthen multifaceted ties between the brotherly peoples of Russia and Belarus, especially in the face of external threats, and noted an important role of spiritual heritage and culture based on the traditions of Orthodoxy. Concrete projects and propositions were put forward, aimed at consolidating the two nations. (© 1997—2019 The Russian Orthodox Church. Department for External Church Relations, www.mospat.ru, 22. März 2019)