English and Greek-language versions of the official website of the Russian Orthodox Church have officially opened. Materials in English and Greek are available at http://www.patriarchia.ru/en/ and http://www.patriarchia.ru/gr/. The opening of these new versions is intended to expand the audience of the Moscow Patriarchate’s official site and to facilitate access to certain important materials from the site for Orthodox believers abroad, media representatives, and those interested in receiving...

On August 9, 2017, a round-table monastic forum finished its second and final day with four presentations on the theme: “The inner life of a city monastery”, reports Patriarchia.ru. The forum was held in the Novodevichy Convent, St. Petersburg. Participating in the forum where 5 bishops, 42 archimandrites and igumens, 45 abbesses, hieromonks, monks, and ryassaphore monks—160 monastics in total from 65 dioceses of the Russian Orthodox Church. This included Russia, Ukraine, Belorussia, Kazakhst...

His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, supports the recent statements from President Vladimir Putin in favor of the traditional understanding of the family as the union of a man and a woman. “As for ‘parent # 1’ and ‘parent # 2, I have already said publicly once before, and I will repeat again: as long as I am President, we will not have parents one and two—we will have a father and mother,” the Presid...

A joint conference of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Evangelical Church in Germany on Martyrs, Martyrdom, Christian Witness opened at the grand hall of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR). The Russian Orthodox Church is represented by Metropolitan Hilarion, DECR chairman – head of the delegation, Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman, Archpriest Kirill Kaleda, rector of the church of the Russian Church’s Martyrs and Confessors at Butovo and member of the sy...

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, secreta...

On May 12, 2018, in keeping with a decision of the commission on theology and theological education of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Inter-Council Presence, a theological conference was held on Theological Understanding of the Phenomenon of Extremism and Terrorism, at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy.The aim of the conference was to involve ecclesial and secular experts in defining the notions of extremism, radicalism and terrorism from theological perspective and to consider possible w...

On 13 February 2019, an annual session of the Joint Working Group for Cultural Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church took place at the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Representing the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman; Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov, chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture; Hieromonk Pavel (Scherbachev), vice-chairman of the Patriarchal...

Am 13. September ist in Moskau feierlich ein Projekt zur digitalen Erfassung von beschädigten und zerstörten Kirchen und Klöstern lanciert worden. Es geht auf einen entsprechenden Entscheid des Obersten Kirchenrats der Russischen Orthodoxen Kirche (ROK) vom 17. April 2019 zurück und wird vom Kulturministerium unterstützt. Die Initiative zum Projekt kam vom Lehrstuhl für Kirchliche Architektur des Moskauer Architekturinstituts.

According to a decision from the latest session of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, memorial services will be held annually for all Orthodox Christians who suffered at the hands of the godless Soviet authorities. The Synod met for two days on September 23-24 in Moscow under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. The hierarchs resolved to establish October 30 as a special day of commemoration for all those who were innocently killed or imprisoned in the persecutions o...

Obwohl bisher nur ein Trailer veröffentlicht worden ist, sorgt der Film „Matilda“ des russischen Regisseurs Aleksej Utschitel´ für Aufregung und Proteste in orthodoxen Kreisen in Russland. Im Film geht es um den russischen Thronfolger Nikolaj und dessen Affäre mit der Primaballerina Matilda Kschesinskaja. Der spätere Zar Nikolaj II. wurde mit seiner Familie 1918 von den Bolschewiken erschossen und im Jahr 2000 von der Russischen Orthodoxen Kirche als Leidendulder heiliggesprochen.

In Vladimir hat die Russische Orthodoxe Kirche (ROK) einen Antrag auf die Rückgabe des Goldenen Tors – ein UNESCO-Weltkulturerbe aus dem 12. Jahrhundert – gestellt. Das mittelalterliche Stadttor befindet sich heute im Besitz des Kulturministeriums und beherbergt eine Ausstellung über die Eroberung der Stadt durch die Mongolen 1238. Das Tor gehört zur berühmten Touristenroute des „Goldenen Rings“, zu dem neben Vladimir die altrussischen Städte Jaroslavl‘, Suzdal‘, Kostroma und Rostov zählen.

Die Russische Orthodoxe Kirche (ROK) bemüht sich um die Übergabe des historischen Andronikov-Klosters in Moskau, in dem sich heute das Museum für altrussische Kultur und Kunst befindet. Patriarch Kirill hat sich mit einer entsprechenden Bitte an Rosimuschestvo, die föderale Behörde für die Verwaltung staatlichen Eigentums, gewandt. Die Leitung des Museums, das nach dem berühmten Ikonenmaler Andrej Rubljov benannt ist, ist informiert und steht nach eigenen Angaben in einem ständigen Dialog mit...

On January 5, the funeral of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI of Rome who died on December 31, 2022, took place in Rome. With a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the funeral events were attended by the Chairmen of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk. The DECR Chairman was accompanied by I. A. Nikolayev, a staff member of the DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations. In the evening of Jan...

The Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations produces a news programme on YouTube called The Orthodox View. The Orthodox View is released twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays in five languages: English, Russian, Serbian, Arabic and Greek. The show focuses on the latest and most important events which will be of interest to each Christian. The name of the English channel is called: MOSPAT EN. Such format is completely new for the Russian Orthodox Church. The aim of the ...

On 28 August 2017, the opening ceremony of the 3rd International Christian Forum took part in the Hall of Church Councils of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. The meeting was organized by the “Christian World” Association for Upholding Traditional Spiritual Values. The central topic of the meeting was the problem of persecutions of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa. Taking part in the forum were delegates from Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Egypt, Lebanon, Pales...

Während der Proteste in Moskau haben Demonstranten in einer Kirche Zuflucht vor der Polizei gefunden. Rund 100 Protestierende versteckten sich am 27. Juli in der zentral gelegenen Kosmas-und-Damian-Kirche vor den mit Gewalt gegen die Demonstration vorgehenden Sicherheitskräften. Die Geistlichen ließen die meist jungen Leute herein und beteten mit ihnen für den Frieden. Der Vorfall erregte die Aufmerksamkeit der russischen Medien, weil die Russische Orthodoxe Kirche Protesten meist ablehnend g...

Neben der Christus-Erlöser-Kathedrale in Moskau sollen bis Ende 2019 Denkmäler aller Patriarchen der Russischen Orthodoxen Kirche (ROK) errichtet werden, darunter auch des aktuellen Patriarchen Kirill. Die ersten drei Monumente wurden bereits am 25. November 2017 anlässlich des Jubiläums der Wiedererrichtung des Patriarchenamts am 4. Dezember 1917 aufgestellt. Die ca. zwei Meter hohen Bronzestatuen stellen den ersten russischen Patriarchen Iov, Hermogenus sowie Tichon, der 1917 zum ersten rus...

Zum ersten Mal seit vielen Jahren waren zwei Sitzungen hintereinander geplant: vom 27.-28. Februar 2018 tagte das Generalkonsistorium der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche (ELK) Russlands, vom 1.-2. März der Bischofsrat des Bundes der Evangelisch-Lutherischen Kirche in Russland, der Ukraine, in Kasachstan und Mittelasien (ELKRAS). Das gab den Teilnehmern der Sitzungen die Möglichkeit, einander zu sehen, einen gemeinsamen Gottesdienst und eine Morgenandacht zu halten und Informationen auszutausc...

The Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Syriac Orthodox Church held its first session in Cherepovets, Vologda region. The agreement to establish this commission had been reached by His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East and Supreme Head of the Universal Syriac Orthodox Church, during the visit made by the Primate of the Syriac Orthodox Church to Russia from...

The working group for dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and Turkey’s Presidency for Religious Affairs met at the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR). It was set up as provided by an agreement reached at the meeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and the Presidency head Prof. Dr. Mehmet Görmez, which took place on November 30, 2011, in Moscow. The talk, which was held in a frank and friendly atmosphere, was chaired by the c...