The Russian Orthodox Church and Sweden:
MOSCOW – The Russian Orthodox Church, one of the world’s largest Christian bodies, has severed relations with the Church of Sweden over the latter’s recognition of same-sex unions. The Russians previously broke with the U.S. Episcopal Church for consecrating an openly gay bishop.
Metropolitan Kirill, who heads the church external relations department, said the Russian synod expressed “categorical condemnation” of the Swedish action.
The Russian Orthodox Church and Iran:
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Iranian parliamentary speaker met in Moscow Monday to discuss interfaith dialogue.
Patriarch Alexy II and Islamic Consultative Assembly Chair Gholam-Ali Haddad-adel praised the work of the joint Russian-Iranian commission for Islamic-Orthodox dialogue. Alexy II said it was “an exemplar of mutually beneficial cooperation” proving that “together, we can counter attempts to impose secular values all over.”
“I believe Orthodox Christians and Muslims are united in their desire to prevent the construction of a unipolar world order, which would enable the imposition of certain political and cultural patterns across the globe,” the Russian patriarch said.
Details of Iran’s antigay pogrom are available at Direland (contains image of a sexually-explicit painting).
(First link tipped from Christianity Today)
Filed under: Uncategorized
[…] Iranian Islamists to “counter attempts to impose secular values all over” (see my entry here). The ban on the parade has also been praised by acting mayor of Jerusalem Yigal Amedi (as I […]
[…] to mean “no homosexuals” and “no secularism”. In fact (as I noted back in January), these are pretty much the bases for Russian-Iranian interreligious dialogue. Suspicion is […]
[…] the Russian-Sweden split here. Back to the Bishop: …In this situation it is necessary to consolidate the efforts of all […]