10th Round of Interfaith Dialogue Opens in Moscow

The 10th round of Islam and Christianity Interfaith Dialogue opened September 26 in Moscow’s Orthodox Church.

Head of Islamic Culture and Relations Organization (ICRO) has said interactions with over 30 churches is a quite achievement for the interfaith dialogue.

Abouzar Ebrahimi Torkman heads a religious mission to Moscow to participate in a meeting with head of Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, where a session was held on Tuesday. Patriarch Kirill of Moscow said that 10 past sessions had brought great achievements for the dialogue; “we believed such dialogues should regularly continue to foster religious understanding; interfaith dialogue was in its formative years just after the collapse of former Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 and since then there has been a shift toward interaction with Islam from exclusively western-oriented dialogue,” he told the meeting.

Patriarch Kirill said that the dialogue would improve both Abrahamic religions. A second speaker was Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Taskhiri, Adviser to Leader on Islamic World Affairs, who hailed the decision on biannual holding of the interfaith dialogue; “efforts of the Patriarch Kirill to inculcate in the young cohort religious mentality and to organize religious matters across Russian Federation are laudable and appreciated,” he added.

“Not only have the religious community but also the laity welcomed interfaith dialogue of Islam and Christianity,” Taskhiri briefly said. Ebrahimi Torkman welcomed initiatives of Russian Orthodox Church to promote the dialogue; “the interaction is critical to the mutual understanding of both faiths,” he told the patriarch, expressing gratitude to cooperation with ICRO’s Center for Interfaith Dialogue; “now over 30 churches have joined the initiative, and a joint workgroup will be established to address implementation of the results of 10 past sessions,” he said.

The 10th round of Islam and Christianity Interfaith Dialogue opened September 26 in Moscow’s Orthodox Church. The round seeks to improve contacts and communications of religions to help solve grander human issues. Russian Orthodox Church is also head of some Orthodox churches in Belarus, Ukraine, and others in Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

source:mehrnew