Moscow hosted a meeting of the Interreligious Council of Russia

March 27, 2018 in Moscow in the building of the All-Church postgraduate and doctorate of St. Cyril and Methodius Equal-to-the-Apostles regular meeting of the Interreligious Council of Russia . The meeting was attended by members of the Presidium of the IGC: Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk , Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Mufti Kamil Samigullin, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan, Chief Rabbi of Russia (CEROOR) A.S. Shaevich, Executive Secretary of the ITS, Secretary of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate for Interreligious Relations, priest Dimitry Safonov . The meeting was also attended by representatives of religious organizations that are members of the IGC: the chairman of the Spiritual Board of Muslims of Bashkortostan, mufti Muhammad Tajuddinov (TsDUM), Plenipotentiary Representative of KCMC in Moscow Sh.A. Pshikhachev, rector of the Russian Islamic University of the Central Spiritual Directorate of Muslims of Russia, A.R. Suleymanov. From the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Theophanes of Kazan and Tatarstan , Archbishop Theophylact of Pyatigorsk and Circassian , Metropolitan of Kazan and Tatarstan , were invited to the meeting, VR Rinokhin , Chairman of the Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with Society and the Media . Legoyda , Head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate Abbess Ksenia (Chernega) , Vice-Rector for Research at the All-Church Post-Graduate and Doctoral Studies, Academic Secretary of the Expert Council on Theology of the Higher Attestation Commission, member of the Expert Group on Theology under the MSR. Shmonin, Head of the Department for Work with Government Structures of the Synodal Department for the Relations of the Church with the Society and the Media P.V. Lebedev, head of the theology department of the Moscow State Linguistic University, archpriest Lev Semenov. From the side of state and public organizations were invited: the head of the Department for Relations with Religious Organizations of the Department of National Policy, Interregional Relations and Tourism of Moscow, K.L. Blazhenov, as well as his deputy AA. Ignatenko, rector of Moscow State Linguistic University Kraev, the executive secretary of the Council for Interaction with Religious Associations under the President of Russia, S.A. Melnikov, Senior Inspector for Special Assignments of the Main Directorate of Private Security of Rosgvardia MV Mukhin. From the side of the IGC's Board of Trustees, the meeting was attended by the president of RATM Holding, co-chairman of the MCP's Board of Trustees E.A. Taran and secretary of the ISS Board of Trustees O.V. Dishes. Before the beginning of the meeting, the participants paid a minute of silence to the memory of the victims of the fire in the Kemerovo shopping center. The meeting began with the discussion of the establishment of regional branches (branches) of the ITS in Tatarstan and the North Caucasus, the main purpose of which is to counter extremism and terrorism, as well as to intensify interreligious interaction. Metropolitan Hilarion recalled the recent terrorist act in Dagestan's Kizlyar and the statement of the MCP on this matter, stating: "I would like today to reiterate that everyone who encroaches on the lives of people, regardless of their religion, is a servant of Satan, even if in the performance of their satanic deeds, the holy name of God is shouted out. The attacker, as it later became known, swore allegiance to IGIL. We do not know how many "sleeping" cells of this satanic organization or such degenerates, capable of the most heinous crime, can be in our country. They can arise anywhere, anytime, in a church, mosque or synagogue. Therefore, today, as never before, the collective responsibility of our communities has increased. We are called to remain vigilant and to help each other in protecting our flock from terrorism. " The DECR chairman stressed: "In the conditions of increased terrorist threat, coordination of efforts of religious communities is very important. This is especially true in regions where there is an increased threat of return of extremists. It is necessary to eradicate extremism at all levels on which it exists, as well as proactive prevention of this phenomenon. If someone in a particular religious community learns about a person who is infected with a terrorist ideology, they should immediately report this to the appropriate authorities. Special services should follow such a person, he should be constantly monitored by law enforcement agencies. We must learn to identify and render harmless Satanists before they commit their atrocities. " As Metropolitan Hilarion further noted, "To prevent terrorism requires a full religious education - from primary school classes to graduate school. We must finally provide our citizens with a level of literacy in religious matters that will make it impossible for the terrorist ideology to take a fancy under any kind of religious mask. Every citizen of our country of any age should know what traditional religions teach and understand that the ideology of terrorism is contrary to the fundamental foundations of any religion. To build a full-fledged system of religious education is our common goal. " During the consideration of the establishment of regional offices of the Interreligious Council of Russia in Tatarstan and the North Caucasus, Metropolitan Hilarion recalled that the MCP had experience in establishing branches on the ground in the first half of the 2000s. Metropolitan Theophanes of Kazan and Tatarstan, who had served in the Caucasus for many years, pointed to the importance of interreligious interaction in the conditions of terrorist danger and cited the example of Beslan as an example. He actively supported the initiative to establish a branch of the ITS in Tatarstan. Then came the performance of the Mufti of Tatarstan Kamil Samigullin, who condemned manifestations of extremism under religious slogans and expressed his willingness to actively participate in the work of the newly created branch of the ITS in Kazan. The word was also given to the Archbishop of Pyatigorsk and Circassian Theophylactus. The bishop, who heads the diocese in the North Caucasus, proposed the creation of a branch of the IGC in Pyatigorsk, which is the center of the North Caucasus Federal District, which includes republics with a significant percentage of the Muslim population. This initiative was supported by the representative of the Coordination Center for Muslims of the North Caucasus, Sh.A. Pshikhachev. As a result of the discussion, a unanimous decision was made to create regional branches of the Interreligious Council of Russia in the North Caucasus with a center in Pyatigorsk and in the Republic of Tatarstan with a center in Kazan. The members of the IGC stressed the need to appeal to the state leadership of the Russian Federation with a proposal to condemn the ideology of Wahhabism as a terrorist, and to recognize organizations that preach this ideology as terrorist organizations. The next item on the agenda was the discussion of state measures of antiterrorist protection of religious buildings and objects. Metropolitan Hilarion recalled that in 2015 the Government of Russia adopted the Resolution on the Protection of Religious Objects from the Threat of Terrorism. At present, practical implementation of these measures is being discussed. On this issue, it was suggested that the Senior Inspector for Special Assignments of the Main Directorate of Private Security of Rosgvardia, M.V. Fly. The head of the Legal Service of the Moscow Patriarchate, Abbess Ksenia (Chernega), in her speech, pointed out that the Russian Orthodox Church has a number of comments on the project developed in Rosgvardia that were transferred to this organization. Following the discussion of this topic, the importance of cooperation between the Interreligious Council of Russia and the relevant state structures was emphasized to develop recommendations aimed at enhancing the antiterrorist protection of religious buildings, taking into account the interests of religious organizations. Then the issue of creation of the Scientific and Educational Theological Association (NOTA) was considered. Metropolitan Hilarion informed the members of the ITS that the association was established in February 2018 as a voluntary association of higher education institutions, whose goal is to promote the development of theology as a branch of scientific knowledge. Participants in the meeting supported the establishment of the association and participation in its work of religious educational institutions belonging to traditional religious denominations. In addition, it was decided to support the holding in autumn 2018 of the Second All-Russian (with international participation) scientific conference "Theology in the Humanities Educational Space" under the auspices of the Scientific Educational Theological Association and the Interreligious Council of Russia. The first conference on this topic was held in June 2017. Further, the rector of the Moscow State Linguistic University IA. Krayeva, who presented the project of the International Network University of Spiritual Education of the CIS countries, created on the basis of the MGLU. Rector of Moscow State Linguistic University (MGLU) told about the history of the project and its prospects, answered the questions of participants and guests of the meeting. Members of the Interreligious Council of Russia decided to instruct the Expert Group on Theology under the ITS to study this initiative by entering into a direct dialogue with the leadership of the Moscow State Linguistic University. During the meeting, Executive Secretary of the Council priest Demetrius Safonov presented a presentation on the site of the ITS , which was actively improved over the past year. In continuation of the theme of development of theological education and science, the pro-rector on scientific work of the All-Church post-graduate and doctoral studies, the scientific secretary of the Expert Council on theology of the Higher Attestation Commission, D.V. Shmonina. Members of the Interreligious Council of Russia supported the speaker's proposal on the expediency of developing three separate passports of the scientific specialties "Theology" on the basis of the religious and confessional principle: Orthodox theology, Islamic theology and Jewish theology. At the end of the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion presented a medal in honor of St Mark Ephesus II degree to the co-chairman of the MCP's Board of Trustees E.A. Taran in connection with the 50th anniversary. Vladyka noted that E.A. Taran is an active member of the Board of Trustees: thanks to him, it became possible to create a new site for the ITS; with his assistance under the auspices of the ITS, a scientific compilation was published on the role of interreligious dialogue in the protection of Christians in the Middle East from persecution; he repeatedly assisted the ITS Secretariat in solving practical issues. Moscow hosted a meeting of the Interreligious Council of Russia