His Holiness Patriarch Kirill held a meeting with Sheikh-ul-Islam, Chairman of the Caucasus Muslims Board, Allahshukur Pasha-zade MP

January 30, 2019 in the Patriarchal residence Danilov Monastery met Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill with the chairman of the Caucasian Muslims Office Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pashazade, who arrived in Moscow to attend the celebrations of the 10th anniversary of the primatial ministry of His Holiness Patriarch Moscow and All Russia Kirill. The meeting was attended by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Sergiy of Singapore and Southeast Asia, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate, Archimandrite Filaret (Bulekov), Archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan, Deputy Head of DECR Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), Secretary for Inter-Diversity , Executive Secretary of the Interreligious Council of Russia, Priest Dimitri Safonov, Secretariat Officer for Interfaith th Relations DECR deacon Ilya Kashitsyn, director of the World Russian People's Council of Human Rights Center RA Silantyev From the Azerbaijani side, the meeting was attended by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Azerbaijan to the Russian Federation, Polad Bulbul oglu, members of the Milli Majlis Javanshir Pasha-zade, Huseynbala Miralamov, Hikmet Mammadov, Assistant Chairman of the Office of Muslims of the Caucasus, Mahammad Pasha-zade, representatives of the Muslims Office of the Caucasus. Welcoming Allahshukur Pasha-zade, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill stressed the importance of such meetings for the development of Christian-Muslim dialogue. “I really appreciate your coordinating role in the Islamic community, you are an ideological Islamic leader, a person with a lot of experience and knowledge, and therefore our meetings with you, the agreements we reach, the plans we build, are of great importance for our lives communities. Within 10 years from the day of my ascension to the Moscow Patriarchal Throne, in my opinion, a lot has been done in terms of developing relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Islamic community, ”His Holiness testified. In a conversation with the spiritual leader of the Muslims of the Caucasus, the Primate of the Russian Church also highlighted the role of Sheikh ul-Islam Allahshukur Pasha-zade in maintaining inter-religious peace, including in Azerbaijan. “I can’t but recall our Orthodox Diocese headed by the present ruler of Baku and Azerbaijan, Alexander. I receive from our representatives in Azerbaijan consistently positive information about the state of inter-religious affairs and high praise in a good attitude to our church presence, which you always demonstrate, ”said Patriarch Kirill. His Holiness also mentioned a trilateral dialogue with the participation of his interlocutor and the Supreme Patriarch and the Catholicos of All Armenians, which has been going on for 30 years with the mediation of the Russian Orthodox Church and is intended to promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. “Although today there are no strong advances, it is important that there is no war,” stated His Holiness Vladyka. - We have reached an agreement on the return of prisoners, and an agreement was also reached that no action will be taken to destroy religious monuments and structures, neither Christian nor Muslim. All this cannot but have a beneficial effect on the very topic related to the discussion of the Karabakh problem. If everything depended only on religious figures, we would have solved this problem long ago. Therefore, we consider it our duty to have a beneficial influence, including on politicians, pushing them to ensure that this problem is solved in a peaceful way. We hope that the moment will come when this problem will be solved. ” Patriarch Kirill expressed satisfaction with the fact that good relations were built and maintained between Orthodox and Muslims in the CIS countries, highlighting the achievements in this area of ​​Sheikh-ul-Islam Allahshukur Pasha-zade. “2017 was declared the year of Islam, Islamic solidarity and you held significant events this year,” continued the Primate, addressing the distinguished guest. “It seems to us that this kind of celebration, like the current celebrations we are participating in, gives us a good opportunity to meet, exchange views and plan certain plans.” During the conversation, His Holiness also emphasized the importance of joint humanitarian actions of religious communities of Russia to revive Syria. “The Russian Orthodox Church collects rather large convoys of humanitarian aid - tens, hundreds of tons. We distribute this help without ever asking a person whether he is a Muslim or a Christian — this help goes to those in need. And often we also provide this assistance together with our Muslim brethren, ”said His Holiness. “Sometimes our mission is carried out in very difficult conditions. Last year, when our Interreligious working group visited Syria, handed over humanitarian aid, it came under mortar attack. Fortunately, no one was hurt. But this event turned out to be so resonant that the UN Security Council paid attention to this topic, because if they fire at religious people who want to alleviate the suffering of their brothers and sisters, the world community cannot but react to such a crime, ”said the Primate of the Russian Church. . In turn, Allahshukur Pasha-zade thanked His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for the meeting and conveyed to him congratulations and best wishes from Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, country's First Vice-President M. Aliyeva, members of the Azerbaijani delegation and the entire Azerbaijani people on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the enthronement of His Holiness . “Azerbaijan highly appreciates your role and efforts aimed at resolving the Karabakh problem and is well aware of the positive steps that have been taken in this direction. The Azerbaijani people are especially grateful to you, because it was you who contributed to the Armenian-Azerbaijani Nagorno-Karabakh conflict not escalating to an inter-religious level, ”Sheikh-ul-Islam stressed. “You mentioned Syria in your speech. And it is absolutely true that a great responsibility is placed on religious leaders. And it is also true that religious leaders alone cannot solve all problems. Only in cooperation, together with politicians can success be achieved, to combat such negative phenomena in the modern world as extremism and terrorism, ”said the chairman of the Muslim Board of the Caucasus. During the conversation, Allahshukur Pasha-zade also noted the good relations of the state authorities of Azerbaijan to the Orthodox community of the country. “I am very pleased that the personal relations between the leaders of our states are at an excellent level. This creates for us, religious leaders, good conditions to cooperate even more closely together in order to achieve our goals. The fact that peaceful interreligious relations in Azerbaijan is a great merit of the archbishop of Baku and Azerbaijan, Alexander. Azerbaijan has created good conditions for the existence and activity of all religious traditions. In particular, I want to note the conditions created for the Russian Orthodox community: existing churches are being restored, new ones are being built, and all this is happening with the support of the state, ”the spiritual leader of Muslims emphasized.