Moscow, November 28, 2011
An international conference on Freedom of Faith: the Problem of Discrimination and Persecution against Christians will be held from November 30 to December 1, 2011, in Moscow. It has been initiated by the Russian Orthodox Church with the support of the Christian Inter-Confessional Committee (CICC).
The Moscow Patriarchate is concerned over violations of the rights of Christians in various countries, which have been committed on a mass scale in recent years. The political transformations in the Middle East and North Africa countries have had as one of their consequences a large-scale emigration of believers from the region.
The supreme authorities of the Russian Orthodox Church have repeatedly drawn the attention of the world community to the need to work out a mechanism of ensuring the rights of Christians, which will make it possible for them to confess their faith freely, to work and to raise their children in accordance with their beliefs.
The Russian Orthodox Church has invited for discussion leaders of Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant religious communities including in the regions where the number of violations of the rights of Christians is growing.
The Conference will be opened by Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Church Relations. The meeting is expected to adopt a communiqué summarizing the plenary sessions.
On December 1, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia will meet with the participants in the forum at the Church of Christ the Saviour.
Journalists can obtain accreditation for the meeting with the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and participants in the Conference from the Patriarchal Press Service at press@patriarchia.ru and Tel: 637-43-18 till 16.00 on November the 30th. The meeting will begin at 15:00.
