The chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, who consecrated and laid the foundation stone for the future Orthodox church and parish complex in this emirate, expressed confidence that the opening of the Russian church in Sharjah would stimulate the development of interfaith dialogue.
“I’m sure that a platform will be formed around the temple where Russian Orthodoxy and Islam can meet to get to know each other better and establish friendly relations,” said the 60-year-old hierarch, noting “the proximity of Orthodoxy and Islamic culture.”
At a meeting on Monday, September 10, with UAE religious figures and journalists in the information office of the UAE's Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Sultan bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, dedicated to the visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin to Abu Dhabi and the laying of the first Russian church on the Arabian Peninsula, Metropolitan Kirill noted "The centuries-old experience of the dialogue between Orthodoxy and Islam in Russia."
“In the positions of Orthodoxy and Islam on the main topics of our time there are common elements that flow from the foundations of our lives. When visiting Islamic countries, I noticed that Orthodox and Muslims have a common worldview, especially how a person’s lifestyle should be built. In our in general understanding, it is necessarily created around prayer. Its important elements are family communication, community life, work and creative creation. Even the Arabic "Insha Alla" has a direct semantic parallel in Russian culture. In the same situations, we speak to them, "All God's will", - said the famous Russian religious figure.
Metropolitan Kirill pointed out the coincidence of the positions of Orthodoxy and Islam on the main challenges of the modern world, for example, globalization. "The only possible form of sustainable existence of the world is its multipolarity. The world should be respected and recognized equal in rights the main religious and cultural traditions that have a rich history. There should not be a dictate of one civilizational standard, be it a liberal version or an ideology based on any one religion, "he stressed. - "For believing Christians and Muslims, it is obvious that freedom should not be an excuse for violating the morality commanded by God."
