In Athens concluded its work on the 25th anniversary of the General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO). Adopted following the meeting of the EI Declaration was commented by the President of IAPA, Chairman of the state Duma Committee on civil society development issues, public and religious organisations Sergey Gavrilov.
According to Sergei Gavrilov, “in adopting the Declaration were taken into account the views of all members of the IAP, including the proposals of the Russian Parliament”.
In the document, the parliamentarians expressed support for the provisions of the St. Petersburg Declaration of the 137th Assembly of the inter-Parliamentary Union “On the promotion of cultural pluralism through interfaith and interethnic dialogue”, as well as the Declaration of the Moscow International forum “Development of parliamentarism” on the need for open channels of international cooperation to de-escalate confrontation and limit conflicts, to strengthen cooperation to eliminate threats to international peace.
“The Declaration marked a significant promotion to the role of the Orthodox Christian tradition in international Affairs, but also revealed the need for more significant and dynamic participation of map in the international socio-political events”, – said Sergey Gavrilov.
“Parliamentarians in the framework of the final Declaration of the IAPA expressed support for the efforts of the Churches to unity and denounced all schism and persecution of the Orthodox churches in the canonical territory of their service. We see flare up of inter-Church conflicts in the Ukraine and in Montenegro and on the territory of Moldova, – said Sergey Gavrilov. – These problems pointed out to his Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill in his address to the participants of the Assembly and noted that the canonical Orthodox Church is experiencing unprecedented pressure and subjected to discrimination, but in spite of all the difficulties, carries his selfless sacrificial service to God and people. The challenge for the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church sees the prevention of a possible increase of this pressure, including under the influence of external forces.”
According to Sergei Gavrilov, the IAP rejects any expression of fanaticism and extreme dogmatism of religious faith and contributes to the liberation of critical thinking, which is necessary to modern man, exposed to the bombardment of uncontrolled and unverified information.
“Undoubtedly, the Orthodox parliamentarians more actively participate in international events and contribute to the further promotion of international cooperation, given the important role of Christian values and, especially, Orthodoxy in the establishment of democracy and peace throughout the world”, – concluded Sergey Gavrilov.
Reference:
The Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy (IAO) is an international organization that represents the inter-parliamentary education, bringing together Orthodox MPs from countries in various spiritual traditions, which at the political and legislative level, coordinates the work on protection of interests of Orthodoxy in the countries where traditionally densely populated by a significant number of Orthodox citizens and there are local Orthodox churches.
Today, the Interparliamentary Assembly of Orthodoxy combines more than 20 States. Russia became a member in 1994. The delegation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation participates regularly in activities of map.