On 20 May 2023, Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill for the first time visited the Bolgarian Islamic Academy, where he met with state and public figures from Russia and Muslim countries.
The meeting was attended by Sheikh-ul-Islam Talgat Hazrat Tadzhuddin, supreme mufti, chairman of the Central Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia; Ahmed Bin Mohammad Al Jarwan, president of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, UAE; Hamid Hawali Shahriari, secretary general of the World Organization for Convergence of Madhabs, Iran; Izzat Saad, director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs; His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Rus’; Din Shamsuddin, chairman of the Global Centre for Moderate Islam, Indonesia, and others.
The central topic of the meeting was the search for common approaches and methods of opposing destructive secular ideology and upholding family values and traditional morality.
Welcoming the audience, the ruling hierarch recalled with warm words ‘his brother Ayatollah Tazkiri’. The preacher noted that they were ‘good friends and I still remember him as a man of wisdom and open to dialogue. Ayatollah left a light in my memory. He revealed to me aspects of Islam that were unknown to me,’ he shared.
During his speech, Patriarch Kirill spoke about close long-term interaction with Muslims from various countries.
‘Contacts with the Muslim world were inspiring, since we have much in common as a basis for a comprehensive dialogue,’ he said.
Besides, Patriarch Kirill shared his reflections on some of the challenges of our time. In particular, he mentioned ‘confrontation between the East and the West, which has recently been increasing rather than decreasing’.
‘And first and foremost, I mean Russia. After the coronavirus infection, humanity is again facing new global challenges. The world has never known before such serious geopolitical and economic crises,’ he added.
The patriarch went on to assess the ideologies of the USSR and the West, which in his view are similar in that the two civilizations primarily relied on the development of science and technology, which led to spiritual crisis in entire states.
‘Both here and there the cult of anthropocentrism, where man is the centre of being, not enlightened and cleansed from sin, but man is sinful – this inevitably leads humanity to degradation. On the background of the development of science, technology and communications, can we say that man is getting better? No, we cannot. And if a man is not getting better, it means that he has chosen the wrong path for the development of civilization,’ the priest shared his thoughts.
‘Today humanity is facing a catastrophic conflict – the third world war. In this context, cooperation with the Islamic world becomes very important. Our peoples profess similar spiritual and moral values. We do not share the norms of public morality imposed by the West. We do not want to recognize sin as norm, which contradicts the eternal values arising from our religious beliefs and defining the way of life of our peoples.
Today there is a cold war for human souls, for the right to preserve our spiritual and cultural identity. We see in Islamic civilizations potential friends and allies. Our main strategic task is to educate our youth, and spiritual enlightenment and high quality religious education play a key role in this,’ patriarch is convinced.
In his turn, Hamid Hawali Shahriyari drew attention of the audience to uphold principles of kindness, justice and sobriety of mind.
‘Justice is the basis that will help solve all differences, remove turmoil. There can be no peace without it. If the West wants to steal our wealth, we cannot peacefully coexist with them. Justice is needed,’ Hamid Hawali Shahriyari said.
Izzat Saad thanked the Russian leadership for ‘looking at the Islamic world without dividing it into Shia and Sunni, unlike the Americans. In addition, Russia has played an important role in bringing Iran closer to Saudi Arabia. With the help of Russian diplomacy, Syria has returned to the League of Arab States. Russia has also had a hand in the Libyan and Yemeni issues. Thank you very much for that’.
Din Shamsuddin noted the proximity of Christian and Muslim ideologies. ‘Despite the theological differences, we have much in common. We should develop cooperation for the prosperity of economy, politics and culture of our countries,’ he said.
Din Shamsuddin also said that his organization, the Global Centre for Moderate Islam, cooperates with Vatican on interfaith dialogue, which would solve many problems of humanity.
Ahmed Bin Mohammad Al Jarwan proposed to create of team of Christian and Muslim religious figures to counter immoral impiety and attempts to incite hatred in society.
At the end of the meeting, Patriarch Kirill urged Muslims, together with Orthodox Christians, to give a strong joint response to the challenges of our time and to defend our spiritual values, protecting the right to live based on traditional morality. And Supreme Mufti Talgat Hazrat Tadzhuddin presented the patriarch with gifts with national themes.