President Shavkat Mirziyoyev yesterday received the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, UzA said. Shavkat Mirziyoyev underscored that the arrival of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) in Uzbekistan is a landmark event in strengthening the traditionally close and friendly ties between the two countries and peoples.
The sides reportedly discussed issues of further strengthening interfaith dialogue, ensuring interethnic harmony and religious tolerance in society, as well as education and moral upbringing of the young generation in a way to counter such global challenges and threats as extremism, terrorism and radicalism.
Patriarch Kirill highly commended the policies pursued in Uzbekistan aimed at ensuring interethnic peace and harmony, strengthening friendship and mutual understanding between people of different faiths, as well as the new socio-economic reforms being undertaken within the framework of the Uzbekistan’s Development Strategy.
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed gratitude for the attention and support to the activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in Uzbekistan, as well as for the created facilities for full-fledged spiritual life of the believers.
The visit of Patriarch Kirill, which will last until October 2, is timed to coincide with the 145th anniversary of the Tashkent diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to the Tashkent and Uzbekistan diocese, the patriarch served a moleben at the Holy Trinity Monastery of St. Nicholas, founded in 1893, after which he met with the leadership of the Muslim Board of Uzbekistan and the Committee for Religious Affairs under the Cabinet of Ministers.
It is expected that the patriarch will visit temples of the diocese in Samarkand and Bukhara. On October 1, he will consecrate the Uspensky Cathedral in Tashkent.
