On April 3, 2012, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Supreme Church Council met for a regular session at the Church of Christ the Saviour. It is chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

In his introductory remarks, His Holiness presented the agenda and shared his thoughts about the strategy of the Russian Orthodox Church’s cooperation with the mass media, the Patriarchal Press Services has reported.

Patriarch Kirill said in particular, ‘The most important thing that the Church should convey to people is the good news of salvation. The word of the Church, even in a situation of conflict, should bear reconciling power. In no way, should it be associated in people’s consciousness with aggressiveness or cruelty, or break away from the primary mission of the Church, which is to bear witness to the peace of Christ’.

The Council will consider the progress made in implementation of its decisions and reports about the work carried out by Synodal institutions in 2011. The Council’s members will also consider topical problems of the Church’s presence in the informational space and adopt the theme of the 21^st International Christmas Readings in 2013.

Participating in the Council’s meeting are Metropolitan Varsonofy of Saransk and Mordovia, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chairman of the Publishing Council; Archbishop Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, head of the Synodal Missionary Department; Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Synodal Education Committee; Archbishop Feognost, head of the Synodal Department for Monasteries; Archbishop Mark of Yegoryevsk, Moscow Patriarchate director for institutions abroad; Metropolitan Mercury of Rostov and Novocherkassk, head of the Department for Religious Education and Catechism; Bishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, chief of the Moscow Patriarchate administrative secretariat; Bishop Tikhon of Podolsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate Finance and Economy Administration; Bishop Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, chairman of the Synodal Committee for Cooperation with the Cossacks; Bishop Panteleimon of Smolensk and Vyazma, head of the Synodal Department Charity and Church Service; Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, head of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Bodies; Archimandrite Tikhon (Shevkunov), executive secretary of the Patriarchal Council for Culture; Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, head of the Synodal Department for Church-Society Relations, and V. Legoida, head of the Synodal Information Department.

DECR Communication Service

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