MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Orthodox Church intends to maintain inter-religious dialogue in order to promote relations with other churches, the Pan-Orthodox Council participants said in a message Sunday.
"… our Church attaches great importance to dialogue, primarily with non Orthodox Christians. Sober inter-religious dialogue helps significantly to promote mutual trust, peace and reconciliation. The oil of religious experience must be used to heal wounds and not to rekindle the fire of military conflicts," the message reads.
The Council was convened in Crete on June 20-26 after over 50 years of preparations. Of the 14 national Orthodox churches, four did not attend the event, including the Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Georgian and Bulgarian Orthodox Churches, as well as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East.
