Among the issues to be agreed Alexy mentioned the problem of recognizing the priesthood of clerics of the Russian Church Outside of Russia and the existence of parallel parishes which were set up on the territory of Russia, Kazakhstan, and some other countries. The parishes were established by clerics who were forbidden to serve in the Moscow Patriarchate.
At the same time, Alexy emphasized that the Russian Orthodox Church recognizes chirotony (ordination) of Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia clergy if it was done abroad and for people living in the West.
The Patriarch takes a positive view of Father Frost as a character of New Year holidays.
"Everything that brings kindness should be welcomed. And Father Frost distributes gifts, comforts and causes joy to children," Alexy said, replying to a question put to him by RIA Novosti.
A RIA Novosti correspondent reports that figurines of Father Frost and Snowmaiden stand under a New Year tree in the Patriarch's residence in Chisty Pereulok, where Alexy received journalists on Thursday.
The patriarch also spoke of the problem of clergy extortions.
It is impermissible to put up "price lists for God's grace" and extort money for giving the sacrament to sick people, said Alexy as he commented to journalists on the decisions of the last Moscow assembly of bishops. It was said at the assembly that believers' donations should be voluntary, and not a mandatory payment for service rites made at the request or wish of the believer.
He said that clergymen who do so are usually punished through being sent to more distant and weaker parishes where believers are few.
The Patriarch wished that the New Year 2005 "should be for our Fatherland a year of peace, creation and prosperity and for every person a year of health, and new successes in his life full of daily concerns".
