'RUSSIA AND ORTHODOX WORLD' - SLOGAN OF WORLD RUSSIAN PEOPLE'S COUNCIL

MOSCOW, February 3, 2004. /RIA Novosti correspondent Olga Lipich/. The 8th World Russian People's Council will be held in the St. Sergy and Trinity monastery /Sergiyev Posad, 50 kilometers to the east of Moscow/ and the Moscow Danilov Monastery on February 3-4 under the slogan "Russia and the Orthodox World".

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II will open the Council, the foreign church relations department of the Moscow Patriarchy reported.

The Council will focus on interaction of Orthodox Churches in the modern world and the global issue on the place of the Orthodox civilization in the life of mankind. In addition, the Council is to determine the efficiency of the Orthodox factor in Russia's foreign policy and Russia's ability to rely on its cultural traditions in the conditions of globalization and integration into world community.

The organizers of the 8th World Russian People's Council have chosen the St. Sergy and Trinity monastery, the spiritual centre of Russia, as its venue to highlight modern Russia's bonds with its past Orthodox traditions.

In 2004 representatives of all Orthodox Churches, autocephalous /independent/, East Christian Churches and Russian Church Abroad will participate in the Council for the first time.