Patriarch Kirill Directed a Greeting to the Participants of the CIAC’s Plenary Session

Dear brothers and sisters!

I heartily welcome all participants to this plenary session of the “Christian Inter-Confessional Advisory Committee of the CIS-Countries and Baltics”. This session is devoted to the topic of: “The Christian Family – a ‘Small Church’ and the Foundation of a Healthy Society”. The churches in the various countries forming this committee indeed have similar views regarding the tasks facing the global Christian community and share the conviction that the Gospel teaching is not of a passing nature.

I would like to underscore the timeliness of a discussion on the role of the family in a society inclined towards moral relativism, and in which the institution of marriage is exposed to serious re-evaluation. We Christians of varying confessions are called on to profess the steadfastness of the biblical norms on the sanctity of the marital union between man and woman, which the Apostle compares to the union between Christ and His Church (Ephesians 5:22-25).

The foundations for the relationship of each person to God and to his fellow beings, to society and to the government as a whole are located within the family. We should openly testify to the fact that retreat from the God-commanded basis for marriage makes the formation of healthy individuals impossible. The spiritual climate of a society is to no small degree dependent upon harmony within the family.

It could be one of the tasks of inter-Christian dialogue to formulate a common church position on the development of secular family legislation. We could make a valuable contribution to the public discussion on issues of marriage by pointing to the precise moral guidelines rooted in the Holy Scriptures. Overcoming the spiritual crisis of European civilisation depends to a large extent on watchfully addressing the securing of harmonious marital relationships, the birth and upbringing of children and the care for aged parents.

I wish that this forum might result in a significant and persuasive testimony to all of society about the unchanging nature of traditional family values. Christians from various confessions possess a mutual response to the challenges of secular society and we should use all of the strength we have to insure that our voice be heard.

Kirill

The Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia