Ilir Meta meets with Russian Patriarch

Thus has Albanian President Ilir Meta declared, during an official dinner that he hosted in honour of Moscow's Patriarch and all of Russia, His Holiness Kiril, on the occasion of a historic visit to Albania. President Meta on this occasion has said that Patriarch Kiril's visit coincides with 97th anniversary of the proclamation of the autocephalia of the Albanian Orthodox Church, as well as the 81th anniversary of its canonical recognition in April 1937, the Albanian Presidency's media communique said.

Remembering that this dark time of the history of faith in Albania ended in 1990, with democratic changes, the head of the Albanian state has expressed gratitude for all leaders of religious communities for the divine mission, in the function of spreading God's words and sacred teachings.

“Harmony, mutual respect, tolerance, understanding, mutual appreciation and solidarity are the features of reports between religious faiths in Albania and the preservation of religious faith has gone through a long calvar of efforts and sacrifices. Many of the clergy were imprisoned, exiled, or martyred by the harshest Communist regime of the day.

Hundreds of cult objects were destroyed and destroyed, as were the clergy and spiritual leaders of religious communities, mercilessly persecuted”, President Meta said.

He said that hate speech, terrorism, violent extremism, conflicts, and wars with serious humanitarian consequences are today the greatest threat to mankind, while ordering that religion should be used, not in the service of violent purposes, but in the service of peace, love, and harmony.

While Moscow and all Russia's patriarch, His Holiness Kiril said the Orthodox churches of Russia and Albania have long-term traditions of better relations, while the Albanian people congratulated peace and prosperity.

Otherwise, Vladimir Mikhailovich Gundyayev is the secular name of Kiril, the patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia, a well-known figure not only inside Russia and often coveted by the media for the contradictions it has created. Kiril was born in November 1946, into a religious family, and in his 20 ' s, he engaged in church life by climbing the steps of her hierarchy, but only after the years ' s would his fame rise. Before becoming the patriarch in February 2009, Kiril served as a Archbishop and later the Smolensk and Kalinigrad Metropolitan, as well as the head of the Orthodox Church Department for Foreign Relations. Kiril also caused the first controversy after he received the nickname “Tobacco Metropolitan” and was accused by the media of winning millions by exploiting the right given to the church to import duty-free cigarettes in the years BAR90s, nothing proved to date.

Kiril faced a severe confrontation with the conservative wing of the Russian Orthodox Church, who was accused of approaching the Catholic Church, yet in 2016 he became the first Russian church patriarch to meet with a pope, exactly Pope Francescu.

On cultural and social issues, the church under Kirilide has co-operated a lot with the Russian state of Vladimir Putin, and Kiril has supported expanding Russian power to Crime and Eastern Ukraine. One of Kiril's best - known comments is that of human rights, which he named heresy and contrary to the Bible, although he did not explain what human rights he opposed.