Interreligious Meeting Between Christians and Muslims in Athens

September 2015

On behalf of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID), intergovernmental organization by the Republic of Austria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kingdom of Spain, together with the Holy See as Founding Observer, in cooperation with the Ecumenical Patriarchate and under the auspices of the Hellenic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Secretary General KAICIID Dialogue Centre, Faisal bin Abdulrahman bin Muaammar, and Exarch of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel invited the Serbian Patriarch Irinej to participate in the international conference “Supporting Citizenship Rights and Peaceful Coexistence between Christians and Muslims in the Middle East”. His Grace John, Bishop of Slavonia and Aleksandar M. Prascevic, a staff member of the Holy Synod of Bishops responsible for the Department for Inter-church relations, are appointed as representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church for this international and interreligious meeting.

According to the description letter from KAICIID Dialogue Center and Ecumenical Patriarchate “The meeting will be held within the wider framework of the “Dialogue between Christian and Muslims” which the Ecumenical Patriarchate initiated in partnership with relevant Islamic organizations, using interreligious dialogue as an essential tool to facilitate peace and reconciliation. This dialogue also complements, and is aligned with, KAICIID’s Vienna Declaration and the initiative “United Against Violence in the Name of Religion”. The proposed full-day interreligious meeting planned for Athens will be a chance to address the critical situation of Christians in Iraq and Syria, with extensive violence and political conflict placing long-established Christian communities in jeopardy through displacement. The meeting is in line with the call of the international community, the Orthodox churches (as majority churches in the region), and other Christian denominations and people of good will to see an immediate cessation in the cycle of violence against Christians and other people in Iraq and Syria. The meeting will underline the role of religious leaders as facilitators of peace and reconciliation, rather than mere observers of religious coexistence and conflict.” This meeting will be held from 2 to 3 September 2015 in the Golden Rooms of Hotel Grande Bretagne in Athens.

Aleksandar Prascevic,
Responsible for the Department for Inter-church Relations of the Holy Synod of Bishops.

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