Patriarch Kirill to visit Baku in Spring 2010

Baku, October 9, Interfax – Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is expected to visit Baku in spring 2010, Bishop Alexander of Baku and Caspian Region said.

“Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia accepted invitation of the Chairman of Caucasian Muslims Office Allahshukyur to participate in the interreligious summit which is to be held in Baku coming spring,” the Bishop said at a press conference in Interfax-Azerbaijan dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the restored Diocese.

Bishop Alexander, commenting on the religious situation in the republic, expressed concerns with activities of foreign sects.

He noted that emissaries of foreign sects “work very actively here (in Azerbaijan – IF) and urge people to join them.” According to the Bishop, sectarians evoke sympathy in people, sometimes even in families of traditional believers and “children in Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish families suddenly tell their parents that they have their own faith.”

Bishop Alexander reminded that, many Westerners considered Soviet population atheistic in the USSR times, so when the country collapsed “emissaries invaded its territory to offer their teachings.”

The Bishop also urged to remember that Christianity came to Azerbaijan in the first century, first Christians came to preach there and there are even some proves that Apostle Bartholomew deceased near the Maiden Tower in Baku.

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