The Russian Orthodox Church retains a positive attitude towards the presence of Communist Party members among its faithful because “they also go to church.”
That’s according to the chief of the ROC External Church Relations Department, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeyev) who answered journalists’ questions about communist repression in XX century, the ROC press service reported.
“Among the modern-day members of the Communist Party are people who go to church and take part in worship services. There’s nothing wrong with that. On the contrary, we welcome this in every possible way. Every year we have the World Russian People’s Council chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill. Members of all political factions of the State Duma speak at the Council. These are not only the representatives of the United Russia, but also the Communists, the Liberal Democratic Party, and other parties, that is, everyone has the opportunity to speak up,” said the ROC representative.
It should be reminded that earlier, Metropolitan Ilarion (Alfeyev) declared that ROC initially waited for withdrawal of OCU recognition by the Alexandria Church patriarch, but now threatens to act in this regard.
