Christianity in West ‘Secular’

My purpose of traveling to Iran and especially to the University of Religions is to develop inter-religious communication between the two countries.

Hawzah News Agency- Grigory Matrosov, a scholar priest and head of communications of the Russian Orthodox Church, met with Hujjat al-Islam Seyyed Abul Hassan Nawab, the head of the University of Religions and Denominations in Qom on Saturday, December 2.

In this meeting, Hujjat al-Islam Seyyed Abulhasan Nawab while welcoming Reverend Gregory Matrosov at the University of Religions and Denominations said,” I have been to the Orthodox holy Mount of Athos in Greece and stayed there for three days. I have also visited the monastery of the Orthodox Church. The monks there treated us very well. On Mount Athos, one realizes that religion has not yet been forgotten. The young and the old worship in this mountain. Our host in Mount Athos had a doctorate degree in international relations from the best university in the world, and there they worshiped from 10 p.m. to morning. I sincerely acknowledge the Orthodox for having such a place that can be a model for us too.”

Hujjat al-Islam Nawab continued,” I must also talk about the Russian Orthodox Christians that I have visited your church dozens of times. I have also visited the Orthodox Education Center and the Church of the Savior. I have also met with church leaders of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia. The Orthodox are very close to Muslims and are considered their neighbors. The Orthodox are close to us both in outward signs and in inward signs.”

In another part of this meeting, Grigory Matrosov, a scholar priest, considered communication with the leaders of world religions and especially the communication with the leaders of Islam including Iran to be very important and said,” For the Russian Orthodox Church, communication with the religious leaders of Iran is very important.”

He continued,” By the order of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, a special commission has been created to establish effective communication between Iran and Russia. So far, we have held 15 meetings to advance these communications, the last of which was in February this year and the next meeting will be held in Tehran next year.”