President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia

        On October, 14 President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko met with Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, who paid a visit to Belarus.
        Alexander Lukashenko congratulated Patriarch Kirill on the Intercession of the Holy Virgin and awarded him with the Order of Friendship for his considerable contribution to the Union State development, strengthening of friendly relations and the unity of the peoples of Belarus and Russia.
Receiving the Order, Patriarch Kirill noted that this award is a natural one in respect to the mission of the Orthodox Church. In his words, the Russian Orthodox Church, over its millenary history, has served the unity of people, created spiritual and cultural space which today is called historical Rus or Saint Rus:

        “I’m deeply convinced that the factor of the Russian Orthodox Church is very significant for the maintenance of good brotherly relations between our peoples. It is true that this is a spiritual integration force. Today we are concerned about the issues of integration on the post-Soviet space. During the recent years, with your active participation, we have achieved certain success.
Since the time of our previous meeting a lot of things have changed for the better in terms of integration processes development and God grant we could all benefit from them, economically, politically and culturally and spiritually”.

          Let’s note that the visit of Patriarch Kirill was dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Kruptsy Icon of the Mother of God.