Representatives of Moscow Patriarchy, US National Council of Churches, Conference of European Churches to Meet in Moscow

Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchy will meet with delegations of the US National Council of Churches (NCC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in Moscow next week.

Secretary General of the US National Council of Churches Bob Edgar and Secretary General of the Conference of European Churches Keith Clements will arrive in Moscow on March 4-5, archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the deputy chairman of the department for the foreign church ties of the Moscow Patriarchy, told RIA Novosti on Saturday.

Bob Edgar and Keith Clements insist on the meeting with Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis II and the Russian political authorities, Chaplin said. According to him, "the level of forthcoming meetings is being clarified".

The National Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches come out against the US plans to attack Iraq. "They support the idea of Iraq's disarmament, but by peaceful, democratic means," the archpriest stressed.

The extended delegations of the National Council of Churches and the Conference of European Churches already met with Gerhard Schroeder and Tony Blair, Chaplin said.

The US president recently refused to meet with the delegation of the National Council of Churches.