PATRIARCH WARNS AGAINST RELIGIOUS DISSENT

MOSCOW, JANUARY 26
(from RIA Novosti correspondent Yuri Petrovsky)--

His Beatitude Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, regards sects and religious dissent in general as a formidable threat to Christian orthodoxy and the Russian nation, as follows from a talk which he had today with Hegumen John (Ekonomtsev, in the world), in charge of the Department of Religious Education and Catechisation of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Hegumen John offered a gist of that talk to the fifth international Christmas readings, now underway in Moscow.

The West used to back Russian political dissidents, said the Patriarch. Its support promoted the collapse of the communist regime, but also sent a mighty state tumbling down. Now, well aware that Russia will stand as long as Christian orthodoxy stands, the West is encouraging religious dissent to undermine the Eastern Christian cause.