ITAR-TASS News Agency
TASS
September 22, 2004 Wednesday
Exec committee of CIS religious council to meet in Moscow Dec 7
By Yelena Dorofeyeva
MOSCOW
Executive committee of the CIS Inter-Religious Council is expected to
have its first session in Moscow December 7, according to a decision
that the Council took Wednesday.
This organization unites the spiritual leaders of Russia’s four
leading denominations – Russian Orthodox, Moslem, Jewish, and
Buddhist.
“Initially, we had an idea of holding that meeting in the Caucasus,
but after the events in Beslan [the seizure of a local school by a
grouping of terrorists in the first days of September – Itar-Tass]
the place was changed,” said Russia’s Chief Rabbi, Adolph Shayevich.
The CIS Inter-Religious Council was set up in March 2004 at a meeting
of spiritual leaders of the CIS countries. Its executive committee
includes, apart from representatives of the above-said four
denominations, the clerics of the Armenian apostolic church.
All the countries of the CIS except Turkmenistan have their
representatives on the executive committee.
The charter of the Inter-Religious Council describes the
organization’s goal as “consolidating peace among nationalities and
religions and fostering concord and stability in society”.
Top clerics of the member-confessions discussed the Beslan tragedy at
the Wednesday meeting.