PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA CAN MEET WITH POPE JOHN PAUL II UNDER CERTAIN CONDITIONS








MOSCOW, March 6, 2001. /RIA Novosti correspondent Grigori Tebenikhin/. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church can meet the Pope only under certain conditions. This was disclosed by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexii II.


	On Tuesday, the Patriarch addressed a meeting of the heads of Orthodox Church communities in CIS and Baltic states. Alexii II called for an end to the relentless persecutions against Russian Orthodox church eparchies and Russian communities, first of all, in Ukraine and the Baltic states. Moreover, the Roman Catholic Church must stop its expansion to the territory traditionally belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, Alexii II said. The Patriarch also mentioned that the eparchies in the Lvov, the Ternopol, and the Ivano-Frankovsk regions had been "crushed". In the long run, the Orthodox Ukrainians have been left without their spiritual leadership, His Holiness the Patriarch added.


	First of all, the status quo must be restored before the meeting with Pope John Paul II. One should not compromise on such substantive issues, the Patriarch added.