The presentation of the first Russian – language translation of the encyclical of Pope Francis "Fratelli tutti" - "All Brothers" - was held in Moscow»
On 3rd of March, 2021, the first Russian-language translation of the encyclical of the head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis, for brotherhood and social friendship "Fratelli tutti" – "All Brothers" was presented at the Pokrovskie Vorota Cultural Center in Moscow.
The event was moderated by the director of the cultural center "Pokrovskie Vorota" Jean-Francois Tiri and the first Deputy of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, the executive Secretary of the Muslim International Forum, the editor-in-chief of the Medina Publishing House Damir Mukhetdinov.
In his speech, the Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican in the Russian Federation, Monsignor Giovanni D'aniello, read out the message of Pope Francis to the participants of the meeting. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in his message noted that reflection and dialogue on the encyclical can help not only in the Russian Federation, where the dialogue between Christians and Muslims is intended to grow, but also the human community as a whole. "I am sure that an open and honest comparison of my thoughts with the themes of the Encyclical "All Brothers" can promote dialogue between religions," he stressed.
In turn, the Apostolic nuncio of the Vatican in Russia, greeting Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin and thanking him for the invitation to participate in this significant event, said that " universal openness will allow us to understand and appreciate the other, because true love, inspired by God, can not but give birth in the hearts of all of us a desire for mutual assistance, despite the differences that may characterize us differently, and which, instead of being obstacles, are rather enriching elements."
"The spirit of brotherhood" can be understood as the desire of a person to turn his eyes to God, so that after he can share and enrich through specific actions with others and those who are brothers, "he stressed and called for "dreaming as one human family, as travelers in one flesh, as children of one Earth, which is our common home." "Let us dream that each of us brings to this dream the richness of our own faith and beliefs, that each speaks with his own voice — we are all like brothers and sisters," he concluded.
In the welcoming speech of Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin, which was read by the Deputy Chairman of the RBM RF, Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, gratitude was expressed to Pope Francis: "I express my deepest gratitude to the venerable brother, the religious leader of Catholics around the world and the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis. I am grateful, first of all, for the great, extremely necessary and inspired work of humanity, which is the encyclical "FRATELLI TUTTI – -" All Brothers " about brotherhood and social friendship. The hand of friendship and peace extended by Pope Francis towards the Islamic world in 2019 on the Arabian Peninsula is received with gratitude and respect by us – the Muslims of the Eurasian area, because there is nothing nobler than the search for communication, dialogue and generosity on the ways to achieve peace and harmony for our peoples. We accept this gesture of goodwill, unique in history, and declare our readiness to go hand in hand with our Christian brothers to achieve peace and justice."
According to the religious leader of the Muslims of Russia, many of the thoughts and feelings expressed by the Pope in the encyclical resonate in the souls of Muslims, inspire them to think and analyze. "We are touched and highly appreciate the message of our Honorable Brother Francis addressed to the participants of our meeting, his good wishes. He is absolutely right that the desired purpose of today's fraternal meeting is to benefit public life as well as the mental mood of individuals," Ildar Alyautdinov quoted Mufti Gaynutdin.
The chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ethnic Affairs, Valery Gazzaev, also addressed the participants of the event with welcoming words. "Today, more than ever, we are all obliged to preserve and strengthen interethnic peace and harmony, promote the harmonization of interethnic and interfaith relations, and promote constructive dialogue between representatives of different ethnic communities and cultures," he said.
According to him, the encyclical is a text that is addressed to all of humanity. The translation into Russian of the document of the Roman Catholic Church is an important step towards interreligious dialogue.
"I am sure that today, more than ever, it is necessary to keep interreligious peace. For religious organizations, there is a extensive field of interaction in different spheres of social and religious life of civil society, cooperation in a variety of areas, " the head of the Duma Committee concluded.
Chief Rabbi of Russia (Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia) Adolf Shaevich thanked the mufti for the initiative to publish the Pope's message in Russian and highly appreciated the importance of this work in spreading the feelings of brotherhood and love among the followers of all Abrahamic religions.
According to the Chief Military Rabbi of Russia (Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia) Aaron Gurevich,the publication of the translation of the encyclical into Russian stirred up the discussion and encouraged us to understand the reasons for what unites us both in the social area and in the field of theology. "The encyclical is a program document. The social sphere is also affected here. Monotheism crushes the idols of the market and politics. This applies to all faiths, including the Abrahamic religions, and makes us think about what our place is in a fast-changing world. This is important in order to understand what strength we have today to resist the crushing factors that I have identified, including Covid-19. The socio-political "fortress" in the blink of an eye was not a fortress, but a weakness. It turned out that everyone is for himself. And we must again look for brotherhood, look for like-minded people with whom we can face the challenges of our time, " he said.
In addition, Aaron Gurevich read out a greeting from the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Moiseevich Boroda, who noted that the publication of works, books, and studies of various religious leaders is primarily intended to promote the harmonization of relations between representatives of different faiths, the establishment of good neighborliness and respect for each other. "Interreligious relations in Russia today are at a high level and can rightly be the proud object of our society. We build a dialogue based on the moral principles that unite us, on respect for the unique variety of the religious and cultural heritage of our country. The publication of the book for us once again shows the openness and educational activity of centralized religious organizations, which certainly contributes not only to the preservation of traditions, but also to the development of society on the basis of concurrence and respect for civil peace," Alexander Boroda said.
Also making welcoming speeches were: Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, Ildar Alyautdinov, Deputy Chairman of the RBM RF, Mufti of Moscow, Hieromonk Grigory Matrusov, Chairman of the Council under Patriarch Kirill for Interaction with the Islamic World (Russian Orthodox Church), Sergey Melnikov, Chairman of the Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom, and Abdul-Vahed Niyazov, President of the European Muslim Forum.
The presentation was attended by representatives of embassies of a number of states, religious, state and public organizations, scientists, cultural figures and media representatives, including Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belgium to the Russian Federation Mark Michelsen, Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Russia Aimone di Savoia Aosta, Counsellor to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Hamad al-Hebsi, Attache of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia Yazid al-Ruiji, 1st Secretary of the Embassy of Qatar Abdulaziz al-Ali, Head of the Cultural Representation of Iran Kahraman Suleimani, Counsellor to the Ambassador of Italy Michele Misto, First Secretary of the Embassy of France Johan Juretz, Counsellor to the Embassy of Qatar Rashid Kauar and others.
At the end of the event, Doctor of Theology Damir Mukhetdinov thanked all the participants of the event for their participation and acquainted them with a number of publications that are being prepared for release in the near future by the Publishing House "Medina" and affect interfaith and interreligious relations.
The event was moderated by the director of the cultural center "Pokrovskie Vorota" Jean-Francois Tiri and the first Deputy of the Religious Board of Muslims of the Russian Federation, the executive Secretary of the Muslim International Forum, the editor-in-chief of the Medina Publishing House Damir Mukhetdinov.
In his speech, the Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican in the Russian Federation, Monsignor Giovanni D'aniello, read out the message of Pope Francis to the participants of the meeting. The head of the Roman Catholic Church in his message noted that reflection and dialogue on the encyclical can help not only in the Russian Federation, where the dialogue between Christians and Muslims is intended to grow, but also the human community as a whole. "I am sure that an open and honest comparison of my thoughts with the themes of the Encyclical "All Brothers" can promote dialogue between religions," he stressed.
In turn, the Apostolic nuncio of the Vatican in Russia, greeting Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin and thanking him for the invitation to participate in this significant event, said that " universal openness will allow us to understand and appreciate the other, because true love, inspired by God, can not but give birth in the hearts of all of us a desire for mutual assistance, despite the differences that may characterize us differently, and which, instead of being obstacles, are rather enriching elements."
"The spirit of brotherhood" can be understood as the desire of a person to turn his eyes to God, so that after he can share and enrich through specific actions with others and those who are brothers, "he stressed and called for "dreaming as one human family, as travelers in one flesh, as children of one Earth, which is our common home." "Let us dream that each of us brings to this dream the richness of our own faith and beliefs, that each speaks with his own voice — we are all like brothers and sisters," he concluded.
In the welcoming speech of Mufti Sheikh Ravil Gaynutdin, which was read by the Deputy Chairman of the RBM RF, Mufti of Moscow Ildar Alyautdinov, gratitude was expressed to Pope Francis: "I express my deepest gratitude to the venerable brother, the religious leader of Catholics around the world and the head of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis. I am grateful, first of all, for the great, extremely necessary and inspired work of humanity, which is the encyclical "FRATELLI TUTTI – -" All Brothers " about brotherhood and social friendship. The hand of friendship and peace extended by Pope Francis towards the Islamic world in 2019 on the Arabian Peninsula is received with gratitude and respect by us – the Muslims of the Eurasian area, because there is nothing nobler than the search for communication, dialogue and generosity on the ways to achieve peace and harmony for our peoples. We accept this gesture of goodwill, unique in history, and declare our readiness to go hand in hand with our Christian brothers to achieve peace and justice."
According to the religious leader of the Muslims of Russia, many of the thoughts and feelings expressed by the Pope in the encyclical resonate in the souls of Muslims, inspire them to think and analyze. "We are touched and highly appreciate the message of our Honorable Brother Francis addressed to the participants of our meeting, his good wishes. He is absolutely right that the desired purpose of today's fraternal meeting is to benefit public life as well as the mental mood of individuals," Ildar Alyautdinov quoted Mufti Gaynutdin.
The chairman of the State Duma Committee on Ethnic Affairs, Valery Gazzaev, also addressed the participants of the event with welcoming words. "Today, more than ever, we are all obliged to preserve and strengthen interethnic peace and harmony, promote the harmonization of interethnic and interfaith relations, and promote constructive dialogue between representatives of different ethnic communities and cultures," he said.
According to him, the encyclical is a text that is addressed to all of humanity. The translation into Russian of the document of the Roman Catholic Church is an important step towards interreligious dialogue.
"I am sure that today, more than ever, it is necessary to keep interreligious peace. For religious organizations, there is a extensive field of interaction in different spheres of social and religious life of civil society, cooperation in a variety of areas, " the head of the Duma Committee concluded.
Chief Rabbi of Russia (Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia) Adolf Shaevich thanked the mufti for the initiative to publish the Pope's message in Russian and highly appreciated the importance of this work in spreading the feelings of brotherhood and love among the followers of all Abrahamic religions.
According to the Chief Military Rabbi of Russia (Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia) Aaron Gurevich,the publication of the translation of the encyclical into Russian stirred up the discussion and encouraged us to understand the reasons for what unites us both in the social area and in the field of theology. "The encyclical is a program document. The social sphere is also affected here. Monotheism crushes the idols of the market and politics. This applies to all faiths, including the Abrahamic religions, and makes us think about what our place is in a fast-changing world. This is important in order to understand what strength we have today to resist the crushing factors that I have identified, including Covid-19. The socio-political "fortress" in the blink of an eye was not a fortress, but a weakness. It turned out that everyone is for himself. And we must again look for brotherhood, look for like-minded people with whom we can face the challenges of our time, " he said.
In addition, Aaron Gurevich read out a greeting from the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia, Alexander Moiseevich Boroda, who noted that the publication of works, books, and studies of various religious leaders is primarily intended to promote the harmonization of relations between representatives of different faiths, the establishment of good neighborliness and respect for each other. "Interreligious relations in Russia today are at a high level and can rightly be the proud object of our society. We build a dialogue based on the moral principles that unite us, on respect for the unique variety of the religious and cultural heritage of our country. The publication of the book for us once again shows the openness and educational activity of centralized religious organizations, which certainly contributes not only to the preservation of traditions, but also to the development of society on the basis of concurrence and respect for civil peace," Alexander Boroda said.
Also making welcoming speeches were: Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, Chairman of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, Ildar Alyautdinov, Deputy Chairman of the RBM RF, Mufti of Moscow, Hieromonk Grigory Matrusov, Chairman of the Council under Patriarch Kirill for Interaction with the Islamic World (Russian Orthodox Church), Sergey Melnikov, Chairman of the Russian Association for the Protection of Religious Freedom, and Abdul-Vahed Niyazov, President of the European Muslim Forum.
The presentation was attended by representatives of embassies of a number of states, religious, state and public organizations, scientists, cultural figures and media representatives, including Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Belgium to the Russian Federation Mark Michelsen, Ambassador of the Order of Malta to Russia Aimone di Savoia Aosta, Counsellor to the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates Hamad al-Hebsi, Attache of the Embassy of Saudi Arabia Yazid al-Ruiji, 1st Secretary of the Embassy of Qatar Abdulaziz al-Ali, Head of the Cultural Representation of Iran Kahraman Suleimani, Counsellor to the Ambassador of Italy Michele Misto, First Secretary of the Embassy of France Johan Juretz, Counsellor to the Embassy of Qatar Rashid Kauar and others.
At the end of the event, Doctor of Theology Damir Mukhetdinov thanked all the participants of the event for their participation and acquainted them with a number of publications that are being prepared for release in the near future by the Publishing House "Medina" and affect interfaith and interreligious relations.