“The situation in the region remains very difficult,” he told RIA Novosti. “I recently returned from the Holy Land, where I met the Beatitude of Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem. A part of his flock is in Gaza and he talked. “A lot about the difficulties faced by local residents.”
According to him, the Russian Orthodox Church would welcome any ceasefire, even temporary, in Gaza, but, the metropolitan added, “we can hardly influence the sides of the confrontation.”
Since establishing peace is an important dimension of the Church’s activities, the Church supports initiatives aimed at ending the bloodshed and suffering of innocent people, Metropolitan Anthony added.
