Message of Cardinal Kurt Koch to Russian Orthodox Seminary in France

Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, sent a message to Hieromonk Alexander Siniakov, Rector of the Russian Orthodox Seminary in France (Épinay-sous-Sénart) on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Seminary.

The celebration was held on 29 June, the solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul, and was presided over by Metropolitan Anthony of Chersonese, the Patriarchal Exarch for Western Europe of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Cardinal Koch, who visited the Russian Orthodox Seminary in France in 2018, stressed in his message that the Seminary occupied a unique place in relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. Indeed, besides its educational scope, the Seminary enables "many Catholics to better know the Russian Orthodox Church, and many Orthodox to better know the Catholic Church". In this sense, it "enhances the rich tradition of fraternal and intellectual exchanges between theologians of the Russian diaspora and French Catholic theologians".

The message was read by Reverend Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, who represented the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

^{Photos: Séminaire orthodoxe russe en France}