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The President of Russia congratulated the head of the Russian Orthodox Church on the ninth anniversary of his enthronement. The President and the Patriarch had a brief informal conversation on the outcomes of the recent meeting of the Russian Orthodox Church Bishops' Council.

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Patriarch Kirill: Compared to the previous Bishops' Councils, the last one was very special, since we had a very open discussion. The Church in general is not quite used to operating this way.

People were able to speak their minds, but at the end of the day, we achieved the highest level of unanimity. When the discussion leads to consensus, this is priceless, since all the participants identify themselves with the outcome.

President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Yes, exactly. This way every participant gets a feeling of contributing to this process and the outcome.

Patriarch Kirill: Yes. Of course, the Council adopted documents that are now being put into practice.

We do hope that this will help strengthen the Russian Church and bring together the dynamic forces of the nation as the Council was inclusive and open to dialogue, to cooperation with all the social forces for the prosperity of our Fatherland.

Vladimir Putin: I congratulate you on this, and thank you for holding this major, very important event for our country at the highest level and with such an outcome.

Patriarch Kirill: Thank you.

Vladimir Putin: Thank you very much.

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