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On August, 24 Head of Karelia Andrei Nelidov met with Archbishop Manuil of Petrozavodsk and Karelia in Alexandro-Nevsky Cathedral of Petrozavodsk – the central church of the Karelian capital.
Heads of secular and church authorities of the republic have seen round the church and exchanged ideas on the speres of possible cooperation between the church and the state.
This is Andrei Nelidov's second meeting with Archbishop Manuil. Speaking about the reason of such attention to spiritual affairs, Andrey Nelidov explained: "Now we need to understand, what we would like Karelia to be in 10 years. When we think of the concept we wish to offer people for discussion, we have to consider, that Karelia is a center of spiritual power of Russia. Ponder, in fact only in Karelia there are three churches of Transfiguration. It has occured not casually. People who founded these churches felt special power of these places. We should be attentive to this appeal. The concept of Karelia's development was offered long before us by people more respected, than we are. Moreover, in the Northwest where we live, Karelia stands out against other regions for its beauty. And this beauty is also a hint. Therefore, we trend to offer a concept in which tourism will dominate, including spiritual pilgrimage, preservation and use of natural beauty, historical and cultural riches, rather than construction of lots of factories and plants."
In turn, Archbishop Manuil has mentioned that he estimates results of the meeting positively. "Cooperation between the state and church is necessary. Certainly, matters concern neither clericalisation of the society, nor state financing of the church activities, these are idle fears, but it is necessary to remember that the faithful make an essential part of the Russian society, and Orthodoxy is one of the corner stones of Russian history and culture." As one of the spheres for cooperation Archbishop has called joint participation in restoration of churches which are monuments of architecture, as well as social projects of the church, for example, work with wayward youth.
Summing up his impressions from the visit to the church, Andrei Nelidov said: "This was not my first visit there. Now there appear many rich and beautiful cathedrals, but the primary goal of a church is not beauty and riches but feeling of the presence of God, and in Alexandro-Nevsky Cathedral there is such feeling."
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