Greek PM meets Patriarch Kirill of Moscow

It was the last meeting in a full-schedule three-day official visit to Moscow.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church welcomed Tsipras and the Greek delegation to the Monastery of Daniel and expressed the hope that the premier and his government would "support and retain the spiritual and ethical foundations of the life of your people."

He added that it was wrong to believe the church could not coexist with the Left. "If the Church follows a political life, then it ceases to belong to all the people," Patriarch Kirill said, mentioning also religious tourism and the importance the Russian orthodoxy gives to Greeces' Mt. Athos monastic community's 1,000-year anniversary in 2016.

Tsipras conveyed the warm regards of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Archibishop Ieronymos of Athens and ALl Greece and said the Left and orthodoxy shared many values, including care for one's neighbour, the weaker, and tolerance.