“Of course we will take part in the restoration of churches, but first of all we must restore peace in the country,” Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) said on Tuesday in a meeting with students of the Moscow State Linguistic University, reports Interfax-Religion.
“It’s hard to begin restoring churches when this or that territory is constantly changing hands,” he continued, assuring the students of the Russian Orthodox Church’s continuing support for war-torn Syria.
In his view, the top priority is “to restore civil peace in the country, and once and for all drive out the terrorists and then to begin to think about a program for restoring not only churches, but the entire infrastructure.”
The metropolitan also pointed out that the Russian Church has continually sent and implemented humanitarian aid in Syria.
