Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Israel, Satybaldy Burshakov, met with the Patriarch Theophilos III of Jerusalem.
Kazakh diplomat thanked His Beatitude for participating in the meetings of the Congress of Leaders of World and Religious Religions held since 2003.
Theophilos III expressed his admiration for the idea of the dialogue platform created in Nur-Sultan. He also stressed high level of ties between the Jerusalem Patriarchate and Kazakhstan.
Patriarch noted that it is necessary to respect the right of every religion to exist and to give everyone the opportunity to pray anywhere, but no religion should claim the holy places of another religion.
Warmly recalling his trips to Kazakhstan where he met with religious leaders, His Beatitude conveyed his best wishes to Elbasy Nursultan Nazarbayev and President of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
During the meeting, Ambassador S.Burshakov presented to the Patriarch a book on the outcomes of the VI Congress of Religious Leaders, which was held in October 2018 in Astana.
For reference: Theophilos III leads one of the oldest Orthodox churches in the world and takes the fourth place in seniority after the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Alexandria and Antioch in the list of Orthodox leaders. Its jurisdiction includes Orthodox parishioners in Israel, Jordan and Palestine.
The history of the Jerusalem Patriarchate dates back about 2000 years, and its status and position on the territory of modern Israel are fixed by the Agreement between Caliph Omar ibn Khattab and Patriarch Sophronius dated 638.
According to some statistics, about 170 thousand Christians live in Israel.
