Archbishop of Romania:

Extremism forbidden in original Islamic and Christian doctrine

Rasa – A press conference for the third round of Islam-Christianity interreligious dialogues has been held in Qom, in which officials Iranian Shi’a Muslim scholars and Romanian Orthodox officials participated.

News ID: 422362

Date: 23 May 2016 - 15:32

RNA – A press conference for the third round of Islam-Christianity interreligious dialogues has been held in Qom.

The head of the Department of Islamic Doctrine of al-Mustafa International University, as well as Dr. Nicolae Achimescu, the archbishop of Romania and the dean of the faculty of Orthodox Theology at the University of Bucharest, were among the participants.

During his speech at the conference Dr. Achimescu said: “During the first meeting in Iran, I realized Shi’a theology has great potential in terms of interreligious discussions and interactions. In fact there is no misunderstanding between us, rather we have much in common.”

“The only way to reach worldwide peace is through dialogue between religions, which is in fact our motivation for taking part in these series of discussion as we are living in a world where there is so much variety,” he added.

In another part of the press conference, Petroniu Florea, the bishop of Romania’s Sălaj County, noted, “I did not imagine participating in any Islam-Christianity dialogue until three weeks ago, but after taking part in the discussions I realized such dialogue can be very productive and I am glad I could participate in it.”

“With so many feelings of being in Iran, I feel that religious matters have not caused any separation between our religions, rather I have had a great impression while in Iran and it feels like home,” he said.

Hujjat-al-Islam Hoseyn Malek-Afzali also spoke during the press conference, saying, “At this meeting, we address leaders of terrorist groups, governments and Takfiri movements saying the original Islamic and Christian teachings forbid extremism and the support of cruel actions and divine religions invite all human beings to peace, friendship and justice.”

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