American preacher Franklin Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, met with Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus, Metropolitan of Minsk and Zaslawye Veniamin. The meeting took place on May 15 at the Minsk Diocesan Administration.
The sides discussed the “similarity of approaches” between the Orthodox Church and the Billy Graham Association regarding “solutions to pressing contemporary issues such as the protection of traditional family values, moral issues, and the prospects for Christian mission in the modern world.”
“The participants in the meeting condemned proselytism in all its forms, expressed a shared interest in strengthening interfaith peace and harmony in the Republic of Belarus, and voiced hope for an end to military conflicts, the establishment of peace, and the restoration of good-neighborly relations between countries and peoples,” the Belarusian Orthodox Church press service reported.
At the end of the meeting, the sides exchanged gifts. Metropolitan Veniamin presented Graham with a facsimile edition of the 16th-century Slutsk Gospel, while Graham gave him a book about the life of his father, Billy Graham.
As previously reported, the “Festival of Hope,” involving Protestant churches, will take place at Minsk’s Chyzhouka Arena on May 16–17. Yesterday, Franklin Graham met at the Palace of Independence with Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
