"It is our duty as a Church to remind those who draw up policies and determine the fate of people, of certain beliefs and values, upon which the spiritual history, the cultural identity and, as we would like to believe, the future of Europe are based. In this particular instance those values that concern us are: our perception of who man and what his society are, and our understanding and attitude towards the stranger", said Archbishop Christodoulos speaking to the Conference on Irregular Migration.

The Conference had been jointly organised by the Church of Greece through the Integration Centre for Migrant Workers (KSPM) of the Holy Synod and the Churches' Committee for Migrants in Europe (CCME).

In his address, the Archbishop requested from the Greek Government to promote a balance in European policy on immigration and asylum, and to regard the reunion of the families of immigrants from third world countries legally residing in the European Union.

Cyprus President Glafcos Clerides briefed today Cyprus' Hierarchs on the latest developments on the Cyprus problem.

Bishop of Paphos Chrysostomos said that a thorough briefing was given by the President and he pledged the "Church will stand by the government and the political leadership so that united they could handle any situation". He said he was assured that the political leadership "will not endure any pressure", adding that "the time left is so little but because of President Clerides and the political leadership's experience, there will be a good ending".

The Bishop of Paphos said the clergymen stressed that a Cyprus settlement should be functional; otherwise "it should not be acceptable".

The Russian deputy minister of education, Leonid Grebnev, declared that the introduction of religious studies into the curriculum of the schools does not contradict the secular character of education in Russia.

"Within the framework of the budget it is possible to teach only secular disciplines, but secular education can include knowledge of religion as a part of the culture. We are talking not only about Orthodoxy but also about other religions that have existed in our country for many centuries now," Grebnev explained in an interview with "Gazeta".

He expressed categorical disagreement with the idea of teaching the fundamentals of various traditional religious would lead to estrangement among children and minors. "Let's remember that these children attend schools in the Russian Federation. They communicate with one another in the Russian language. Nobody doubts the necessity of studying the Russian language and Russian history," Grebnev said.

In this regard he posed the question: "Why should history be without Cyrill and Methodius, without Sergius of Radonezh? Culture derives from the word cult," the deputy minister of education noted, adding, "the cultured person should know something about what lies at the foundation of the culture of the country where he lives."

The Government of Georgia (former republic of the USSR) ratified the agreement with Georgian Patriarchate. 203 deputies voted unanimously for on Tuesday, October 22. Both parties signed this agreement on October 14 at Svetitskhoveli that is the main Cathedral of Georgian Patriarchate in Tbilisi. The document will come into force as soon as it is officially published.

The Holy Synod of the Serb Orthodox Church says that the situation with the Serbian national written language, the Cyrillic alphabet, is threatening Serbian clergy addressed the Serbian community with an appeal to preserve their native written language. The appeal says that the Cyrillic alphabet is disappearing from the public and cultural life in Serbia and Montenegro. Only a few newspapers, including those owned by the clergy, of a total number of over 800 are printed in Cyrillic, at the time when the rest are issued in the Roman letters. As for the Serbian Internet, the number of sources in Cyrillic is even less. Komentar.net- Glas Desnice - is one of the few sources devoted to the Serbian identity. This online source strictly criticizes the policies of Serbian and Yugoslav authorities.

RIA Novosti informs that Serbia currently fears the replacement of the Cyrillic language with Roman letters. The Serbian Academy of Science and Culture and several other organizations are conducting protests in connection with this problem. A national committee for the protection of the Cyrillic alphabet has been set up in the republic.

The Holy Synod of the Serb Orthodox Church refuses the idea that Yugoslavia's desire to incorporate in Europe "implies the rejection of Serbian national and cultural characteristics." Indeed, EU members "don't reject their national self-determination, culture, and language; on the contrary, they pay even more attention to developing them and enriching European culture."

It has recently been reported that deputies of the parliament had submitted a draft "Declaration on the protection of the Cyrillic alphabet." Deputies stressed that, if Serbian society rejects its own written language, this means that it "won't preserve its cultural values, traditions, and national identity." Professor Risto Trajkovic, one of the authors of the declaration, says: "The nation is identified by its traditions, written, and spoken languages. Serbian traditions and customs are becoming more and more obsolete; there are many borrowed words in the language; the Serbian written language and literature are disappearing. Together with them, the Serbian nation is dying out and is fading away from the political scene. The replacing of our written language to the Roman alphabet is also the result of a universal tendency: globalization."