On 19 March 2012, the Latvian version of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill’s book ‘Freedom and Responsibility: In Search of Harmony. Human Rights and Personal Dignity’ was presented at the premises of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Riga.
Present at the presentation were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Alexander of Riga and All Latvia; Bishop Alexander of Daugavpils; and archpriest Nikolai Tikhomirov, a cleric of the Latvian Orthodox Church.
In his address, Metropolitan Hilarion underscored the importance of the book as all questions raised by His Holiness the Patriarch directly concern people’s everyday life. The title is not fortuitous, as freedom in Christian theology is freedom from sin. The book will help all readers to understand how to live in the contemporary secular world and build his life on the basis of traditional Christian values. “I hope that the presentation of the book will prelude its author’s visit to Latvia,” he added.
The DECR chairman told the audience about a wide response to the book in different countries. “Each presentation was a publicly important event. In December, the Greek version was presented in Saloniki; the Estonian version was presented yesterday in Tallinn; the Latvian version is presented today; and the Lithuanian version will be presented in the near future,” he said.
The publication of the Latvian version of the book by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill was prepared by the Publishing House of the Latvian Orthodox Church together with the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and with support of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charity Foundation.
After the presentation, the hierarchs answered the journalists’ questions.