
— On the one hand, we cannot say that we do not have experts on Islam and people who are able to adequately cover the situation both in the church-practical and in the theological context. We have such specialists both in the Department of External Church Relations (DECR, where Vladyka Theophan came from in his time), and among independent experts. I don't mention names on purpose now, so as not to risk missing someone. But, on the other hand, the presence of this small group of experts does not remove the fact that we feel an obvious lack of them. The proposed opening of the center for Islamic studies is just evidence that we need to train specialists ourselves. However, there is another important factor: the expert community is one thing, and an authoritative participant in the dialogue is another. And in this capacity, Metropolitan Theophan occupied, of course, a special place — as a person who for many years had a rich experience of interreligious and interfaith communication, combined with his personal leadership and human qualities, which gave the amazing result that he, in particular, was able to achieve at the final stage of his life as the ruling bishop of Kazan.
Tags: assessment , Russia
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