“Except for a few Orthodox extremists, I do not hear a single voice expressing approval for the prohibition of the Jehovah’s Witnesses”, says Russian church historian Constantine Prokhorov.

The criminalization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia is a mistake, says the Italian Evangelical Alliance. Freedom of worship should be guaranteed for everyone, “even for those who, in our view, are completely wrong.”

Organisers of ‘Together for Europe 2016’ in Munich believe “500 years of division is enough, unity is possible”. Pope Francis and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I supported the meeting.

Meletis Meletiadis, President of the Synod of the Greek Evangelical Churches, analyses the Orthodox Council in Crete (Greece).

In 1961, the preparation for a historical “Holy and Great” council was started. It was to be the Eighth Church Council. However, issues of faith lost out to issues of politics.

“The relationship between Orthodoxy and those Churches which are in the process of accepting liberal moral values and doctrinal relativism is deteriorating”, says Francisco José Pino.

The script was coined out by two brothers, Cyril and Methodius, with the purpose to introduce Christ to Slavonic nations who had no alphabet. Today the Cyrillic Alphabet is used by roughly 300 million people round the world.

After the conflict with Russia, many in the Western part of the country ask for a second holiday on December 25. Evangelical Christians like the secretary of Ukraine’s security council Oleksander Turchynov back the idea.

“The Russian Orthodox Church works tirelessly to bring unity and to educate the younger generation in the spirit of patriotism”, Putin said.