On 5 March 2019, at the Patriarchal and Synodal residence in St. Daniel’s Monastery in Moscow, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with Margus Laidre, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Estonia to the Russian Federation.
They were joined in the meeting by Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), vice-chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and Ms. Piret Reintamm Benno, Minister-Counsellor of the Estonian Embassy.
Greeting the high guest, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church thanked him for taking part in the celebrations that marked the 10th anniversary of his Patriarchal ministry, according to mospat.ru.
In response Margus Laidre said, in particular, “I have not been to Moscow for 12 years. I am very surprised in a good way, but not so much at the city, as at the churches. My spouse and I had a tradition: every Sunday we went to some small church. We were very impressed by the beauty of the Russian people, by their spirituality. These traditions did not die away”.
