The meeting with Vladimir Putin who is on a visit to the USA greatly impressed representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia. They emphasized, speaking there on Thursday, that the meeting might be regarded as "a basis for more fruitful actions" which in the long run were likely to result in the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church under the Moscow Patriarchate.
"I have met many presidents of different countries in my life, and I must say I've never felt so free as I did communicating with the Russian president whom I see as an open man of good abilities who really wants to gain an insight into the problems [he is faced with]," said Mark, Archbishop of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain. "At the same time I had an impression that he believes in God. In his person I met a Russian Orthodox believer, and that was very important for me. I wish many countries had such a president." In the Archbishop's words, most of the believers "have been long dreaming of normal relations between the two parts of the Russian Church." "Our task in the present situation is undoubtedly to overcome obstacles on the way to rapprochement, find a common language and a road to follow together," Archbishop Mark said.