"I hope that this major event will prove successful and reflect positively on the mood of our people. Of course, this will largely depend also on the game of our football team; here, one can only hope and pray, and pray so that everything goes right and worthily. And of course, our hopes are pinned on the skills of our sportsmen," the patriarch said at the opening of a Supreme Church Council meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.

He also urged his clergy as well as ordinary people to extend a welcome to whoever visits Russia these days, as a guest or participant in the world cup, and shows interest in Orthodox Christianity.

"I would ask for all of us to be ready to be hospitable, including at churches, towards all those people who will be turning to the Russian Orthodox Church, who will be asking us questions, who will be interested in the life of the Church. This is primarily the duty of hospitality, but it is also our pastoral duty," Patriarch Kirill said.

Source: www.interfax-religion.com