Russian Patriarch Kirill met Abbot of the Shaolin Monastery Shi Yongxin who had arrived in Moscow with a delegation of monks for the Spasskaya Tower Festival, Interfax reports.
Kirill called the monastery a very good illustration of the fact that a man’s strength depended on the strength of soul. He expressed regret that modern civilizations idolized comfort and believes that comfort only makes people weaker. The patriarch said that spiritual growth was only possible under self-limitation.
He noted that the 21st century should focus on spiritual nurturing, so that material progress would be followed by inner, spiritual progress of the personality.
