Seven Soviet religious leaders will visit the United States next month as guests of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an interfaith group, Rabbi Arthur Schneier of Park East Synagogue, president of the Appeal, announced today. Rabbi Yakov L. Fish-man, Chief Rabbi of Moscow, will be among the leaders. The delegation, led by Metropolitan Nikodim, chairman of the Holy Synod Commission on Christian Unity and Inter-Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, is expected to arrive Nov. 12 and will stay in the US for approximately 10 days, according to Rabbi Schneier.
Other members of the delegation will be a prominent Moslem, and representatives of the Baptist, Lutheran and Catholic church. “The forthcoming visit to the United States will be the first ever made by an interfaith group of religious leaders from the Soviet Union. It will open a new chapter in bi-lateral relations between the religious communities of the United States and the Soviet Union,” Rabbi Schneier said.
Each church leader will devote some of his time to visit with organizations of his own faith, according to Rabbi Schneier. Because of security precautions, however, no itinerary has been released. Rabbi Schneier stated that he hoped that Rabbi Fishman’s visit to the United States would “expose him to the widest representation of Jewish organizations..and let him see followers of Jewish life in America.”
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