MOSCOW, February 13. /TASS/. The Russian Orthodox Church supports the stance of Russian President Vladimir Putin that marriage is the union between a man and a woman, Head of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with Society and Mass Media Vladimir Legoida told TASS on Thursday.

Earlier on Thursday, Putin said at a meeting with members of the working group for drafting proposals for amendments to the Russian Constitution that the idea of protecting traditional family values, including the traditional family, was correct, but pointed to the need to work on the wording.

The president noted that "marriage is the union between a man and a woman." He assured that while he remained president, the terms "mother" and "father" would not be replaced with "parent 1" and "parent 2." He also supported the initiative to " enshrine the concept of marriage as the union between a man and a woman" in the Constitution.

"Of course, the Church welcomes the president’s statement. That indicates the most important position for all traditional religions: marriage is the union between a man and a woman. Much to our regret, the legislation in a number of countries, moreover, countries with Christian traditions, contain different wordings. In accordance with these wordings, new realities of life, which destroy the very foundations of society and relations in the family, become legitimate," Legoida stressed.

Amendments to the Constitution

On January 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on setting up a working group for drafting proposals for amendments to Russia’s Constitution and approved its composition. The group is comprised of 75 politicians, lawmakers, scientists and public personalities. Its co-chairs are head of the Russian Federation Council (upper house) Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building Andrey Klishas, head of the State Duma (lower house) Committee on State Building and Legislation Pavel Krasheninnikov and Director of the Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law at the Russian government Talia Khabrieva.