| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR Chairman meets Primate of Malankara Church of India DECR Communication Service, September 5, 2023. On September 4 in the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk met with the Primate of the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India His Holiness Catholicos Baselios Marthoma Mathews III, who is in Russia on official visit. Present at the meeting were also members of the delegation accompanying His Holiness Catholicos: His Eminence Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nicholovos of New York, Co-Chairman of the Working Group for the coordination of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church; His Eminence Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Chrysostomos of Niranam, secretary of the Holy Synod; His Eminence Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Demetrios of Delhi, President of the Department of Ecumenical Relations; His Eminence Metropolitan Abraham Mar Stephanos of United Kingdom, Europe and Africa; Very Rev. Philip Thomas Cor Episcopa, Vicar of the Cathedral of St Mary Theotokos, Kuala Lumpur; Principal Secretary to His Holiness Catholicos of Malankara Rev. Fr. Abraham Johns; Priest Trustee, MOSC, Rev. Fr. Saji Varughese; Secretary of the Department of Ecumenical Relations, Member of Bilateral Commission MOSC-ROC Rev. Fr. Aswin Zefrin Fernandis; Secretary to His Holiness Catholicos of Malankara Rev. Fr. Johnson Baiju; Church Association Secretary, MOSC, Mr. Biju Oommen; Working Committee Member, MOSC, Mr. Jacob Mathew; Programme Secretary, International Affairs, MOSC, Mr. Kevin George Koshy; representative of India’s diaspora in Russia Mr. Ipen. The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, Patriarchal Exarch for Africa, Co-Chairman of the Working Group for the coordination of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church; Hieromonk Stephen (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Hierodeacon Petr (Akhmatkhanov), DECR staff member. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR Chairman meets with the delegation of the Ethiopian Church DECR Communication Service, 15.02.2023. On February 14, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, met with the delegation of the Ethiopian Church who are in Moscow for the second meeting of the Commission for Bilateral Dialogue with the Russian Orthodox Church. The meeting was held in the Department for External Church Relations. The Ethiopian side was represented by Archbishop Philipos of South Omo, rector of the Holy Trinity Theological Academy in Addis-Ababa, co-chair of the Commission; Rev. Daniel Sayfemichael, head of the Ethiopian Church Department for External Relations, secretary of the Commission; Archimandrite Uedejesus Sefugalato, deputy chancellor of the Ethiopian Church, dean of the parishes in Addis-Ababa. From the Moscow Patriarchate side, there were Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, Patriarchal Exarch for Africa, co-chair of the Commission; Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, secretary of the Commission; V. V. Kipshidze, vice-chairman of the Synodal Department for the Church’s Relations with Society and the Medea, member of the Commission; Deacon Dimitry Serov, director of the Moscow Theological Academy Publishers, member of the Commission; S. G. Alferov, a DECR staff member. Metropolitan Anthony warmly welcomed the church delegation from Addis-Ababa on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and asked them to convey words of brotherly love and best wishes to His Holiness Abune Mathias, Primate of the Ethiopian Church. His Eminence Anthony recounted to the guest the history and today’s life of the Department for External Church Relations. One of the priority areas of the work of this oldest Synodal Department of the Moscow Patriarchate always has been the maintaining of contacts with the Oriental Churches including the Ethiopian Church the relations with which number more than one century. As for today, the dynamically developing cooperation of the two largest communities of the Oriental-Christian Church has a special importance amid the threats encountered by the peoples of Ethiopia and historical Rus’. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR chairman visits cathedral church in Sremski Karlovci DECR Communication Service, 06.03.2024. In the evening of March 4, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), currently on a working visit to Serbia, arrived in the city of Novi Sad, where he met with Bishops Irinej of Baka, Isihije of Valejevo and Damaskin of Mohacs. On March 5, Metropolitan Anthony visited the city of Sremski Karlovci. The hierarch of the Russian Church was greeted by Bishop Vasilije of Srem at the Cathedral of St. Nicholas. Among those gathered there were archpriest Jovan Milanovi, rector of the seminary, and clergy of the diocese of Srem. Bishop Vasilije addressed the DECR chairman, saying: “You will have the opportunity to visit some monasteries on Fruška Gora and venerate the holy relics kept in these abodes. You will always be a very dear guest in our diocese.” He told the guests about the history of monasticism on Fruška Gora, noting that once there were almost forty monasteries there, and mentioned Russian bishops and monastics, including Metropolitan Anthony (Khrapovitsky), who have left a mark in the spiritual history of the region. “I am delighted to welcome you here and receive the blessing you have brought to us from the saints of Holy Rus’ who are praying to God for the salvation of the Russian, Ukrainian, and other peoples, and for all those suffering in this difficult time full of temptations, wherever they live, be it Palestine, Israel, Kosovo and Metohija, or other places,” the bishop continued to say. “It is so good that today we could pray to the Lord together, beseeching him to end all wars in this world and grant peace and the grace of the Holy Spirit to all God’s people.” Metropolitan Anthony thanked Bishop heartily for brotherly love and hospitality and said: “We, pilgrims from the Russian Church, have arrived in Serbia with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus " to meet with His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia and make a pilgrimage to the holy places of your country.” |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR chairman attends the opening of Moscow International Forum ‘Religion and Peace’ The first Moscow International Forum ‘Religion and Peace’ on ‘The States and Religions. Models of Co-existence and Cooperation Experience in Public Space’ opened on December 13, 2013. It takes place on the initiative of the Department of international cooperation, national politics and relations with religious organizations of Moscow with over four hundred participants, including representatives of major religions, experts in inter-confessional relations from Russia, Europe and the USA, state and public figures, representatives of the legislative and executive powers from forty regions of Russia, leading scholars and mass media representatives. Invited to the forum on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry; archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for Church-Society Relations; and Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Information Department. Before the session, Metropolitan Hilarion met with Mr. Yuri Artyukh, head of the Department of international cooperation. They exchanged opinions on the state of interreligious relations in the capital of Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion greeted the participants on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, noting that ‘His Holiness is not only the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, but also Bishop of Moscow. He takes all events in our city very much to heart and pays particular attention to cooperation among representatives of different religious groups and traditions who live in our multi-million city.’ |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Tripartite meeting held by religious leaders of Russia, Azerbaijan and Armenia On October 13, 2021, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Sheikh ul-Islam Allakhshuqur Pashazade, Chairman of the Muslim Board of the Caucasus, and Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians Karekin II met at the Patriarchal and Synodal Residence in the St. Daniel monastery in Moscow. The religious leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan had come to the Russian capital city at the invitation of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to discuss ways for resolving the consequences of the longstanding conflict in the South Caucasus. The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church included chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR vice-chairman Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), chairman of the Department for the Church’s Relations with the Society and Mass Media, acting head of the Patriarchal Press Service V. Legoida, DECR secretary for interreligious relations Rev. Dimitry Safonov, and staff member of the DECR secretariat for interreligious relations Deacon Iliya Kashitsyn. Among the members of the delegation of the Armenian Apostolic Church were Archbishop Natan (Ogannisian), head of the Department for External Church Relations and Protocol; Archbishop Ezras Nersisian), head of the Diocese of Novo-Nakhichevan and Russia; Bishop Vrtanes (Abraamian) of the Diocese of Artsakh; Protoarchimandrite Shage (Ananian), head of the Department for External Church Relation and rector of the St. George Theological Academy; Dr. Gevorg Danielian, member of the Supreme Spiritual Council; and Archpriest Vargam (Melikian), secretary to His Holiness Karekin. The delegation of the Muslim Board of the Caucasus included Mufti Salman Musayev, first vice-chairman of the MBC chairman; Rashad Aliyarly, MBC vice-chairman; Fuad Nurullayev, MBC vice-chairman; Rufat Gasanov, head of the MBC protocol department; Zulfugar Farzullayev, head of the MBC department. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy DECR Chairman arrives to India DECR Communication Service, 28.09.2023. On September 27, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk started his visit to India. The visit comes at the invitation of the Malankara Church of India and the Christian Conference of Asia, which is currently holding its XV General Assembly in the city of Kottayam in India’s state of Kerala. On September 28, Metropolitan Anthony visited the church of the Most Holy Theotokos in the city of Niranam, one of the most ancient Christian churches of India, which was erected on the site of one of the seven churches, built in the I century by Saint Thomas the Apostle. At the gate of the church, His Eminence was solemnly greeted by its rector and member of the Malankara Association Managing Committee Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Niranam, and by members of clergy and parishioners. Metropolitan Anthony offered a prayer at the chest with a particle of the relics of Saint Thomas the Apostle, the particle reposing in its dedicated chapel, and had a conversation with members of the Managing Committee. After that, His Eminence Anthony proceeded to visit the church of Saint Gregorios in the city of Parumala, the site of special veneration for India’s Christians, visited by hundreds of pilgrims daily. The representative of the Russian Orthodox Church was greeted by President of the Department of Church Relations Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Demetrios of Delhi. In the meeting after that, the two hierarchs discussed a broad spectrum of topics focusing on bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Malankara Church of India. DECR Chairman also got acquainted with the work of the St. Gregorios International Cancer Care Centre, part of St. Gregorios Medical Mission Hospital of Parumala, the largest hospital owned and managed by the Malankara Church. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk attends service at the Lesnovo monastery DECR Communication service, 12.01.2023. On 12 th January 2023 the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, who was visiting the Republic of North Macedonia with the blessing of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, stayed at the Lesnovo monastery. He participated in the Divine Liturgy in the monastery Church of Saint Michael on the feast day of Saint Gabriel of the Holy Mountain and bishop of Velica, who is especially venerated in this monastic house. The liturgy was headed by the Primate of the Macedonian Orthodox Church of the archdiocese of Ohrid His Beatitude the Archbishop of Ohrid and Macedonia Stefan. Concelebrating with him were: the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony; the metropolitan of Bregalnica Hilarion; advisor to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia archpriest Nikolai Balashov, who was accompanying the chairman of the DECR on the trip along with deputy chairman of the DECR archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, the dean of the metochion of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia archimandrite Vassian (Zmeyev) and aid to the chairman of the DECR Father Alexander Yershov, clerics of the Rumanian Orthodox Church archpriest Viorel Daniel Pasmangiu, archpriest Ioan Danci and hieromonk Luca (Niculcea), as well as the abbot of the monastery hegumen Damascene (Bogdanovsky). Praying in the church were the Russian ambassador to the Republic of North Macedonia S.A. Bazdnikin, monks and nuns fr om the Rumanian and Macedonian Orthodox Churches, pilgrims and numerous parishioners. In his sermon His Beatitude Archbishop Stefan particularly emphasized the historical significance of concelebration of the Macedonian bishops with the Russian bishops, which happened for the first time in 1962 when in the Ohrid Church of the Most Holy Mother of God there concelebrated the blessedly-reposed Primates His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexis I, His Holiness the Patriarch of Serbia Herman and the Archbishop of Macedonia Dositheos. |
| Accept The site uses cookies to help show you the most up-to-date information. By continuing to use the site, you consent to the use of your Metadata and cookies. Cookie policy The DECR chairman completes his trip to the USA On July 15, 2021, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relation of the Moscow Patriarchate, completed his visit to the USA made with a blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, to take part in the International Religious Freedom Summit which took place in Washington. At the New York airport, Metropolitan Hilarion was seen off by Russia’s General Consul in the USA Mr. S.K. Ovsyannikov and Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov), a cleric of the St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral. On July 11, Metropolitan Hilarion concelebrated the Divine Liturgy together with His Beatitude Tikhon, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, at the St. Nicholas Cathedral in New York and then had negotiations with the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America. On July 12, the feast of Ss Peter and Paul, Metropolitan Hilarion celebrated the festive Liturgy together with the First Hierarch of the ROCOR, Metropolitan of Eastern America and New York, at the Synodal residence of the Russian Church Outside Russia in New York. On the same day, the DECR chairman, in his capacity of rector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies, met with the president of St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York, Archpriest Chad Hatfield. On July 14, the DECR chairman spoke at the International Religious Freedom Summit in Washington. On the sidelines of the summit, he met with the former ambassador for international religious freedom Mr. Samuel Brownback, president of the Open Doors human right organization Mr. David Curry, vice-president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association V. G. Gamm, congressman Jim Slattery, German Bundestag member Waldemar Herdt, organizer of the National Prayer Breakfast in the USA Doug Burley, president of the Trans World Radio media company Mr. Lauren Libby, and leader of the Pulse Christian organization Nick Hall. On the same day, Metropolitan Hilarion visited the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist of the Russian Church Outside Russia in Washington where he was received by its rector Archpriest Victor Potapov, and visited the Embassy of the Russian Federation where he met with the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary in the United States, Mr. A. I. Antonov. |
| Archive Пн DECR chairman meets with leader of the Israeli Druze community 25 December 2023 year 15:38 On December 25, 2023, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), met with Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, chairman of the Supreme Religious Council of the Druze in Israel. The spiritual leader was accompanied by Dr. Ameen Safia, honorary consul of the Russian Federation in Israel, and assistant Amir Tarif. Joining them at the meeting that took place at the DECR premises was deacon Iliya Kashitsyn, secretary for interreligious relations. Metropolitan Anthony warmly welcomed the guests and told them about the dialogue the Russian Orthodox Church is maintaining with communities of non-Christian religions in Russia and in other countries. He underscored the significance of such dialogue at present when unanimous voice of traditional religions is much needed amidst military conflicts, violation of human rights and moral relativism. Also, the archpastor spoke about the activities of the Interreligious Council of Russia which marks its 25th anniversary this year and shared his concerns about hostilities in the Holy Land and in Ukraine. He told the guests about barbaric persecution of the Orthodox believers in Ukraine where the situation has increasingly come to resemble the Bolshevik terror against the Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century. The spiritual leader of the Druze spoke out against the oppression of traditional religions by the state. Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif shared his experience in the development of interreligious and interconfessional relations in Israel, spoke about the Council of Religious Community Leaders in the country and its peacekeeping activities. He emphasized that believers of different religions in the Holy Land still warmly recall the Russian presence of many years, the extensive charity and social activities of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church in the past and at present that includes the construction of churches, schools, hospitals and other socially important institutions, which used to accept and continue to accept people of different nationalities and faiths. |
| Metropolitan Hilarion visits the Church of Antioch’s churches restored with Russian participation Source: DECR Photo: mospat.ru On March 5, 2022, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, with a blessing of His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Great Antioch and All the East, visited the Orthodox Church of Antioch’s churches, which were damaged and partly destroyed during hostilities in Syria and now are being restored with the Russian participation. The DECR chairman was accompanied by Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Syria A. V. Yefimov and the Russian embassy diplomats, Metropolitan Ephraim of Aleppo and Alexandrette, DECR vice-chairman Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, Hegumen Arseniy (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russian to the Patriarchal See of Antioch, and Archdeacon Hilarion Beshara. The restoration of the church of Great Martyr George the Victorious and the parish school at Arbin, a suburb in eastern Damascus, is nearing completion. The church compound, just as the houses around it in Arbin, were heavily damaged during active military clashes with militants who sought to take hold of the capital city. Addressing Metropolitan Ephraim, His Eminence Hilarion said, ‘Your Eminence, I am glad for the opportunity to visit this holy place. When we presently drove through the district destroyed by bombing and saw terrible skeletons of houses all around, we were reminded once again of the horrors that Syria went through, that Damascus went through. I am very glad that, thanks to the Russian Army, it became possible to stop the ravaging of terrorism that threatened to wipe out Syria as a state and Syrian Christians who have lived here for two thousand years’. The DECR chairman also shared a hope that the restoration of this church carried out with the Russian participation would become an impetus for restoring the houses around and that parishioners who had to leave the country would return home. |
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