On July 24, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), met with a delegation of the Antiochian Orthodox Church at the headquarters of the DECR in Moscow.
The visiting delegation included Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon, Metropolitan Anthony of Zahle and Baalbek, and Archimandrite Jeremiah (Azzam) of the Metropolis of Zahle, who were visiting Russia.
Metropolitan Anthony warmly welcomed the delegation and expressed his joy at their visit to the Russian capital. During the meeting, he recalled his own visits to Lebanon, including his participation in the celebrations marking the consecration of the Church of the “Unexpected Joy” Icon of the Mother of God in the city of Zahle in May of last year.
Also participating in the meeting was Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis, Representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.
Representing the Russian Orthodox Church were Archimandrite Philip (Vasilyev), Representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Great Antioch and All the East, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, and Deacon Sergiy Monakhov, a staff member of the Department.
