Archimandrite Vassian Zmeyev, former head of the Metochion of the Russian Church in Sofia, Bulgaria, who was expelled from the country and has been banned from entering North Macedonia, was welcomed by Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem.
In an announcement by the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, it is reported that Theophilos welcomed Fr. Vassian as well as Archimandrite Fr. Nikon.
The two clergymen of the Russian Church visited the Patriarch of Jerusalem to thank him for the latter’s wishes on the feast of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow, as well as to “ask him to send a hierarch for the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Russian Monastery in Jericho.”
Archimandrite Vassian, as well as two Belarusian priests, was deported by the Bulgarian authorities shortly after mid-September, accusing him of serving Moscow’s geopolitical interests.
Fr. Vassian was the head of the Metochion of the Russian Church in Sofia. The Bulgarian authorities announced that the three clergymen “implemented Russia’s hybrid strategy intending to influence the socio-political processes in Bulgaria in the interests of the Kremlin.”
A few days earlier, North Macedonia had banned Archimandrite Vassian from entering the country. According to the media of the neighboring country, the Russian clergyman has been coordinating all the policies of the Orthodox Church of the neighboring country regarding its ecclesiastical diplomacy for the last year, which led to a state of complete stagnation in its relations with the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the full recognition of its autocephaly.
Read below the announcement of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
On Monday, December 11, 2023, H.H.B. our Father and Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilos received the Head of the Russian Spiritual Mission (MISSIA) Archimandrite Vassianos and Archimandrite Nikon for a visit to express thanks for His wishes on the Name Day of H.H.B. the Patriarch of Moscow Cyril and to ask Him to send a Hierarch to the ceremony marking 150 years since the foundation of the Russian Monastery in Jericho, near the sycamore tree of Zacchaeus.
Likewise, Archimandrite Vassianos asked for the blessing of His Beatitude, so that the Russian Spiritual Mission (MISSIA) will celebrate a Divine Liturgy in the Basilica of the Nativity of Bethlehem on January 4th, 2024 given the approaching Christmas Eve, 7th January 2024.
