Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East has completed his visit to Russia

DECR Communication Service, 18.11.2022. 

On November 16, Catholicos-Patriarch of the Assyrian Church of the East Mar Awa III completed his first official visit to Russia. 

The main event of his visit was his meetings with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. 

The visit also included negotiations with the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, and a meeting of members of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East.

On November 12, the delegation of the Assyrian Church visited the Sretensky Monastery and Sretensky Theological Academy, In the Academy’s assembly hall, the Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa met with members of the faculty and students. The father superior of the Sretensky Monastery, Hegumen Ioann (Ludishchev) gave a grand reception in honour of the high guest. 

On November 13, the Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East and his party celebrated the Liturgy at the Assyrian church of the Most Holy Virgin Mary (Mat Maryam). After the service, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa had a talk with the Russian faithful of the Assyrian Church of the East - Muscovites and those who came fr om neighbouring regions to meet with their Primate. 

On the same day, the guests visited the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy wh ere they were given a warm welcome by the Mother Superior Elizabeth (Pozdnyakova) and were shown the convent’s social service facilities. 

On November 14, the Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East paid a visit to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where he met with the deputy head of the Russian foreign policy department, special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for the Middle East and African countries, Mr. M. L. Bogdanov. They discussed the actual situation of Christians in Iraq, Syria and other countries in the Middle East and pointed to the importance of further development and strengthening of cooperation of the Russian state and the Russian Orthodox Church with Christian and other traditional religious communities in the Middle East. 

Moreover, during his stay in Moscow, Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III and his retinue visited the St. Daniel Monastery, the Cathedral Church of Christ the Saviour, Red Square, the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Most Holy Mother of God-on-the-Moat (Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed) and the historical museum ‘Chambers of Romanov Boyars in Zaryadye’.

At Vnukovo airport, the Primate of the Assyrian Church of the East was seen off by Bishop Clement of Krasno-Slobodsk and Temnikov, co-chairman of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Assyrian Church of the East; Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Hierodeacon Peter (Akhmatkhanov), a DECR staff member; and representatives of the Moscow parish of the Assyrian Church of the East and the Assyrian community in Russia. 

The delegation who accompanied His Holiness  included His Grace Mar Afram Athneil, Bishop of Syria; His Grace Mar Narsai Benjamin, Bishop of Iran, Armenia and Georgia; His Grace Mar Abris Tyari, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop in Erbil; Very Rev. Chor-Bishop Samano Odisho, Repesentative of the Assyrian Church of the East in Russia; Rev. Priest Ephraim Alkhass, personal assistant of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III;    Rev. Priest Nikodim Yukhanaev, clergyman of the Diocese of Iran, Armenia and Georgia; and Rev. Priest Peter Pavlov, prior of the Assyrian parish in Krasnodar.