Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with Metropolitan Jacques of Buenos Aires and All Argentine

DECR Communication Service, 10.02.2023.

On February 9, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), met with Metropolitan Jacques of Buenos Aires and Argentina, a hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Antioch.

A prayer service was celebrated at St. George Antiochian Orthodox Cathedral in Buenos Aires. The tour of the cathedral was followed by a meeting of Metropolitan Anthony and Metropolitan Jacques. Attending the meeting were also Bishop Leonid of Argentina and South America; H.E. Sami Salameh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Syrian Arab Republic to the Argentine Republic; Mr. Elias Deglavi, vice-chairman of the administrative council of St. George Cathedral; Mr. Oleg V. Kolomin, first secretary and cultural attaché of the Russian Embassy in Argentina; and members of the Moscow church delegation Archpriest Nikolai Lishchenyuk, DECR deputy chairman; Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev, DECR secretary for the affairs of the diaspora; Rev. Alexander Yershov, assistant to the DECR chairman; Archpriest Sergiy Yurin, secretary of the Russian Orthodox Diocese of Argentine; and representatives of the Antiochian Orthodox community of Buenos Aires.

Metropolitan Anthony thanked Metropolitan Jacques for hospitality and cordiality and explained his visit to Buenos Aires by participation in the round table conference on “The Russian Orthodox Church and Compatriots: Experience of Cooperation in Latin American Countries.” The hierarch shared impressions of his first visit to the Patriarchate of Antioch as the DECR chairman in January and spoke in praise of friendly relations between the two Churches. “We are trying to stand together and contribute to the strengthening of Orthodox unity,” he said.

In his welcoming address to Metropolitan Anthony, Dr. Sami Salameh spoke about past and present relationships between Syria and Russia and between people of the two countries, and expressed his gratitude to the Russian Orthodox Church for the aid it has rendered to people in Syria.

Metropolitan Antony expressed his hope for the further strengthening of relations between the Russian and Antiochian Orthodox Churches in the spirit of fraternal cooperation.

Souvenirs were exchanged at the end of the meeting.

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Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with Metropolitan Jacques of Buenos Aires and All Argentine

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