Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk celebrates Divine Liturgy at the church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome

DECR Communication Service, April 27, 2025.

On April 27, Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations—who is visiting Italy and the Vatican on a working trip with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus'—celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome.

Concelebrating with the archpastor were clergy of the church—Priest Alexy Maximov and Hieromonk Kirill (Porubaev)—as well as Archpriest Ioann Kopylov, a cleric of the Feodosia Diocese. Metropolitan Platon (Udovenko), who had arrived in Rome to attend the funeral of Pope Francis, attended the service in prayer.

Following the Liturgy, Metropolitan Antony greeted the parishioners, conveying to them the blessing of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church. The archpastor also expressed his joy at the opportunity to pray once again within the walls of the church where he had served as rector from 2011 to 2015.

Later that day, Metropolitan Antony departed for Moscow. At Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport, the hierarch was seen off by Russia’s Ambassador to the Vatican, I.D. Soltansky.

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Metropolitan Antony of Volokolamsk celebrates Divine Liturgy at the church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr in Rome

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons

Patriarch

Department Chairman

Sermons