Department for External Church Relations
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Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk celebrates memorial service for Ambassadors Alexander Matsegora and Andrei Karlov
DECR Communication Service, 14/01/2026
On 14th January 2026, the 40th day after the death of Alexander Matsegora, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, a litiya was celebrated at his grave in the Khimki Cemetery in Moscow.
During the memorial service, prayers were also offered for Ambassador Andrei Karlov, buried nearby. Mr Karlov had been the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Turkey and tragically died on 19th December 2016, killed by a terrorist in Ankara. Mr Karlov had also served as the Russian Ambassador to the DPRK and in that capacity had made a considerable contribution to the construction of the Church of the Holy Life-Giving Trinity in Pyongyang.
The memorial service was celebrated by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Concelebrating with him was Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, Advisor to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’. Among those who came to pray for Ambassadors Alexander Mastegora and Andrei Karlov were their relatives and Archpriest Sergy Kulikov, Dean of the Znamenny District of the Northern Vicariate of the city of Moscow.
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