Group of abbots and monastics from the Benedictine Confederation headed by the Abbot Primate Jeremias Shröder visits Russia.
Communications Service of the DECR, 18.07.2026.
From 30th June to 4th July a group of abbots and monastics from the Benedictine Confederation of the Roman Catholic Church were in Russia. The purpose of the visit was to acquaint the representatives of Benedictine monasticism with the life of the Russian Orthodox Church, her monasteries, theological schools, and liturgical monastic traditions.
Comprising the group were: the Abbot Primate Jeremias Shröder, head of the Benedictine Confederation and the father superior of the Monastery of Saint Anselm in Rome; archabbot Cirill Hortobágyi, chairman of the Hungarian Benedictine Congregation and father superior of Pannonhalma Archabbey; archabbot Luca Fallica, father superior of the Abbey of Montecassino; abbot Urban Federer, father superior of Einsiedeln Abbey; abbess Noemi Scarpa, mother superior of the abbey of Bastia Umbra; Father Adaleberto Piovano, priest of Dumenza Abbey; Father Sebastian Hacker, priest of Schottenstift Abbey; nun Manuela Shaiba, professor at the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm, inmate of Alexanderdorf Abbey; nun Rafaela Kolodziejak, inmate of the convent of Benedictine Sisters of the Veneration in Vienna.
On 1st July the guests visited the stauropegic Convent of the Conception in Moscow. An excursion of the monastery was organized for the group, after which there was a meeting with the mother superior of the convent, the deputy chairman of the Synodal department for monasteries and the monastic life of the Russian Orthodox Church abbess Juliania (Kaleda).
On the same day at the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate a meeting was held with the chairman of the DECR the metropolitan of Volokolamsk Anthony. Taking part in the meeting were the secretary of the DECR for inter-Christian relations hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), the dean of the metochion of the New Saviour’s Monastery in the village of Sumarokovo hieromonk Sergei (Filippov), lecturer at the Moscow Theological Academy hieromonk (Filofei (Artyushin) and deacon Alexander Cherepenin.
On 2nd July the representatives of the Benedictine Confederation visited the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius. They met with the rector of the Moscow Theological Academy and the vicar abbot of the Monastery of the Holy Trinity and Saint Sergius the bishop of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov Cyril.
In the same evening the group of abbots and monastics of the Benedictine Confederation visited the stauropegic Monastery of Our Lady of the Don in Moscow. The guests were greeted by the chairman of the Synodal department for monasteries and the monastic life of the Russian Orthodox Church the metropolitan of Kashira Theognostus.
On 3rd July there was a visit to the stauropegic New Saviour’s Monastery in Moscow. Here they met with the chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchy, the first auxiliary bishop to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ for the city of Moscow and the metropolitan of Voskresensk Gregory.
Then the representatives of the Benedictine Confederation headed for the Convent of Ss. Martha and Mary. The guests were greeted by the mother superior of the convent abbess Elizabeth (Pozdnyakov), who arranged an excursion for them.
On the same day the delegation visited the Ss. Cyril and Methodius Post-graduate Institute. The guests were shown the church buildings of the Chernigov metochion, after which there was a meeting with the institute’s rector, chairman of the academic committee of the Russian Orthodox Church archpriest Maxim Kozlov. The participants of the meeting discussed the possibilities of cooperation with the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm in the field of historical liturgical studies and ecclesiastical history.
During their stay in Moscow the representatives of the Benedictine Confederation also saw the Moscow Kremlin, Red Square, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, Saint Daniel’s Stauropegic Monastery, the Tretyakov Art Gallery, the Church of the Ascension of Our Lord on Bolshaya Nikitinskaya Street (known as the ‘Church of the Lesser Ascension’) and the Church of Our Lady of the Sign at Sheremetiev Court. At the Christ the Saviour Cathedral they met with the sacristan archpriest Mikhail Ryazantsev. At the Church of Our Lady of the Sign the members of the delegation conversed with the producer general of the All-Russian Come and See Festival of Contemporary Church Art D. A. Trofimov.
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The Benedictine Confederation (Confederatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti) is an association of the Benedictine congregations of the Roman Catholic Church, instituted in 1893 by decree of Pope Leo XIII. The Confederation has coordinating and representative functions while preserving the autonomy of the Benedictine tradition monasteries. Its permanent institutional centre is the complex of Saint Anselm in Rome which houses the curia of the Abbot Primate, the Pontifical Athenaeum of Saint Anselm and other structures that come under the order. The Confederation is made up of all monasteries of the Benedictine tradition, including the abbeys of Montecassino, Subiaco, Pannonhalma and others. The Confederation comprises of more than six thousand monks and more than twelve thousand nuns.