On July 24, upon arriving in Moscow, the delegation visited the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and met with the Chairman of the DECR, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk. Following the meeting, the guests toured the sights of the Danilov Stavropegic Monastery and venerated its holy relics.

The following day, representatives of the Antiochian Church visited the Novodevichy Stavropegic Convent. On behalf of the convent’s abbess, Abbess Margarita (Feoktistova), the guests were warmly welcomed by the convent’s dean, Nun Evdokia (Kireeva), who introduced them to the history and contemporary life of the monastery. The delegation then visited the Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in Kleniki, where they served a moleben before the shrine containing the relics of St Alexius Mechev. At the Pokrovsky Stavropegic Convent, the hierarchs, accompanied by a guide, visited the monastery’s museum complex and venerated the relics of Blessed Matrona of Moscow.

On Sunday, July 26, the guests took part in the celebrations marking the patronal feast of the Antiochian Metochion in Moscow. At the Church of the Archangel Gabriel, they celebrated the Divine Liturgy together with the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, and the rector of the metochion, His Eminence Niphon, Metropolitan of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’.

This was followed by a visit to the Sretensky Stavropegic Monastery. The guests were welcomed by the monastery’s abbot, Archimandrite Ioann (Ludishchev), who told them about the history and contemporary life of the monastery and the Sretensky Theological Academy.

That evening, Metropolitan Silouan of Mount Lebanon departed Russia.

On July 27, continuing his stay in Moscow, Metropolitan Anthony of Zahleh and Baalbek and Archimandrite Jeremiah (Azzam) visited the Epiphany Cathedral in Yelokhovo, where they were warmly welcomed by the cathedral’s rector, Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk, Head of the Administrative Secretariat of the Moscow Patriarchate. The representatives of the Patriarchate of Antioch then visited the Novospassky Stavropegic Monastery and held a fraternal conversation with its abbot, Metropolitan Gregory of Voskresensk, Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.

On the same day, Metropolitan Anthony and Archimandrite Jeremiah visited St Tikhon’s Orthodox University and met with its rector, Bishop Methodius of Yegoryevsk. They subsequently visited the Church of St Nicholas of Myra in Kotelniki, which serves as the Representation of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’.

On July 28, the Feast of the Baptism of Rus’, the guests took part in the Divine Liturgy celebrated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ at the Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin. Following the service, Metropolitan Anthony and Archimandrite Jeremiah visited the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, where a guided tour was arranged for them.

The following day, the delegation visited the Holy Trinity Lavra of St Sergius. The guests venerated the relics of St Sergius of Radonezh and the Holy Trinity icon in the monastery’s Holy Trinity Cathedral, after which they visited the Dormition Cathedral of the Lavra and the Moscow Theological Academy, accompanied by a guide. The representatives of the Antiochian Church were warmly received by the governor of the Lavra and rector of the Academy, Bishop Kirill of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov.

On July 30, Metropolitan Anthony of Zahleh and Baalbek and Archimandrite Jeremiah (Azzam) departed Russia.

During their visit, the guests from the Antiochian Orthodox Church were accompanied by His Eminence Niphon, Metropolitan of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’, and Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’ to the Patriarch of Great Antioch and All the East.

Photos by the Press Service of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus’,
the DECR Communication Service,
the websites of the Novodevichy and Pokrovsky Convents,
the Moscow Theological Academy, St Tikhon’s Orthodox University,
and the Representation of the Orthodox Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.