Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk celebrates Divine Liturgy at St Nicholas parish in Oxford
25. February 2014 - 10:28On 23 February 2014, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, visited the Oxford parish of the Sourozh diocese and celebrated the Divine Liturgy at the Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker. The DECR chairman visited Great Britain upon the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia Concelebrating with Metropolitan Hilarion were Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh; Rev. Stephen Platt, rector of the parish; Hieromonk Ioann (Kopeikin), assistant to the DECR chairman; and protodeacon Dimitry Nedostupenko, a cleric of the London Cathedral of the Dormition. Praying at the service was Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia.
During the Litany of Fervent Supplication, prayers were said for the end of discord and for the re-establishment of peace in the Ukrainian land. Metropolitan Hilarion prayed for all those killed during the armed clashes in Kiev and other Ukrainian cities and towns.
Session of Coordinating Committee for Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of England takes place
25. February 2014 - 10:26A session of the Coordinating Committee for Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of England took place on February 22, 2014. Taking part in the session held in the framework of Metropolitan Hilarion’s working visit to London were the DECR chairman; Archbishop Yelisei of Sourozh; hieromonk Ioann (Kopeikin), prorector of the Ss Cyril and Methodius School of Post-Graduate Studies, and Artem Borzov, a staff member of the DECR. The Church of England was represented by Bishop Richard Chartres of London, Bishop Jonathan Goodall of Effsfleet, and the Revd Andrei Petrine.
They discussed cooperation between the two Churches, for instance, the education of students from the Russian Church in the universities of Great Britain. The Russian side expressed its willingness to admit British students into the theological schools of the Russian Orthodox Church, for instance, into the Ss Cyril and Methodius School for Post-Graduate Studies.
‘Traditional Values in an Era of Globalization’ Symposium takes place in London
25. February 2014 - 10:23An international symposium on the Traditional Values in an Age of Globalization organized by the Embassy of the Russian Federation in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and the Diocese of London of the Church of England, was held at the ‘Rossotrudnichestvo’ office in London on February 21, 2014.
Cypriot foreign minister visits the Patriarchate of Jerusalem
24. February 2014 - 12:59On the evening of Wednesday the 8th/19th of February 2014, the Cypriot Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Ioannis Kasoulides, while in Israel for a political visit, visited the Church of the Resurrection and the Patriarchate. Mr Kasoulides was accompanied by his personal associates and by the diplomatic delegates of the Republic of Cyprus to Israel and the Palestinian Autonomy.
Patriarch Kirill appeals to the Entirety of the Russian Orthodox Church on Current Events in Ukraine
24. February 2014 - 9:34Honorable Archpastors and Pastors, Dear Brothers and Sisters, Children of the Church:
It is with anxiety, pain and alarm that I continue to follow ongoing events in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine. Kiev is the birthplace of a great Orthodox civilization which united the peoples of Holy Rus. Kiev is the city of the One Font of the Baptism, the 1025th anniversary of which we only recently celebrated together with all the Local Orthodox Churches. For me, Kiev is a special, dear city, a city I have often visited, it is a city I love and know well. It is unbearably painful to hear the news of the many casualties in this holy place, of the hundreds of wounded, of the unrest in various regions of Ukraine.