Orthodox Churches

Centennial of the demise of St. Nicholas of Japan Equal-to-the-Apostles marked in Tokyo

On February 16, 2012, a solemn divine service was held at the Cathedral of the Resurrection in Tokyo to mark the centennial of the demise of St. Nicholas of Japan Equal-to-the-Apostles. The cathedral is known more popularly as the Nikolai-do. Expressed in this name is respect of ordinary Japanese for the memory of Russia’s great son who brought Orthodox faith to the islands of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Metropolitan Hilarion meets with faculty and students of the Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Paris

On 18 February 2012, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), visited the Russian Orthodox Theological Seminary in Paris.

He was met by the chancellor, Bishop Nestor of Korsun; by hieromonk Alexander (Siniakov), rector of the seminary; faculty and students. The choir of seminarians sang while Metropolitan Hilarion venerated the relics at the Church of St. Geneviève.

Serbian Ambassador to Russia, Ms Jelica Kurjak, lectures at the Postgraduate School

On February 17, 2012, H. E. Jelica Kurjak, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Serbia to the Russian Federation, delivered a lecture at the SS Cyril and Methodius Postgraduate and Doctoral School with the blessing of its rector, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

She told the student about the reasons of dissolution of Yugoslavia, about political situation in Serbia at present and about basic directions of foreign policy, paying particular attention to the relations of Serbia with its neighbours and with Russia. Ambassador Kurjak shared her vision of the role of Orthodoxy in Serbian society.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk elected full member of the Academy of Russian Language and Literature

On February 20, 2012, Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Department for External Church Relations, met at the DECR with the secretary of the governing board of the Union of Russian Writers, Yuri A. Belyaev. Present at the meeting were also members of the Academy Presidium.

Bishop of the Serbian Orthodox Church visits Department for External Church Relations

On 17 February 2012, archpriest Nikolai Balashov, deputy chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, met with a hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Pahomije of Vranje, and with Bishop Antonije of Moravia, official representative of the Serbian Patriarchate to the Moscow Patriarchate, who accompanied Bishop Pahomije during his visit to Moscow.

Discussed were relations between the two Churches; assistance of the Russian Orthodox Church to Orthodox Christians in Kosovo and Metochia, and development of Orthodox pilgrimage in the countries located in the canonical territory of the Serbian and Moscow Patriarchates.

Metropolitan Hilarion takes part in the opening of the Days of Orthodox Book in Paris

The First Days of Orthodox Book opened at the La mutuelle Saint-Christophe Assurance in Paris on February 17, 2012, under the auspices of the Assembly of Orthodox Bishops of France (AEOR). The Days have been initiated by Orthodoxie.com web-site and supported by the Cerf Publishing House, La Vie weekly, and La Procure bookstores.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, took part in the opening ceremony at the invitation of the AEOR president, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France, and with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Taking part in the ceremony were bishops from the AEOR; representatives of clergy of the Local Orthodox Churches; I. Solovyov, Counsellor for Cultural Affairs of the Embassy of the Russian Federation to the French Republic; representatives of public circles and intellectual elite of France; publishers; professors and students of St. Sergius Orthodox Institute and of the Russian Orthodox Theological seminary. Its choir sang religious hymns at the beginning of the ceremony.