Representative of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to Patriarch of Great Antioch visits Vatican representation in Damascus

On May 12, 2018, Hegumen Arseniy (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Great Antioch and All the East, visited the Damascus representation of the Vatican and met with the Apostolic Nuncio in Syria, Cardinal Mario Zenari.

Hegumen Arseniy introduced the apostolic nuncio to the history of the Russian Orthodox Church’s representation in the Syrian capital city, whose work is now resumed, and invited him to take part in the celebration to take place in autumn 2018 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the representation.

Cardinal Mario Zenari, in his turn, introduced the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the history of his nunciature.

They exchanged opinions on prospects for joint humanitarian work of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the Middle East – the work that received a powerful impetus by the historic meeting in Cuba between Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis of Rome.

In conclusion of the meeting, Cardinal Zenari took Father Arseniy on a tour of the nunciature building.

As a token of the meeting, Father Arseniy presented the head of the Vatican representation with an icon of St. Seraphim of Sarov with border scenes of his life.

Source: Orthochristian.com