Russian high distinctions to Serbian Patriarch Irinej

His Holiness Irinej celebrated on Palm Sunday, the feast dedicated to the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem , the Holy Hierarchal Liturgy at Belgrade’s Cathedral church. The Patriarch was concelebrated by many priests of the Archbishopric of Belgrade-Karlovci. Children’s choir of the First Belgrade Ensemble sang responses.

After the Holy Liturgy Serbian Patriarch Irinej received a delegation of the Orthodox Military Mission led by Mr. Igor Jevgenyevich Smikov, the head of the Mission and advisor to the head of the Russian Church Outside Russia (ROCOR).

On behalf of Metropolitan Hilarion of East America and New York, the first hierarch of the ROCOR, Mr. Smikov presented Serbian Patriarch a grammata for personal merits for the Russian people on the occasion of the great jubilee of the four centuries of the imperial dynasty Romanov in Russia.

On behalf of the Parliamentary Center Integral Homeland Security Mr. Smikov, deputy director of this Center, presented His Holiness the Order of Merit of the second degree with swords for bonding brotherly peoples of Russia and Serbia on the occasion of the century since the beginning of the Great War.