Candidates for Moscow Patriarchal See to be elected on Jan 25, Patriarch - on Jan 27

Candidates for Moscow Patriarchal See will be elected at the Archbishop Council on January 25, while the Patriarch will be elected on the first day of work of the Local Council, on January 27, a statement posted on the official website of the Councils reads.

The agenda of the Local Council stipulates that the election of the Patriarch will take place at 5.30 p.m. Moscow time: the final part of the first day of the Council after its program, the order of meetings and the election of its working bodies and the procedure of electing a new Patriarch are approved.

Some 711 people, including archbishops, priests, monks and lay people, will attend the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church which is to elect a new Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia in Moscow on January 27-29, Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, said on air of the Vesti FM radio.

Each of 157 dioceses nominated three people: a cleric, a monk and a lay person, living on its territory, to attend the Council. Russian parishes in Canada, Italy, Turkmenistan, the United States and Scandinavian states nominated two delegates: a cleric and a secular.

In general, 64 countries of the world will be represented at the Council, the Department for External Church Relations told Interfax-Religion. The Russian Orthodox Church has dioceses in 12 CIS countries (Russia excluded) as well as in 51 far abroad countries.

Source: Interfax religion