NEW YORK: February 7, 2011
Metropolitan Ilarion Volokolamsky Visits the Synodal Residence of the Primate of the Russian Church Abroad

On February 5, 2011, His Eminence Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, President of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, as part of a trip to the United States, visited the Synodal Residence of the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church in New York. 

His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York welcomed him along with members of his clergy. The President of the DECR and his fellow-travelers were accompanied by His Eminence Archbishop Justinian of Naro-Fominsk, Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, and Protopriest Igor Vyzhanov, cleric of St Nicholas Cathedral in New York and Representative of the World Russian People’s Council at the United Nations.  

The delegates viewed the Synodal Cathedral of Our Lady “of the Sign,” where they prayed at the relics of Holy Martyr Elizabeth and Nun Barbara at a venerated copy of their miracle-working icon.  

Addressing the Primate of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Ilarion noted that only a day earlier they had participated together with other hierarchs in the work of the Council of Bishops in Moscow, where a series of decisions on urgent and practical matters pertaining to the life of the great and multinational Russian Orthodox Church were adopted. The President of DECR stated that he arrived on American soil with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill for prayerful communion with his Orthodox brethren, both compatriots and Americans, to meet with representatives of other Christian confessions, to whom he would speak about Orthodoxy, and to make public speeches. “I am very glad that my trip begins with this church, with our fraternal meeting,” said the DECR President, as he wished Metropolitan Hilarion God’s aid in his service and labors. 

The First Hierarch of ROCOR and Metropolitan Ilarion then had a meeting, during which the archpastors discussed strengthening the unity of the Russian Orthodox Church in light of the recent decisions of the Council of Bishops. The brotherly exchange then continued during a trapeza held at the Synodal Residence.

Press Service of the DECR