MOSCOW: August 25, 2020
The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church convenes

On August 25, 2020, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church met for its regular session at St Daniel Monastery in Moscow. It is chaired by His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

Opening the session, the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church made introductory remarked:

"Thank you for having come to the city of Moscow despite the communication complexities caused both by the epidemics and generally by the difficult circumstances through which our peoples are passing including the peoples in the countries that some members of our Synod represent as far as the Church is concerned. Nevertheless, life continues living; new problems are arising, sometimes quite complex, which we are to solve today. Therefore, I thank you all for having come to Moscow. May the Lord help us to make decisions we are to discuss," His Holiness said.

Then the Chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate, first patriarchal vicar and chairman of the patriarchal working group for coordinating the work of church institution in the situation of the spread of the coronavirus infection, Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk, made a report about the Church’s work in the period of the coronavirus infection pandemic.

The permanent members of the Holy Synod are Metropolitan Onouphry of Kiev and All Ukraine; Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna; Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and All Moldova; Metropolitan Alexander of Astana and Kazakhstan, head of the Metropolitanate in the Republic of Kazakhstan; Metropolitan Vikenty of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, head of the Metropolitanate of Central Asia; Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga; Metropolitan Pavel of Minsk and Zaslavsk, Patriarchal Exarch for All Belarus; Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations; Metropolitan Dionisiy of Voskresensk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The following hierarchs have been invited to attend the summer session (March-August): Metropolitan Maksimilian of Irkutsk and Angarsk; Archbishop Tikhon of Podolsk; Bishop Ignaty of Uvarovo and Kirsanov; Bishop Antoniy of Akhtubinsk and Yenotayevka; Bishop Yevgeniy of Nizhniy Taghil and Nevyansk.

Patriarchal Press Service
DECR Communication Service