Moscow, May 14, 2025
Photo: mospat.ru
His Grace Bishop Dimitrios of Safita, vicar of the Metropolis of Akkar of the Antiochian Patriarchate, completed a 10-day pilgrimage to Russia on Monday, May 12.
During his trip, he visited four dioceses and several churches and monasteries and met with five different hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church. His pilgrimage began with a visit to the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra outside Moscow, the spiritual heart of the Russian Church, reports the Synodal Department for External Church Relations.
From there, he visited the Diocese of Pyatigorsk and Cherkessk, where he concelebrated the Divine Liturgy for the feast of St. George on May 6 with the local hierarch, His Eminence Archbishop Theophylact, in a 10th-century church named for the Great Martyr.
Photo: mospat.ru
After the service, the chairman of the People’s Assembly of Karachay-Cherkessia presented the Antiochian hierarch with a painting depicting the Arkhyz Face of the Lord Jesus Christ—an ancient image of Christ discovered in 1999 on a rock face near the 10th-century Zelenchuk churches in the North Caucasus region, believed by many Orthodox Christians to be not made by human hands.
That same day, Bp. Dimitrios also visited the St. George Church in Greek Village, which he gifted an icon of St. George painted in Syria.
On May 7, Abp. Theophylact, Bp. Dimitrios, and Alexei Cherkezov, President of the Christian World Union for the Preservation of Traditional Spiritual Values held a press conference during which they discussed the bringing of the icon of St. George.
Photo: mospat.ru
“The bringing of this holy item is an event whose significance is difficult to overestimate, because this icon was painted with deep, sincere prayer for peace and blessing for our faithful people. You have to see the eyes of the believers who greeted this icon with great joy, as an event in their own personal lives,” noted Abp. Theophylact.
The Antiochian hierarch then visited several churches in Mariupol, which OrthoChristian reported on earlier this week.
Bp. Dimitrios then traveled to Rostov-on-Don, where he met with His Eminence Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and His Grace Bishop Artemy of Taganrog.
Photo: mospat.ru
On May 12 in Moscow, he met with His Eminence Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, head of the Russian Church’s Department for External Church Relations. They discussed issues concerning bilateral relations between the Moscow and Antiochian Patriarchates, as well as the situation in world Orthodoxy.
The same day, Bp. Dimitrios visited the Holy Protection Convent, where the holy relics of St. Matrona of Moscow are kept.
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