Reception in honour of newly-elected head of Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

A reception in honour of Archbishop Kari Mäkinen of Turku and Finland, the newly-elected head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, took place on 5 June 2010 at the Swedish Academy in Turku.

Representatives of Christian Churches in various countries of the world came for the event, among them the president of the Conference of European Churches, Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (Patriarchate of Constantinople).

The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, Hegumen Philip Riabykh, DECR vice-chairman, Rev. Dimitry Sizonenko, DECR acting secretary for inter-Christian relations, and Hierodeacon Ioann Kopeikin, an assistant to the DECR chairman.

Archbishop Kari Mäkinen addressed the gathering.

Metropolitan Hilarion read out a congratulatory message from the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and presented the new archbishop with a pectoral cross. He also read out a message of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to Archbishop Jukka Paarma, who had headed the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland for 12 years and was a great friend of the Russian Church. The DECR chairman presented him with an icon of the Saviour.

DECR Communication Service