Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations arrives in Serbia for the enthronement of Patriarch Irinej

On 2 October 2010, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, head of the Russian Orthodox Church delegation to the official enthronement of His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia, arrived in Priština.

He was met at the airport by the abbot of Visoki Dečani Monastery, Bishop Teodosije of Ljipljana, a vicar of the Raška-Prizren diocese; the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Serbia A. Konuzin; and members of the delegation who have arrived earlier: archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; archpriest Vitaly Tarasjev, rector of the metochion of the Moscow Patriarchate in Belgrade; and the Rev. Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations.

The DECR chairman, accompanied by Bishop Teodosije, proceeded to Vysoki Dečani Monastery to venerate its holy sites.