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On November 11, 2010, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia received the newly-appointed Canadian ambassador to Russia, Mr. John Cleburne Sloan, at the patriarchal residence in Chisty Pereulok.

Participating in the meeting were also Archimandrite Zacchaeus (Wood), representative of the Orthodox Church in America to the Moscow Patriarchate, Hegumen Philip (Riabykh), vice-chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, and Rev. George Sergeyev of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada.

His Holiness informed his guest about the life of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada, making a special mention of the warm relations binding the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America, which was granted autocephaly by the Moscow Patriarchate.

Mr. John Cleburne Sloan, in his turn, emphasized that Orthodoxy plays a noticeable role in public life in Canada, where there are many people who came from Ukraine.

They also discussed the preservation of the cultural and linguistic identity of natives in the northern parts of the two countries. His Holiness spoke about his recent primatial visit to the Russian Far East and shared his ideas about improving the life of the native peoples of the North. Mr. Sloan noted that the Canadian government took special measures to deal with the problems of the native peoples and spoke for an exchange of experience between the two countries facing similar tasks in this area, the Patriarchal Press Services reported.

DECR Communication Service