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On 20 July 2011, Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, currently on a working visit to Montenegro, met with Mr. Milan Roćen, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro, at the State Palace of Receptions.

Metropolitan Amfilohije of Montenegro and Primorje, Ambassador A. Nesterenko of Russia to Montenegro, and members of the delegation who accompanies Metropolitan Hilarion, attended the meeting.

The talk was focused on the church-state relations in different countries of the world, including those in the canonical jurisdiction of the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches.

Minister Roćen, who had worked as diplomat in Moscow during many years, highly appreciated the part played by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Department for External Church Relations and underscored the importance of the DECR’s work not only for the Moscow Patriarchate, but also for the entire Orthodox world. The DECR has promoted peace and accord in the Balkans for many years.

In the end of the meeting that lasted one hour and a half, Metropolitan Hilarion presented Minister Roćen with a folding icon made in the workshops of the Moscow Patriarchate.