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The visit of His Beatitude Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada, was concluded on December 10, 2014, after a stay in St Petersburg.

The Primate of the Orthodox Church in America and his official delegation arrived in the northern capital on December 7. The delegation was accommodated at the Novodevichy Convent of the Resurrection.

On December 8, the guests visited St Isaac’s, the church of the Holy Resurrection-on-the-Blood, the St Alexander Nevsky Laura, the Naval Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Kronstadt and the memorial quarters of the Holy Righteous Ioann of Kronstadt.

On December 9, Metropolitan Tikhon and his delegation were introduced to the cultural treasures in the State Hermitage, the largest museum in Russia, which has marked its 250th anniversary.

In the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan, Metropolitan Tikhon, Metropolitan Varsonofy of St Petersburg and Ladoga and clergy and laity of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America lifted up a prayer at the miracle-working Icon of Our Lady of Kazan.

His Beatitude also visited the Memorial Cathedral of Ss Peter and Paul in the Ss Peter and Paul Fortress, the Ioann Convent on the Karpovka, in which the relics of the Holy Righteous Ioann of Kronstadt are kept, and the Chapel of the Blessed Xenia in the Smolensk Cemetery.

On December 10, His Beatitude gave his benediction to the sisters of the Convent of the Resurrection, in which the OCA delegation stayed. As a token of his visit, the sisters presented Metropolitan Tikhon with a cross and a pectoral icon.

At Pulkovo airport, the Primate and the delegation of the Orthodox Church in America were seen off by Metropolitan Varsonofy, Bishop Nazary of Kronstadt, Bishop Ioann of Naro-Fominsk, administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA and St. Petersburg clergy.

In recognition of their work to strengthen fraternal relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon gave high church awards to Bishop Ioann, Archimandrite Alexander (Pikhach), D. Petrovsky, a staff member of the DECR, I. Sudosa, head of the St Petersburg diocesan protocol service, and V. Zavalny, St Petersburg branch of the DECR.

DECR Communication Service

Photos from the websites of the Metropolia of St Petersburg

and St. Alexander Nevsky’s Laura of the Holy Trinity