DECR chairman meets with Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Public Health of Lebanon
On 18 November 2017, at Ss. Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, met with Mr. Ghassan Hasbani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Health of the Lebanese Republic.
They were joined at the meeting by Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, and Hierodeacon Roman (Kiselev) of the DECR Secretariat for Far-Abroad Countries.
Metropolitan Hilarion warmly greeted the high-ranking Lebanese statesman and assured him of the traditionally friendly attitude of the Russian Orthodox Church to the people of Lebanon.
As the DECR chairman noted, Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East, in which the rights of Christians are conferred by the Constitution. He expressed his hope that the joint peacemaking efforts of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Lebanese Christians would help preserve and strengthen the Christian presence in the entire region of the Middle East.
The participants in the meeting discussed various issues of mutual interest.
DECR Communication Service