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On 26 December, at the Hall of the Supreme Church Council of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church began its last session in 2017 under the chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill delivered an opening address. The agenda of the meeting includes such items as summing-up of the work of the Bishops’ Council of 2017 and approval of the plan of implementation by synodal institutions of the decisions taken by the Bishops’ Council and other supreme church bodies.

The Supreme Church Council chaired by His Holiness the Patriarch consists of:

  • Metropolitan Varsonofy of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate;
  • Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations;
  • Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chairman of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church;
  • Metropolitan Arseny of Istra, first Patriarchal vicar for Moscow;
  • Metropolitan Ioann of Belgorod and Stary Oskol, chairman of the Synodal Department for Mission;
  • Metropolitan Merkury of Rostov and Novocherkassk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Education and Catechization;
  • Metropolitan Mark of Ryazan and Mikhailov, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Finance and Economic Administration;
  • Metropolitan Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Cossacks;
  • Archbishop Yevgeny of Vereya, chairman of the Holy Synod’s Education Committee;
  • Archbishop Feognost of Sergiev Posad, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism;
  • Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat;
  • Bishop Irinarkh of Krasnogorsk, head of the Synodal Department for Ministry in Prisons;
  • Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry;
  • Bishop Tikhon of Yegorievsk, chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture;
  • Bishop Antony of Zvenigorod, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad;
  • Bishop Serafim of Lubertsy, chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs;
  • Archpriest Sergy Privalov, chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies;
  • Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family and Protection of Motherhood and Childhood;
  • Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and  Media Relations.

Invited to attend the session were Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, first deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Bishop Nikolai of Balashikha, editor-in-chief of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Publishing House; Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, first deputy chairman of the Education Committee; Archimandrite Savva (Tutunov), deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Hegumeness Ksenia (Chernega), head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Legal Service; and Mr. Alexander Schipkov, first deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Church-Society and Media Relations.