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On 11 May 2018, in the Hall of the Supreme Church Council of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia chaired a regular meeting of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The following items were on the agenda of the meeting:

  • the implementation of decisions of the Supreme Church Council and the Bishops’ Council;
  • the celebrations marking the 1030th anniversary of the Baptism of Russia;
  • the coordination of the mission among the Chinese people in Russia (speaker on this topic was Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations).

The Supreme Church Council chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill 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 Religious 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;
  • Archbishop Antony of Vienna and Budapest, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad;
  • 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 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;
  • Vladimir Legoyda, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media.

Invited to attend the session were Bishop Nikolai of Balashikha; Bishop Savva of Voskresensk, first deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Archimandrite Savva (Tutunov), deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Rev. Alexander Volkov, head of the Patriarchal press Service; and Mr. Alexander Schipkov, first deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media.

Patriarchal Press Service/

DECR Communication Service