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On 28 June 2018, in Manila, Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate’s parishes in East and South-East Asia, met with Mr. Ernesto C. Abella, Undersecretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Philippines. The participants in the meeting discussed the restoration of the Russian ecclesiastical presence in the Philippines. As far back as 1934, in response to a request from the Russian compatriots, Archbishop Viktor (Svyatin) of Beiping (Beijing) and China established a parish of the Iveron Icon of the Mother of God in Manila within the Hong Kong deanery of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in China.

Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk told Mr. Abella about the activities of the re-established Iveron parish in Manila. Serving there now is Hieromonk Alexy (Lapshin), a cleric of the Shuya diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. Among the issues raised during the meeting was also the life of the Russian Orthodox communities on the Island of Mindanao.

Taking part in the meeting were also Mr. Igor Khovayev, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Republic of the Philippines; Hieromonk Pitirim (Dodenko), senior priest of the Dormition Church in Singapore; Hieromonk Alexy (Lapshin); Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, a staff member of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations; and Mr. D.M. Karenin, Third Secretary of Russia’ Embassy in the Philippines.

That same day Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk met with Ms. Monique Lagdameo, Vice-Mayor of the city of Makati.

In the evening, at the residence of the Russian Ambassador in Manila, Vladyka Sergy presented the head of the Russian diplomatic mission with a jubilee medal “In Commemoration of the Centenary of the Restoration of the Patriarchate in the Russian Orthodox Church” and attended a reception given by Mr. Khovayev in his honour.

DECR Communication Service