Primate of the Ethiopian Church pays a short visit to Moscow

On 18 December 2018, His Holiness Patriarch-Catholicos Abune Mathias of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church arrived in Moscow to take part in the opening ceremony for the Addis-Ababa–Moscow first direct flight of the Ethiopian Airlines in Domodedovo airport. Accompanying Patriarch Abune Mathias are his vicar Archbishop Melchizedek, Abba Kiross Woldeab, head of the media service, and Mr. Musie Hailu, head of the Patriarchal protocol service. The ceremony was covered by the Fana TV team and some other major mass media of Ethiopia.

After the ceremony the Ethiopian Airlines gave a reception attending which were also H.E. Alemayehu Tegenu, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to the Russian Federation; executive director of the Ethiopian Airlines Tewolde GebreMariam; representatives of diplomatic missions of several states accredited in Moscow; and of political and business circles of Russia and Ethiopia. The Moscow Patriarchate was represented by staff members of the Department for External Church Relations hieromonk Kirill (Peregudin), Sergei Alferov and Roman Akhmatkhanov.

That same day the Primate of the Ethiopian Church departed for Addis-Ababa.