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At the invitation of His Beatitude, Metropolitan Tikhon, His Grace, Bishop Matthew of Sourozh, Interim Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, joined the members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of at a session devoted to ongoing plans for celebrations marking the 50th Anniversaries of the Granting of Autocephaly and the Glorification of Saint Herman of Alaska in 2020.

The Holy Synod is holding its Spring Session at the OCA Chancery May 7-10, 2019.

Metropolitan Tikhon welcomed Bishop Matthew and asked him to convey his personal greetings to His Holiness, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow on behalf of the Holy Synod of Bishops.  He further thanked Bishop Matthew for his visit and friendship, recalling His Grace’s first visit to the Chancery in November 2018, shortly after his appointment as Interim Administrator.

In turn, Bishop Matthew conveyed to Metropolitan Tikhon and the members of the Holy Synod the Paschal greetings of Patriarch Kirill.  He shared with His Beatitude and members of the Holy Synod that at a recent gathering in Baltimore, the Patriarchal clergy and laity expressed their deep gratitude to the Orthodox Church in America for the fraternal relations which exist between the two churches, and the desire to participate in appropriate ways in the celebrations dedicated to the anniversaries of Autocephaly and the Glorification of Saint Herman.

“The visit of Bishop Matthew to the meeting of the Holy Synod of Bishops underscores the positive relations between the Orthodox Church in America and the Russian Orthodox Church,” noted Archpriest Alexander Rentel, OCA Chancellor.