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On 26 November 2019, a regular session of the Supreme Church Council of the Russian Orthodox Church took place at the Supreme Church Council’s Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour under chairmanship of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

The Supreme Church Council consists of:

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations;

Metropolitan Dionisy of Voskresensk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate;

Metropolitan Clement of Kaluga and Borovsk, chairman of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church;

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 Kirill of Stavropol and Nevinnomyssk, chairman of the Synodal Department for Relations with the Cossacks;

Metropolitan Ignaty of Vologda and Kirillov, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Finance and Economic Administration;

Metropolitan Mitrofan of Murmansk and Monchegorsk, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Physical Culture and Sport;

Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov, chairman of the Patriarchal Council for Culture;

Metropolitan Antony of Korsun and Western Europe, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad;

Archbishop Feognost of Kashira, chairman of the Synodal Department for Monasteries and Monasticism;

Bishop Irinarkh of Krasnogorsk, head of the Synodal Department for Prison Ministry;

Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevo, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry;

Bishop Foma of Pavlovsky Posad, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administrative Secretariat;

Bishop Serafim of Istra, acting chairman of the Synodal Department for Youth Affairs;

Bishop Stefan of Klin, chairman of the Synodal Department for Cooperation with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies;

Archpriest Maxim Kozlov, chairman of the Holy Synod’s Education Committee;

Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov, chairman of the Patriarchal Commission for Family and Protection of Motherhood; and

Mr. Vladimir Legoida, chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media.

Taking part in the session were also Archbishop Amvrosy of Vereya; rector of the Sretenskaya Theological Seminary; Bishop Nikolai of Balashikha, head and editor-in-chief of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Publishing House; Bishop Pitirim of Zvenigorod, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy; Bishop Foma of Bronnitsy, first deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Finance and Economic Administration; Bishop Savva of Zelenograd, deputy chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate; Hegumeness Ksenia (Chernega), head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Legal Service; Archpriest Mikhail Vakhrushev, first deputy chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church; Rev. Pavel Lizgunov, acting academic vice-rector of the Moscow Theological Seminary; Hierodeacon Sergy (Turkeyev) general director of the ‘The Pilgrims’ Centre’ Autonomous Non-Profit Organization; and Mr. Aleksandr Schipkov, first deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Church’s Relations with Society and Mass Media.