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On 14 September 2017, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, arrived in Lebanon. At the Beirut international airport he was met by Metropolitan Niphon of Philippopolis, representative of the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; Mr. Yacoub Sarraf, Minister of National Defense of the Lebanese Republic; Hegumen Arseniy (Sokolov), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East; Mr. V.L. Maksudov, Chargé d’Affaires ad interim of the Russian Federation in Lebanon; Mr. V.V. Zaychikov, head of the Russian Centre for Science and Culture in Beirut; and by other officials.

Upon his arrival, Metropolitan Hilarion had a meeting with Mr. Yacoub Sarraf, Minister of National Defense of the Lebanese Republic, to discuss, among other things, the humanitarian situation in the country caused by the mass refugee inflow from the neigbouring Syria.

The programme of the DECR chairman’s visit includes meetings with the President of Lebanon, Mr. Michel Aoun; the Prime Minister of the country, Mr. Saad Hariri; Patriarch John X of Antioch and All the East; the Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros Al-Rahi; Metropolitan Elias of Beirut; as well as the participation in the celebrations marking the 40th anniversary of Metropolitan Niphon’s ministry as representative of the Patriarch of Antioch to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia; and other events.

DECR Communication Service