The Russian Orthodox Church. Department for External Church Relations
On 21 November 2017, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of
the DECR, met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev. and Rt.
Hon. Justin Welby. Talks were held with the delegation of the Church of
England accompanying the Archbishop on his visit to Moscow.
Taking part in the talks from the Anglican side were Bishop of
Ebbsfleet Jonathan Goodall; Bishop of Gibraltar in Europe Robert Innes;
Rev. Dr. William Adam, Ecumenical Adviser to the Archbishop of
Canterbury; Canon David Porter, Chief of Staff and Strategy; Rev.
Malcolm Rogers, chaplain of St. Andrew’s Church in Moscow; Mrs. Ailsa
Anderson-Cole, Director of Communications; and journalist Michael
Binyon; and from the Russian Orthodox Church Archbishop Yelisei of
Sourozh; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Hieromonk
Stefan (Igumnov) DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Rt. Rev.
Stephen Platt, rector of the church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in
Oxford; and Mr. Philipp Champion, a staff member of the DECR
secretariat for inter-Christian relations.
Discussed was a wide range of topics of mutual interest touched on at
the meeting of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia
with the Archbishop of Canterbury, including the work of the
Coordinating Committee for Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox
Church and the Church of England. The Committee deals also with academic
exchange.
Also discussed were persecution of Christians in the Middle East and
other regions of the world, traditional values and marriage, as well as
relationship of Churches with secular society. Special attention was
paid to the Joint Declaration on the support of Christians in the Middle
East signed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Archbishop of
Canterbury.
That same day Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk attended a welcome
reception given at the Embassy of Great Britain in honour of Archbishop
Welby’s visit to Moscow.