Serbian Patriarch receives delegation of the ROC DECR

On February 24, 2025, the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, arrived on a working visit to Belgrade, where he met with the Primate of the Serbian Orthodox Church, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije. This is reported by the ROC DECR Communication Service.

It is reported that at the airport, the head of the ROC DECR was met by the vicar of the Holy Patriarch of Serbia, Bishop Alexei of Khvostan, the head of the Cabinet of the Patriarch of Serbia, Archpriest Georgy Stoisavlevich, and the rector of the Russian Orthodox Church in Belgrade, Archpriest Vitaly Tarasiev. Metropolitan Anthony is accompanied on the trip by Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, advisor to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.

On February 25, His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia received Metropolitan Anthony and Archpriest Nikolai Balashov in the Serbian Patriarchate. Metropolitan Irinej of Bačka and Archpriest Georgije Stoisavljević also took part in the conversation. They discussed issues of fraternal cooperation between the Moscow and Serbian Patriarchates, as well as the situation in the Orthodox world.

Earlier, we reported that the Local Orthodox Churches had begun consultations on resolving the Ukrainian church crisis. It is reported that the process was initiated in connection with the change of leadership in the United States of America, as key figures from Donald Trump’s environment are closely monitoring the religious situation in Ukraine and are determined to resolve this problem. In turn, the Serbian Orthodox Church is actively involved in this process, taking on an intermediary role.