On Tuesday, February 2, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and all Russia, concurrently during the Holy Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church, hierarchs who hold their obedience outside the canonical borders of the Moscow Patriarchate met in Moscow.
The meeting was chaired by the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Attending the meeting was the First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York; Archbishop Anatoly of Kerch, Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain; Archbishop Theophan of Berlin and Germany; Archbishop Simon of Brussels and Belgium; Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; Archbishop Michael of Geneva and Western Europe; Archbishop Elisey of Sourozh; the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in Canada, Bishop Job of Kashira; Bishop Agapit of Stuttgart; Bishop Peter of Cleveland, Administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and Mid-America; Bishop John of Caracas and South America; Bishop Theodosius of Seattle, the Administrator of the Diocese of Austria and Hungary, Bishop Tikhon of Podolsk; Bishop Nestor of Korsun; Bishop Leonid of Argentina and South America; Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan; the Administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, Bishop John Naro-Fominsk; Bishop George of Canberra and the chairman of the Department of Foreign Institutions of the Moscow Patriarchate Bishop Anthony of Bogorodsk.
In his opening remarks, Metropolitan Hilarion relayed that this is the second meeting of its kind, the first meeting of hierarchs who hold their obedience outside the canonical borders of the Moscow Patriarchate met in London in 2012.
Speaking on the Holy Pan-Orthodox Council, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations focused on the theme of the diaspora and work of the various episcopal assemblies. Currently there are episcopal assemblies in thirteen regions of the world and a total of 154 hierarchs of different local Churches participate in them.
During the discussion, the hierarchs spoke about the episcopal assemblies in different regions of the world, and exchanged views on ways of strengthening cooperation with the dioceses and institutions of the Russian Church outside its canonical borders.