On October 8, 2012, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia received a delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church at the patriarchal chambers in the St Sergius Monastery of the Holy Trinity. The delegation included Archpriest Mihail Tita, adviser to the Patriarch of Romania for external church relations, Archpriest Nicolay Dim, director of Trinitas TV channel, Archimandrite Dionysy (Constantin), manager of the Romanian Patriarchate’s workshops, Mr Cyprian-Basil Oliniki, Trinitas Radio director, and Deacon Eugene Rogoti of the Romanian Patriarchate’s Department for Inter-Church and Inter-Confessional Relations.
Participating in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Archpriest Nikolay Balashov, DECR Vice-chairman, and Mr. A. Mirashov of the DECR secretariat for inter-Orthodox relations.
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill warmly welcomed the delegation, noting the long-standing friendly personal relations between His Holiness and His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania.
Patriarch Kirill also stressed that the Russian and Romanian Orthodox Churches bear special responsibility for the preservation of Christian values in the European continent as Churches which give spiritual nourishment to most of the peoples living in their canonical territories. ‘We face the same challenges, and we are aware of the tremendous challenges facing today the Christians who live in the European Union’, he said. His Holiness expressed readiness to give all possible support to the Romanian Church in bearing witness to the eternal spiritual values of Orthodoxy before the European community.
His Holiness Kirill also expressed confidence that the development of bilateral relations on various levels of inter-church cooperation will consolidate the system of coordination and solidarity in overcoming the difficulties existing in relations between Churches.
In his response Father Mihail thanked Patriarch Kirill for the warm welcome and the opportunity for the Eucharistic communion during the Divine Liturgy during which prayers and exclamations were said not only in Church Slavonic but also Romanian. He conveyed cordial greetings and best regards from His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania. Father Mihail also stressed the doubtless importance of exchange of visits between representatives of the two Churches, which he believes helps to establish close working contacts and personal relations between church workers.
The delegation of the Romanian Orthodox Church, after a few meetings in Moscow and a visit to the diocese of Yaroslavl, is planning to meet with church media reporters and to visit monasteries in Moscow.