MOSCOW: November 21, 2014
A meeting convened on the glorification of saints of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Church Abroad

A meeting was held of the joint working group of the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia at the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate on November 19, 2014 at Moscow's Danilov Monastery.

The Moscow Patriarchate was represented by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations (DECR); Abbot Damascene (Orlovsky), Secretary of the Synodal Commission for the Glorification of Saints; Archpriests Nikolai Balashov (DECR), Oleg Mitrov (Synodal Commission for the Glorification), Igor Yakymchuk (DECR) and D.I. Petrovskii (DECR).

The working group of ROCOR was represented by His Eminence Archbishop Gabriel of Montreal and Canada; Archimandrite Roman (Krassovsky), Chief of the Russian Ecclesiastical Mission in Jerusalem, and Deacon Andrei Psarev, instructor at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY.

During the meeting, representatives of the Russian Church Abroad discussed her menologion and the saints they glorifications. Representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate responded to questions about her position in respect to newly-glorified saints and discussed possibilities about adding to her calendar saints venerated in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

The meeting was fruitful and held in a spirit of mutual respect, taking into account the self-governing status of the Russian Church Abroad.