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Key Russian bishop to visit North Korea

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk arrived in Seoul to join the round table "The Russian Orthodox Church and Compatriots: Experience of Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania"

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk Valery Sharifulin/TASS

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk

© Valery Sharifulin/TASS

MOSCOW, November 22. /TASS/. Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, has arrived in Seoul to take part in a conference dedicated to the Russian Orthodox Church’s work with compatriots in Asia, Australia and Oceania. His visit to North Korea is planned as well, the DECR press service reported.

"Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk arrived in Seoul on November 22 with the blessing of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The archpastor leads the Russian Church’s delegation taking part in the round table titled The Russian Orthodox Church and Compatriots: Experience of Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania," the press service said.

At the Seoul airport, the delegation was welcomed by Russian Ambassador to South Korea Andrei Kulik and Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, the administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate’s parishes in East and Southeast Asia.

"The program of Metropolitan Hilarion’s stay on Korean soil includes participation in the round table titled ‘The Russian Orthodox Church and Compatriots: Experience of Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania' as well as visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," the press service added.

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