On November 26, after his working visit to North Korea, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), arrived in Beijing.
At the Russian embassy in the PRC, the DECR chairman met with the Russian ambassador to China A. I. Denisov.
They discussed a wide range of issues of mutual concern including further steps to be made to normalize the situation of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. Metropolitan Hilarion shared with the Russian ambassador the impressions of his visit to the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea.
Participating in the talk was also V. Fadeyev, senior councillor of the embassy.
On November 27, Metropolitan Hilarion, accompanied by Sub-deacon V. Li, departed for Moscow. At Beijing’s airport, the DECR chairman was seen off by Hieromonk Innocent (Kolesnikov), rector of the Russian Embassy’s church of the Dormition, and Mr. Zhigarkov, a member of the embassy staff.
DECR Communication Service