On 22 November 2018, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR) arrived in Seoul with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Metropolitan Hilarion leads a delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Round Table “Russian Orthodox Church and Compatriots. Experience of Cooperation in Southeast Asia, Australia and Oceania.” The delegation consists of Archbishop Antony of Vienna and Budapest, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad; Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk, administrator of the Moscow Patriarchate’s parishes in Southeast Asia; Archpriest Sergy Zvonarev, DECR secretary for far abroad countries; Deacon Sergy Kalashnikov, a staff member of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Administration for Institutions Abroad; Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, a DECR staff member, and Vyacheslav Lee, sub-deacon of the DECR chairman.
Meeting Metropolitan Hilarion at Incheon International airport were H.E. Andrei Kulik, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to South Korea and Archbishop Sergy of Solnechnogorsk.
The DECR chairman accompanied by the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Seoul visited the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea.
Ambassador Kulik gave supper in honour of the church delegation.
The programme of Metropolitan Hilarion’s stay on the Korean Peninsula includes his participation in the Round Table and a visit to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.