Head Of The Greek Orthodox Church Is Arriving In Russia

The head of the Greek Orthodox Church, Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and All Greece, is arriving in Russia Saturday on an official visit. The press-service of the Greek embassy in Russia told RIA Novosti that on Sunday Archbishop Christodoulos will conduct a liturgy together with Alexiy II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, at the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. On Monday, Christodoulos will visit the State Duma (parliament's lower chamber) and meet with the Duma speaker Gennady Seleznyov. On the same day, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church will visit the Donskoi Monastery in Moscow and the department of Byzantine and New Greek philology at Moscow State University. The visit to Sergiyev Posad (near Moscow) and the St. Sergius-Trinity Lavra is scheduled for Tuesday. Archbishop Christodoulos will spend the evening of the same day at a concert in the Kremlin Palace devoted to Victory over Nazis in the Second World War. He will meet with the Russian president Vladimir Putin there. On Wednesday, Christodoulos will leave for St.Petersburg where he will take part in the ceremony of laying wreaths at the Piskarevskoye Memorial Cemetery. This is the place of massive burials of Leningraders who died during the 900-day long siege of Leningrad (present-day St. Petersburg) by Nazis. Upon return to Moscow, Christodoulos will take part in a joint service with Alexiy II at the Cathedral of Christ the Savour, Russia's main cathedral now. It is expected that at the Russian Patriarch's meeting with the Greek Archbishop they will discuss prospects for setting up missions - of the Russian Church in Greece and of the Greek Church in Moscow. Apart from this, the Greek Archbishop is going to address participants in the congress of Christian Orthodox youth, which is in progress in Moscow now, with a message of greetings. This is Christodoulos's first visit to Russia in the capacity of head of the Greek Orthodox Church. Over the three years of his stay in office, he has won great popularity as a purposeful spiritual leader of the nation.