SREMSKI KARLOVCI, SERBIA: 15 June 2024
A joint session of the Holy Synods were held of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Russian Church Abroad

On Friday, 14 June, 2024, the city of Sremski Karlovci, Serbia, hosted a joint session of the Holy Synods of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, chaired by His Holines Patriarch Porfirije. Participating in the session wer also His Eminence Metropolitan Nicholas of Eastern America and New York of ROCOR and hierarchs of both churches.

After a prayer and opening words by His Holiness, Metropolitan Nicholas delivered a welcoming speech, at the end of which he awarded His Holiness with the Synodal Order of the Kursk-Root Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign,” 1st Degree, and gave the Primate an icon of the Mother of God depicted together with St John of Shanghai and St Jonay of Hankow, along with the Holy New Martyrs and Ascetics of the Russian diaspora painted to mark the centennial of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, as well as a panaghia as a memento.

A discussion then ensued on a range of issues relating to inter-Orthodox relations and other matters of mutual interest. His Holiness ended the session by bestowing gifts to the hierarchs, after which a ceremonious meal was offered at the refectory of the Sremski Karlovci Seminary.

That evening, the delegation of the Russian Church Abroad, headed by Metropolitan Nicholas, visited the monasteries of Grgeteg and Novo-Hopovo, at one time important spiritual centers of the Russian diaspora. At the latter monastery, the delegates venerated the relics of Holy Great Martyr Theodore the Tyro and the grave of Abbess Ekaterina (Efimovskaya) of blessed memory, the founder of the Convent of the Nativity of the Most-Holy Mother of God in Lesna.

Photos: Reader George Konev.