A meeting of the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church with the newly elected head of the Greek-Melkit Church was held Moscow Patriarchate

A meeting of the representative of the Russian Orthodox Church with the newly elected head of the Greek-Melkit Church was held Состоялась встреча представителя Русской Православной Церкви с новоизбранным главой Греко-Мелькитской Церкви print version July 2, 2017 13:41 On July 1, 2017, the representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Patriarch of Antioch and the whole of the East, Abbot Arseny (Sokolov) met with His Beatitude Yousef I Absi, who in June was elected Greek-Melkite Patriarch of Antioch and all the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem. The meeting was held at the residence of the Melkite Patriarchs in Rabiye (Lebanon). Hegumen Arseny addressed the elected head of the Greek-Melkite Church with congratulations and handed him a congratulatory message from Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. During the conversation that followed, the participants discussed the situation in Syria and expressed their intention to strengthen joint efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to the Syrian people. Hegumen Arseny told the newly elected head of Christian Melkite about the charitable initiatives undertaken by the Russian Orthodox Church in the Middle East. The meeting was attended by the Lebanese lawyer Ziyad Farhud. In conclusion of the conversation, the representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia presented the newly elected Patriarch Yusef the book of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church "Freedom and responsibility: in search of harmony", published in Lebanon in Arabic. *** The Council of the Melkit Greek-Catholic Church, held in June 2017, reckoned for the rest of the Patriarch Gregory III Laham and elected in his place the Patriarchal Vicar of Damascus Bishop Yousef Asbi. The enthronement of the newly elected Patriarch will take place in Damascus soon after his candidacy is approved by the Pope of Rome.