Georgian Church Leader Visits Moscow

Georgian Patriarch Ilia II upon arrival in Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, November 18. Photo: Russian Patriarchate website.

Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church, Ilia II, arrived in Moscow on November 18 to participate in celebration of Russian Patriarch Kirill’s 65th birthday.

At the Vnukovo airport outside Moscow, the Georgian Patriarch was welcomed by senior clerics from the Russian church, as well as by Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin.

During the visit the Georgian and Russian Patriarchs are expected to hold a joint church service at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow on Sunday and a day earlier the two Patriarch are  planned to hold talks.

"We will talk about relations between the Russian and Georgia churches; the issue of Abkhazia and Samachablo [breakaway South Ossetia] will also [be discussed]. I will have a meeting with the Georgian community [in Moscow]… as well as with Abkhazians," Patriarch Ilia II said before departure to Moscow.

The two Patriarchs last time met in the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, in July, 2011.

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