The Orthodox Pre-Assembly of the World Council of Churches has begun its session on May 12, 2022, in Paralimni, Cyprus, reports the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Present at the event is a delegation of the Moscow Patriarchate led by the chairman of the DECR, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.
The delegation includes Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR vice-chairman; Archpriest Mikhail Gundyaev, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the World Council of Churches; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations; Hieromonk Stephan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Ms Margarita Nelyubova, a staff member of the Department for External Church Relations. Metropolitan Hilarion is accompanied on this trip by Rev. Alexander Yershov, secretary to the DECR chairman.
The Pre-Assembly will last a week. It is attended by delegations of the Orthodox Churches and Oriental Churches – members of the WCC. The meeting is aimed at coordinating a common stance on relevant issues on the inter-Christian agenda in anticipation of the WCC Assembly to take place from August 31 to September 8, 2022, in Karlsruhe, Germany.
