UPDATE - Pompeo To Meet With Head Of Moscow Patriarchate Department For External Church Relations

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2019) US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will meet with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), on Tuesday, the US State Department has announced.

The meeting will take place in Washington and will be closed to the media, according to the State Department schedule.

Over the weekend, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk participated in celebrations marking the 125th anniversary of the beginning of the ministry of St. Raphael of Brooklyn in North America.

The visit of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk to the United States comes amid the Russian Orthodox Church's concerns about the fate of Orthodox Christians in Ukraine, where a church rift has emerged leading to the creation of a new branch, the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Kiev Patriarchate (UOC-KP).

In January, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople handed over the tomos of autocephaly to the newly-established Ukrainian church. The Russian Orthodox Church, along with the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, refused to recognize the decision.