On January 20, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, who is in Lebanon with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, visited the Russian Embassy in Beirut, where he met with Alexander Rudakov, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the Lebanese Republic.
The meeting was attended by Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, adviser to His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, Deputy Chairman of the DECR, Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia to the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, Priest Alexander Ershov, assistant to the DECR Chairman, and Egor Skopenko, Executive Director of the Foundation for the Support of Christian Culture and Heritage.
With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk presented the Russian Ambassador to Lebanon A.N. Rudakov with a high church award – the Order of the Holy Prince Alexander Nevsky (III degree), which he was awarded in consideration of his contribution to the development of church-state relations and in connection with the 60th anniversary of his birth.