From April 2 to 11, 2025, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Porfiry of Serbia and the Holy Synod of the Serbian Orthodox Church, a scientific delegation of the Serbian Patriarchate, consisting of Protopresbyter Dr. Zoran Rankovic, Dean of the Orthodox Theological Faculty of Belgrade State University, and Dr. Z. Z, Director of the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate, visited Russia on a working trip. Nedelkovich.
On April 2-5, the delegation visited St. Petersburg, where on April 3, the director of the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate, Z. Nedelkovich and O.V. Skvortsova, Director of the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences, signed a cooperation agreement between the two oldest scientific institutions of the two countries.
On April 4, guests from the Serbian Orthodox Church visited the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, where they got acquainted with the history and modern life of the educational institution, and also met with the rector, Bishop Siluan of Peterhof.
Then the representatives of the Serbian Patriarchate went to Moscow. On April 6, they took part in celebrations marking the 100th anniversary of the blessed repose of St. Tikhon. Protopresbyter Zoran Rankovich was among the clergy who served His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at the Divine Liturgy at the Don Stavropol Monastery. On the evening of April 7, in the Cathedral Hall of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, the guests attended a solemn concert dedicated to the memorable date.
On April 8, members of the scientific delegation of the Serbian Patriarchate visited the State Historical Museum (GIM), where they met with O.A. Sirotina, Deputy Director General of the GIM for Scientific and Educational Work, and M.V. Chistyakova, Foundation Director. The conversation was attended by Acting Head of the Department of Foreign Relations of the State Institute of Fine Arts M.E. Kryuchenkova, who at the end of the meeting also conducted a tour of the exposition of the State Historical Museum for guests from the Serbian Orthodox Church.
During the meeting, Dr. Z. Nedeljkovic familiarized the management of the GIM with the history of the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate, as well as with its ongoing project to search, study and publish Serbian medieval manuscripts stored in archives, libraries and museums around the world. The parties discussed the prospects for bilateral cooperation within the framework of this project, having reached an agreement on the preparation of a corresponding agreement.
On the same day, Protopresbyter Zoran Rankovich and Dr. Z. Nedelkovich visited the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, where he was warmly received by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, DECR Chairman, and Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR Deputy Chairman.
On April 9, the delegation made a pilgrimage trip to the Holy Trinity Sergius Lavra. The guests from the Serbian Patriarchate worshiped the relics of St. Sergius of Radonezh and other saints, visited the Trinity and Assumption Cathedrals, as well as the Church of St. Sergius with a Refectory, accompanied by a guide, and then visited the Moscow Theological Academy, where Protopresbyters Zoran Rankovic and Zoran Nedeljkovic met with students from the Serbian Orthodox Church. Upon returning to Moscow, the guests visited the Pokrovsky Stavropol Convent, where they worshiped the relics of the Blessed Matrona of Moscow.
On April 10, the scientific delegation of the Serbian Patriarchate visited the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University, where they met with the Deputy Dean of the Faculty for Educational and Methodological Work, V.N. Istratov, and the staff of the Department of Historical Informatics, who introduced the guests from Belgrade to new directions in the use of information technology in the scientific and educational process. The meeting was attended by the director of the MDA Publishing House, Deacon Dimitri Serov.
On the same day, an agreement on cooperation between the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate and the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences was signed in the building of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The meeting of the scientific delegation of the Serbian Patriarchate with K.V. Nikiforov, Director of the Institute of Slavic Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, was attended by N.S. Gusev, Secretary of the Academic Council, and D.G. Polonsky, researcher at the Department of History of the Middle Ages. Serbian church scientists familiarized their Russian colleagues with the activities of the Library of the Serbian Patriarchate, including a project to publish Russian medieval manuscripts stored in it, as well as a project to study the Serbian medieval manuscript heritage stored in scientific institutions of the Russian Federation and other countries.
During the guests' stay in Moscow, they were accompanied by A.Y. Khoshev, an employee of the DECR Secretariat for Inter-Orthodox Relations.
On the morning of April 11, the delegation left for their homeland.