Pope Francis is Greeted by Russia's Metropolitan Anthony Volokolamsk who was at the Vatican General Audience

During his Wednesday General Audience, Pope Francis was greeted by Metropolitan Anthony Volokolamsk, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. The Metropolitan was present in St Peter's Square for the occasion.

Vatican News reports that Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk,  was seated next to Cardinal Lazarus You Heung-sik, prefect of the Dicastery for the Clergy.

At the conclusion of the audience, the Metropolitan approached the Pope with the others, pausing to speak cordially for a few moments.

Pope Francis, as he customarily does at these encounters, kissed the panagia, the medallion with an icon of the Mother of God worn by Orthodox metropolitans.

The Pope then gave the metropolitan a medal of his pontificate, while Metropolitan Anthony in return gave him a panagia in a case.

On Tuesday, Metropolitan Anthony met in Rome with Archbishop Claudio Gugerotti, prefect of the Dicastery for Eastern Churches.

As reported by the website of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Anthony arrived in Italy on 1 May “with the blessing” of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow “for a brief working visit.”

The notice on the website goes on to say that during the meeting with Archbishop Gugerotti, which took place at the offices of the Dicastery, “a wide range of issues of mutual interest were discussed.”

Source: Vatican News