San Francisco, January 28, 2020

Photo: Facebook

Archbishop Elpidophoros, the primate of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, visited the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia’s Holy Virgin-Joy of All Who Sorrow Cathedral in San Francisco recently.

During his visit, he venerated the relics of St. John (Maximovitch) of Shanghai and San Francisco that are preserved there.

“God is wondrous in His Saints! My visit to the tomb of St. John Maximovitch at the Holy Virgin Cathedral was another enriching experience showing the depth and breadth of the Orthodox experience in America,” Abp. Elpidophoros wrote on his Facebook and Twitter pages yesterday.

“I am grateful to Archbishop Kyrill for the hospitality of the Cathedral,” Abp. Elpidophoros added, referring to ROCOR’s hierarch for the Western American Diocese.

Photo: Facebook

The Greek hierarch’s visit to the ROCOR Cathedral is notable given that the Patriarchate of Constantinople, to which the Greek Archdiocese of America belongs, and the Moscow Patriarchate, to which ROCOR belongs, are currently out of communion due to the ongoing Ukrainian Church crisis.

Abp. Elpidophoros also met with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Chairman of the Russian Church’s Department for External Church Relations in New Jersey in October, at the invitation of Metropolitan Joseph of the Antiochian Archdiocese of North America.

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