US Secretary of State to have a hushed meeting with head of ROC DECR

US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo. Photo: Facebook

On October 22, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo meets in Washington with the chairman of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk. The news about the meeting on Monday was published by the press service of the foreign office, reports TASS.

“At 3:30 pm (10:30 pm by the Kiev time – Ed.), Secretary of State Pompeo meets with Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk at the State Department,” the statement said.

It is noted that the conversation will be held in camera. The foreign office did not answer questions from the news agency about possible topics for conversation between Michael Pompeo and Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

As reported by the UOJ, earlier Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that the United States is putting the Orthodox Churches in the Middle East and North Africa under pressure, forcing them to recognize the OCU. According to him, the United States Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, “publicly demands that all Orthodox Churches recognize the illegal, non-canonical Orthodox Church of Ukraine”, while in Ukraine “he is busy not so much promoting religious freedom as imposing politically motivated decisions on religious communities."

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