Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia met with members of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Orthodox Church on September 20, 2022, at the Supreme Church Council of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Moscow. Russian Orthodox Church was represented by Patriarchal Exarch of Africa, Metropolitan Leonid of Klin, Co-Chairman of the Commission Bishop of Kaskelen Gennady, Secretary of the Commission, DECR Secretary for Inter-Christian Relations Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), an employee of the DECR S.G. Alferov. Metropolitan Serapion of Los Angeles, Co-Chairman of the commission on the part of the Coptic Orthodox Church took part in the meeting via video link. The meeting was attended in Moscow by the Secretary of the Commission, Bishop Kirill, and the representative of the Coptic Church in Russia.

“We cherish the many years of good friendly relations that bind our Churches, and, of course, the centuries-old friendship between the peoples of Egypt and Russia,” said  Patriarch Kirill, welcoming the delegation of the Coptic Church. – Now we are living a special history of international relations, which in many cases are violated, destroyed, become tenser, and aggravated by conflicts, but we must thank the Lord for the fact that relations between our Churches, and between our countries – Russia and Egypt – continue to be unchanged kind and strong.” The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church stressed that in recent years the development of its relations with the Churches of Africa has become one of the highest priorities in the external activities of the Moscow Patriarchate.

Patriarch recalled that in December 2021, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church established the Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, which created an additional powerful base for developing cooperation with the Coptic Church on the continent.