Metropolitan Jonah hosts ROCOR Metropolitan Hilarion at OCA Chancery
His Beatitude, Metropolitan Jonah hosted His Eminence, Metropolitan Hilarion, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia [ROCOR], at the OCA Chancery here on Monday, November 16, 2009.
During their meetings, the two Metropolitans discussed the initiation of an official dialogue between the the Orthodox Church in America and ROCOR to study ways by which they might strengthen their relationship. Both the OCA and ROCOR hierarchs had agreed earlier this year to initiate this dialogue.
During their meeting, Metropolitan Jonah and Metropolitan Hilarion concelebrated a Memorial Litiya for His Holiness, Patriarch Pavle of Serbia, who fell asleep in the Lord on Sunday, November 15, 2009. In his remarks at the end of the service, Metropolitan Jonah stated that the entire Orthodox world considered the late Patriarch “a living saint” and “a great spiritual leader of the 20th century.”
It was later noted that this Memorial Litiya marked the first time that the Metropolitans of the OCA and ROCOR have served together since the mid-1930s.