Early on Tuesday morning, June 11, 2024, His Eminence Nicholas, Metropolitan of Eastern America & New York, First Hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad, arrived in Belgrade, accompanying the Kursk Root Icon of the Mother of God "of the Sign."

Greeted at Nikola Tesla Airport by Their Graces Isihije, Bishop of Valjevo, and Nektarije, Bishop of Britain & Ireland, the wonderworking icon was brought to the Serbian Patriarchate.

On the same day, Metropolitan Nicholas toured the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Sava, venerated its holy icons and relics, and ascended the central dome of this temple, one of the largest churches in the Orthodox world.

The First Hierarch met and had a brief conversation with His Eminence John, Metropolitan of Belgorod & Stary Oskol, who had arrived in Belgrade for the feast of the Ascension of the Lord, the "slava" of the Serbian capital. His Eminence and his entourage then met with the bishops of the Serbian Church at the cathedral parish house for a luncheon: Bishop Isihije, His Grace Aleksej, Bishop of Hvosno, and His Grace Dositej, Bishop of Lipljan, after which Metropolitan Nicholas gave a long interview shown on Serbian television.

On the evening of the same day, the delegation of the Russian Church Abroad visited Holy Archangel Michael Cathedral and the Museum of the History of the Serbian Orthodox Church, located at the Patriarchate. The members of the delegation then went to the Kalemegdan Fortress, where His Holiness, Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia, received a reception in Ružica Church.

Metropolitan Nicholas is accompanied by members of the Synod of Bishops: Their Eminences Mark, Metropolitan of Berlin & Germany; Gabriel Archbishop of Montreal & Canada; and Peter, Archbishop of Chicago & Mid-America; Their Graces Irenei, Bishop of London & Western Europe and Job, Bishop of Stuttgart; as well as Archpriests Serafim Gan, (chancellor of the Synod of Bishops and secretary of the First Hierarch of ROCOR), Luka Novakovic and Ljubo Milosevic (clerics of the Eastern American Diocese), and Gregory Joyce (secretary of the Mid-American Diocese), and Reader George Konyev.

www.synod.com