Meeting His Beatitude at the Sheremetyevo airport were Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR); Bishop John of Naro-Fominsk, administrator of the Patriarchal parishes in the USA; Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; Archpriest Igor Yakimchuk, DECR secretary for inter-Orthodox relations; and Mr. Dmitry Petrovsky, DECR staff member. Archpriest Chad Hatfield, chancellor of Sty. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in New York, was among those meeting Metropolitan Tikhon.
The delegation of the Orthodox Church in America consists of Bishop Daniel of Santa Rosa, Archimandrite Gerasim (Eliel), Archpriest Nazary Polataiko, Archdeacon Joseph Matusiak, and reader Roman Ostash.