On November 5, with the blessing of His Beatitude Metropolitan Onuphry of Kiev and All Ukraine, His Eminence Metropolitan Barsanuphius of Vinnitsa and Bar of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church arrived on a fraternal visit to the Antiochian Orthodox Church in Lebanon, reports OrthoChristian.
After being greeted at the airport by Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev), rector of the Moscow Patriarchate’s representation church in Beirut, the metropolitan visited Abdullah and Tatiana Sarrav, an Orthodox couple that helps many Orthodox churches in Lebanon, reports the Vinnitsa Diocese press service.
His Eminence then visited the Monastery of the Mother of God in Arbeia, where he and his delegation were met by the founder and abbot Archimandrite Nikodimos (Mashroki), who conveyed words of support to the hierarchs and faithful of the Ukrainian Church. Metropolitan Barsanuphius served a moleben in the monastery church and prayed for Metropolitan Onuphry on his birthday and for peace in Ukraine.
The next day, Metropolitan Barsanuphius and the Ukrainian delegation met with His Eminence Metropolitan Elijah of Beirut at his residence in the capital and handed him financial aid collected by the clergy and the faithful of the Ukrainian Church for the Antiochian Church after the massive explosion in the city over the summer. Metropolitan Barsanuphius also gave a copy of the Pochaev Icon of the Mother of God to his Antiochian brother bishop.
During the meetings, the hierarchs discussed the Church schism in Ukraine, the life of the Metropolis of Beirut, and various theological topics.
