On June 22, 2021, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met with H. E. Johannes Eigner, ambassador of the
Republic of Austria to the Russian Federation, who is completing his diplomatic service in Moscow. The meeting took place at the Ss Cyril and Methodius Institute of Post-Graduate Studies.
They were joined in their talk by Archpriest Sergey Zvonarev, DECR secretary for the affairs of the far-abroad diaspora.
Metropolitan Hilarion warmly welcomed the guest to the walls of the higher theological education institution of the Russian Orthodox Church.
During the meeting, Mr. Eigner shared impressions of his time in Russia as head of the Austrian diplomatic mission. The DECR chairman, in his turn, told the guest about his service as head of the
Diocese of Vienna and Austria and the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary of the Russian Orthodox Church and about the restoration work carried out at the St. Nicholas Cathedral in Vienna.
They also discussed the situation concerning the spread of the coronavirus infection in Russia and Austria and shared their views of the development of economic life and relations between the two
countries.
In conclusion of the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion wished the high-ranking Austrian diplomat every success in his further service in the field of diplomacy.
