Moscow, February 9, 2015
On February 8, 2015, on invitation of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Archbishop Jovan (Vraniskovski) of Ohrid has arrived in Russia in order to undergo a medical treatment.
At the Sheremetyevo airport Archbishop Jovan was met by deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR) Archpriest Nikolai Balashov as well as staff member of the DECR secretariat for inter-Orthodox relations A.Yu. Khoshev.
On behalf of the DECR chairman, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Archpriest Nikolai Balashov greeted the guest, expressing their joy at his release from prison.
Archbishop Jovan is accompanied by Rector of the Dependency of the Russian Orthodox Church in Sofia Archimandrite Philip (Vasiltsev) and his (the hierarch’s) mother G. Vraniskovskaya, reports the DECR communication service.
On the same day the archbishop arrived in St. Petersburg where he was received by Bishop Nazary of Kronstadt and Abbess Sophia (Silina), Mother-Superior of Novodevichy Convent in which His Holiness Patriarch Kirill had blessed Archbishop Jovan to recover and undergo medical treatment.
