His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, in the framework of his pilgrimage to many monasteries and districts on the Holy Land of Russia, visited the city of Irkutsk in Siberia, as a guest of His Eminence Vadim Metropolitan of Irkutsk. In the city he venerated the relics of the great missionary Saint Innocent, asking for the blessing of the Saint on his future missionary journeys in Africa, during October.
Thereafter, over the next few days he arrived in the town of Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains where he was welcomed by His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill, whom His Beatitude knows since he was a deacon, at the time when he was Exarch in Odessa.
In this district, the Alexandrian Primate had a meeting with the Governor of the County of the Urals and gave a television interview on the international SOYUZ channel, in which he had the opportunity to present the missionary activities of the Alexandrian Patriarchate on the African Continent.
He also visited the place of execution and burial of the Tsarist Family and made the following statement to the reporters: “Today we stand with reverence at the tombs of the last tsars to pay homage to those millions who did not sacrifice their faith on the altar of the dominant political ideology. Today we confirm with our presence here that, whenever annihilation of the Church was attempted, the Church not only did not disappear, but, with the help of God, regenerated and flourished spiritually”.
On the eve of the Dormition of the Theotokos he officiated at the service of Vespers, orthros and the lamentations for the Most Holy Theotokos at the Cathedral in Ekaterinburg and sealed his missionary journey to Russia with his visit to the Holy Monastery of the Holy Protection in Moscow, where the sacred relics of the Venerable Matrona the Blind of Russia are kept.
