05 May 2023
Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, participated at the General Audience on Wednesday, 3 May. At the end of the event in Saint Peter’s Square, he approached the Pope, who greeted him by kissing the medallion with an icon of the Mother of God — worn by Orthodox metropolitans — around his neck. They spoke cordially for a few moments. Pope Francis then gave him a medal of his pontificate, while Metropolitan Anthony, in turn, gave him a medallion in a small case.