As part of his visit to Ethiopia, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, visited Holy Trinity University in Addis Ababa, the main higher educational institution of the Ethiopian Church, on June 5, 2026.
The DECR Chairman met with the faculty corporation and University students. Metropolitan Anthony spoke about the history and current development of the external activities of the Russian Orthodox Church, and also answered questions from teachers and students. The Rector of the University, Archbishop Abuna Filipos of South Omo, spoke about the structure and activities of the educational institution he heads, founded in 1942 by decree of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia.
For more than twenty years (in 1998-2021), the University was headed by Archbishop Timofey Abuna, a graduate of the Leningrad Theological Academy, who studied there in the same years as the future Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, about whom the hierarch kept the warmest memories until the end of his life.
On the same day, Metropolitan Anthony met with members of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Church on the University grounds.
The parties discussed issues related to the implementation of ongoing projects within the framework of the bilateral inter-church dialogue, as well as new areas of cooperation that emerged during the negotiations between Metropolitan Anthony and the hierarchy of the Ethiopian Church.