On September 29, 2025, Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, met with Masrour Barzani, Prime Minister of the Kurdish Autonomous Region of Iraq, in Erbil.
Metropolitan Anthony told the head of the district Government about the history and modern ministry of the Russian Orthodox Church, including its relations with Christian and other traditional religious communities, government and public organizations in the Middle East.
The sides discussed the contribution of religious communities to the maintenance of peace and fraternal cooperation between peoples, emphasizing the inadmissibility of using the religious factor for destructive purposes.
During the conversation, the historical role of the Assyrian Church of the East in the development of relations between the peoples of ancient Mesopotamia and historical Russia was noted, as well as the personal contribution of His Holiness Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Ava III and His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to their strengthening at the present stage.