On May 22, 2025, celebrations were held in the city of Bari (Italy) on the occasion of the feast day of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. The festive Liturgy in the basilica where the relics of the saint rest was celebrated by Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations, and Bishop Ambrose of Bogorodsky, Vicar of the Patriarchal Exarch of Western Europe.
The bishops were co-served by the rector of the Nikolaevsky Patriarchal Monastery in Bari, Archpriest Vyacheslav Bachin, and numerous pilgrims in holy orders.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Russia to the Vatican I.D. Soltanovsky prayed during the service.
At the end of the Liturgy, a prayer service was held in the crypt at the tomb of St. Nicholas. At the end of the service, Metropolitan Anthony addressed the worshippers with a sermon.
On the same day, the hierarch met with Archbishop Giuseppe Satriano of Bari and Rector of the Basilica of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Priest Giovanni Distante.