On January 29, 2009, His Grace Bishop Serapion will travel to Moscow, Russia on behalf of the Coptic Orthodox Church to congratulate and attend the enthronement of His Eminence Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad as the 16th Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, the official title of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church.
The Patriarch-elect received 508 of the 702 available votes in the secret election. He succeeds Patriarch Alexei II, who reposed in the Lord last month.
Bishop Serapion has worked with Metropolitan Kirill in his capacity as Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate for the purpose of ecumenical unity between the Oriental (Non-Chalcedonian) Orthodox Churches and the Russian Orthodox Church.
