Metropolitan Hilarion forbidden from entering Ukraine

With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, arrived in Dnipropetrovsk on May 9 to take part in the celebrations dedicated to the jubilee of the esteemed hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Iriney of Dnipropetrovsk who was celebrating his 75th birthday.

At the border control, Metropolitan Hilarion was detained. The DECR chairman got an official notification which forbade him from entering Ukraine. No reasons were given for the ban.

Unable to cross the state border of Ukraine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk read out to Metropolitan Iriney of Dnipropetrovsk and Pavlograd a message from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia at the border control point of the Dnipropetrovsk airport and presented him with a high church award, the Order of the Holy Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow, 1^st class.