Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ioannis Amanatidis, today received His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, who is visiting Athens to participate in the 25th Anniversary General Assembly of the Interparliamentary Assembly on Orthodoxy.They discussed ecclesiastical issues and reaffirmed the Greek and Russian peoples’ strong ties deriving from their common faith and historical memories. Metropolitan Hilarion, who is the Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church’s Department for External Church Relations, expressed the Moscow Patriarchate’s interest in promoting relations with Greece.