Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria visits Russian vessel

(mospat.ru) - On 17 February 2013, His Beatitude Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria, currently on a missionary trip in Africa, celebrated the Divine Liturgy in the Greek church in Dar es Salaam, the largest city of Tanzania, on his Name Day, together with hierarchs and clerics of the Patriarchate of Alexandria.

Attending the service were Orthodox Tanzanians, diplomats, citizens of Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Serbia and Romania, as well as the crew of ‘Marshal Shaposhnikov’, a large destroyer of the Russian Navy currently on a visit to Tanzania.

That same day in the evening His Beatitude visited the vessel. Seven salvos were fired in his honour. Accompanying Patriarch Theodore were Metropolitan Dimitrios of Irenupolis (Patriarchate of Alexandria), and H.E. Alexander Rannikh, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to the United Republic of Tanzania.

The captain greeted His Beatitude on behalf of the crew. The Primate of the Church of Alexandria talked with them in the Russian language.