The department of foreign relations of the Patriarchate of Moscow held the fourth meeting of the Russo-Iranian Commission on dialogue between Islam and Orthodoxy in Moscow from 26 to 29 April. The delegation of theologians of the Islamic Republic of Iran was led by ayatollah Mahmoud Muhammadi Iraqi. In the days before the meeting, from 20 to 25 April, Metropolitan Kirill, head of the same department of the Russian Orthodox Church, made an official visit to the Arab Emirates. The metropolitan was received by Sultan Ben-Muhammed al-Khasémi. During their meeting, discussion also focused on the decision to build an Orthodox church in the territory of the Emirates where some 8,000 Russians are living and the need to coordinate actions to help solve the conflicts in the Middle East. On 23 April, Metropolitan Kirill celebrated a liturgy in the church of St. Nicholas of the Patriarchate of Antioch in Abu-Dhabi.
