On November 12, 2021, within the walls of the Volyn Theological Seminary, the rector of the Patriarchal Stauropegic Holy Dormition Monastery in the city of Balamand (Lebanon), Archimandrite Roman (Hannat), held a meeting with the future spiritual pastors. This was reported on the VTS website.

Father Roman is a cleric of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, whose canonical territory includes, in particular, Syria, Lebanon and other countries of the Middle East. These days he is on a visit to Ukraine, which is due to the fact that the International Scientific and Practical Conference “The Unity of Church: Theological, Canonical and Historical Dimensions” was held at the Kiev Theological Academy on November 11.

In addition, several students of theological schools of the UOC (including the VTS student Stepan Senchuk) today returned from an educational trip from the theological department of Balamand University. By the way, Archimandrite Roman (Hannat) is a teacher of church singing and hymnography at the theological department of this Lebanese university.

Father Roman was accompanied by the deputy of the head DECR of the UOC, Archpriest Mykolay Danylevych.

Father Roman also spoke about the modern life of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. So, in particular, in Syria it has 1.5 million believers, in Lebanon – 200 thousand. Interestingly, among the Orthodox in Turkey there are 15 thousand faithful of the Patriarchate of Antioch. This is due to the fact that they live on those lands of the historical Great Syria, which were part of Turkey. This, by the way, is the most ancient Antioch – the modern Turkish city of Antakya (the patriarchal cathedra is located in the capital of Syria, Damascus). The Church of Antioch also has a large diaspora, and in the USA it even carries out active missionary work.

He also noted that with great joy and as a great God’s mercy he perceived his opportunity to visit Ukraine: “I love the Ukrainian Orthodox Church very much, and you also ought to love your Church and take care of it with humility.”