At the beginning of July 2026 a Benedictine delegation visited several Russian Orthodox monasteries in the greater Moscow area. The programme was organised in cooperation with the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.

The journey followed the tradition of Benedictine relations with the Eastern Churches, a mandate given to the oldest monastic order of the Catholic Church by Popes Leo XIII and Pius XI.

The emergence of Benedictine monasticism before the Great Schism of 1054 and the shared experience of the monastic way of life facilitate these relations. Saint Benedict and Saint Scholastica, his sister, are venerated in the churches of both the East and the West.

In addition to visiting several monasteries and convents, the delegation established contacts with institutions of higher education of the Russian Orthodox Church, which are generally led by monks. A solemn service in the Catholic Cathedral of Moscow concluded the visit.

The delegation was led by Abbot Primate Jeremias Schröder OSB. Participants included Archabbot Luca Fallica OSB of Montecassino, Archabbot Cirill Hortobágyi OSB of Pannonhalma, Abbot Urban Federer OSB of Einsiedeln, Abbess Noemi Scarpa OSB of Sant‘Anna in Bastia Umbra as the representative of all Italian Benedictine sisters, as well as Sister Rafaela Kołodziejak OSB and Father Sebastian Hacker OSB from Vienna, Professor Sister Manuela Scheiba OSB from Alexanderdorf near Berlin and Father Adalberto Piovano OSB from Dumenza near Milan.

As a sign of spiritual communion, the Benedictines presented a relic of Saint Andrew the Apostle and a facsimile edition of the letter Pacis Nuntius issued by Pope Paul VI in 1964, in which the Pope declared Saint Benedict the patron saint of Europe.

All members of the delegation were presented with an icon depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia together with Saint Sergius of Radonezh, whose life and work bear a close resemblance to those of Saint Benedict as the patriarch of Western monasticism.

Both offer to Christ the monasteries they founded and which still exist today – the Archabbey of Montecassino and the Trinity Lavra in Sergiev Posad. Christ holds the word of the Gospel in His hands in Latin and Church Slavonic: “that they may be one” (John 17:21).