The Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, will be one of a high-powered Vatican delegation that will visit the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church in July.
It is the latest indication of a thawing in relations between Moscow and Rome since Benedict XVI was elected Pope last year.
The visit will be part of a series of inter-faith events between July 3rd and 5th before the G8 summit, which takes place in St Petersburg from July 15th to 17th.
Others in the Vatican delegation will include: Cardinal Walter Kaspar, president of the Vatican's Council for Christian Unity; the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels, Cardinal Godfried Daneels; the Archbishop of Washington DC, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick; the Archbishop of Vienna, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn; and Archbishop Sigitas Tamkevicius, of Kaunas in Lithuania.
Last March, a delegation from the Moscow Patriarchate visited Italy where they met Cardinal Achille Silvestrini, retired prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for the Eastern Churches, and Cardinal Roger Etchegaray, retired prefect of the Vatican's Council for Justice and Peace, of which Archbishop Martin had been secretary.
Bishop Mark Golovkov, who was a member of the Moscow Patriarchate delegation to visit Italy, conducted a divine liturgy at the Russian Orthodox Church of St Peter and St Paul in Dublin's Harold's Cross yesterday.
Vice-chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church's department for external church relations, based in Moscow, he also attended the Synod of Bishops in Rome last October as the Russian Orthodox Church representative. "It was where I met Dermot [Archbishop Martin] the first time," he said yesterday.
Archbishop Martin attended yesterday's service, as did Rev Patrick Comerford (representing the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin Most Rev John Neill), the Russian ambassador Vladimir Rakhmanin, and John Kennedy of the Taoiseach's office.
Bishop Mark, who has been in Ireland since Tuesday last, leaves today on completion of a visit during which he met President Mary McAleese, Archbishop Martin and Archbishop Neill.
He also finalised legal details concerning the transfer of the church in Harold's Cross from the Church of Ireland to the Russian Orthodox Church.
On relations between the Vatican and Moscow, he said they were "better" but that the problem over the Uniate Church in Ukraine, which is in full communion with Rome, was "the main obstacle" to closer ties.
The Uniate Church was proscribed by the Soviet authorities from 1946 to 1989 and claims to have 4.5 million followers, mostly in western Ukraine, since being again officially recognised.
It has sought the return of its church buildings taken over by the Russian Orthodox and has been accused of seeking to win converts among those who are followers of the Russian Orthodox Church.
