In what will be his first visit to the Holy land since he
became Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia in 2009, Kirill, will travel to
Israel and the Palestinian territories from 9 to 14 November. According to the Israeli Foreign Ministry it will be "the most important visit by a religious authority, after that of Pope Benedict XVI".
The mission was also confirmed by the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate in Jerusalem, which officially will host the Patriarch.
The religious leader of the Greek Orthodox, Theofilo III, had already met Russian Patriarch last May in Kazakhstan. Kirill himself, then head the external relations Department of the Russian Orthodox Church, led a Moscow delegation to the enthronement of Theofilo III in Jerusalem in 2005.
Kirill's visit has a packed program and includes stops in Bethlehem, Nazareth and Tiberias, at a time when the situation of Christians in the Middle East is increasingly delicate caught between wars, terrorism and Islamic extremism.
But there will also be political meetings. On 13 November, the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church will cross the Jordan River to meet King Abdullah II in Amman before returning to Moscow.
Despite the Moscow Patriarchate's spokesman, Alexander Volkov, stressing that "the visit does not have and can have any political aspect", the spotlight is focused on talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) and Israeli that Shimon Peres.
The latter is expected to travel 8 November to Moscow for talks with the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, according to information website Newsru.com, correlating the two events.
It is assumed that the heads of State will discuss the key issues of bilateral cooperation and exchange views on major issues of foreign policy.
In particular will discuss the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, but also the crisis in Syria and Iran's nuclear program.
As reported by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Moscow's supply of armaments to regimes hostile to Israel will also be discussed by.
The same newspaper says that for health problems, Putin has canceled several planned meetings for the week, but didn't want to miss the one with Peres.
The Russian Orthodox community in Israel brings together approximately 300 thousand people who arrived in the 1990 's from the former Soviet Union.
Russia is the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches, with approximately 150 million faithful worldwide.