On 6 October 2017, while on a working visit to Turkey, Mr. Sergei Stepashin, chairman of the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society (IOPS), met with His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. Mr. Stepashin informed the Primate of the Orthodox Church of Constantinople of the opening of the IOPS’s representation in Istanbul and asked him for assistance in promoting pilgrimage to the holy places in Turkey for Orthodox Christians.
The IOPS chairman also mentioned the celebrations that will mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Archimandrite Antonin (Kapustin) who had served in Constantinople.
Taking part in the meeting were also Mr. Alexei Yerkhov, Russia’s Ambassador to Turkey, and Mr. Alexander Rudakov, a member of the IOPS Board, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Department of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Metropolitan Konstantinos of Nikaia, Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Proussa, and Metropolitan Bartholomew of Smyrna.