A visit by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomeos I of Constantinople to Moscow underscores a thawing in relations after decades of tension during the Soviet and post-Soviet era.

On a five-day visit to Rome, a Russian Orthodox official in charge of interchurch relations has had a meeting with the Pope - a sign of improved relations between the two churches under Benedict XVI and the new Russian Patriarch.

A 10-day trip to the Ukraine by Patriarch Kirill I from the Russian Orthodox Church is set to include visits to a monument established to victims of the Stalin-era famine.

Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev, who served as the Moscow Patriarchate's representative to European organizations in Brussels, has been appointed as head of the Russian Orthodox Church's Department of External Church Relations.