Head of Orthodox Church begins four-day visit to Czech Republic

The head of the Orthodox Church, Patriarch Bartholomew I, begins a four-day visit to the Czech Republic on Wednesday evening. The patriarch is coming to the country in connection with celebrations marking the 1150th anniversary of the arrival in Moravia of the Orthodox missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius. Patriarch Bartholomew blessed a church in Šumperk in 1998 and returned to the Czech Republic the following year to attend Forum 2000 at the invitation of then president Václav Havel.