On 18 December 2009, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations, arrived in Bangkok with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia to take part in the celebration of the 10th anniversary of Orthodoxy in Thailand.
The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church includes the dean of the Belgorod Orthodox Theological seminary hegumen Sofrony (Kitayev), assistant of the DECR chairman protodeacon Vladimir Nazarkin, and the DECR staff members D. Petrovsky and I. Kopeikin.
Archbishop Hilarion and members of the delegation were met at the airport by Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Thailand Ye. Afanasiev, representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in Thailand hegumen Oleg (Cherepanin), first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Bangkok V. Voronin, and priests from China, Mongolia, and Russia who have arrived for the celebration
The Russian Ambassador gave a luncheon in honour of the head of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church. Discussed at the luncheon was the situation of the compatriots living in the Kingdom of Thailand.