Secretary for inter-Christian Relations, The Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations, Russian Orthodox Church Department for External Church Relations

Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov) was born in 1977 on the Dikson island in the Arctic region of the USSR. He studied at Almaty State University and then at Moscow Theological Seminary and Moscow Theological Academy. He was ordained as a deacon in 2009. In 2010 he took his monastic vows and was ordained as a hieromonk. He is among the brethrens of Zaikonospassky Monastery in Moscow. He served in the Secretary for inter-Orthodox Relations of the Department for External church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate from 2006 to 2014. In 2014 appointed as a Secretary for inter-Christian Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. He is in charge of the activities and projects of the Moscow Patriarchate in the sphere of the inter-Christian relations, and contributes to their fruitful development since 2014 to the present day. He is also in charge of humanitarian activities of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Middle East and Africa. Hiermonk Stefan is also a member of the Inter-Council Presence of the Moscow Patriarchate; and the Secretary of the Commission for Bilateral Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and other churches such as the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church, the Assyrian Church of the East, and the Coptic Orthodox Church.