An agreement to establish the Commission was reached during the meeting between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness Coptic Patriarch Tawadros II. That meeting took place during the visit that the Primate of the Coptic Church made to Russia in the period from October 28, to November 4, 2014. The first meeting of the joint working group for preparing the dialogue took place in Cairo on February 13, 2015. The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Synod of the Coptic Church approved the list of the Commission members, the former on May 5, 2015, and the latter in July 2015.
Representing the Moscow Patriarchate at the meeting were: Bishop Gennady of Kaskelen, co-chairman of the Commission; Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations; Rev. Viktor Kulaga, representative of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa; and Mr. Sergey Alfyorov and Mr. Ilya Kashitsyn, DECR staff members. The Coptic Church was represented by Bishop Serapion of Los Angeles, co-chairman of the Commission; Rev. John Paul Abdelsayed, a cleric of the diocese of Los Angeles, Dean of St Athanasius and St Cyril Theological School; Rev. Boulos Halem, Director of Media Center and official spokesperson of the Coptic Patriarchate; Dr Isaac Agban, Secretary-General of the Coptic Institute of Higher Studies; and Mrs. Barbara Soliman, Director of the Office for Church Projects of the Coptic Patriarchate.
At its first meeting, the Commission set priority goals for developing in the nearest future cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Coptic Church in academic sphere, in theology, in exploring monastic traditions of the two Churches, in pilgrimage, in social ministry and church-state relations.
http://www.pravmir.com/commission-for-dialogue-between-the-russian-orthodox-church-and-the-coptic-church-holds-in-cairo-its-first-session/