[5][6] Serious changes in the Caucasian Albanian church occurred under the Arab rule, when the Catholicos Nerses I Bakur (688–704) attempted to convert to Chalcedonism, thus recognizing the spiritual authority of Constantinople.In 2013, November, President Ilham Aliyev participated in the opening ceremony of Orthodox Religious and Cultural Center of Baku and Azerbaijan Eparchy.[17] In 2001, during his visit to Azerbaijan, Patriarch Alexe II met with representatives of the Udin community who expressed the desire of their people to join the ROC.[18] In 2006, the bishop of Baku and the Caspian Sea, Alexander (Ishchein), reported that Orthodox worship will be performed in Udin churches, and priests for them are trained in Russian religious schools.The Baku diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church took part in some solemn events, and even held baptisms, but there is no general progress on the involving of Udin into the ROC.