Budapest, July 18, 2024
Photo: novayagazeta.eu
On July 5, Novaya Gazeta Evropa published a lengthy piece containing a number of serious accusations against His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), former head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations and currently the ruling hierarch of the Diocese of Budapest.
The accusations are made by George Suzuki, Met. Hilarion’s former subdeacon and assistant. The Metropolitan tells the outlet that the accusations, especially of sexual harassment, are a baseless attempt at blackmail.
After Met. Hilarion moved to the Diocese of Budapest, 18-year-old Suzuki offered to help him as a subdeacon and assistant, and in October 2022 he moved to Hungary. He later moved into the Metropolitan’s apartment to help with the housework.
He accuses the Metropolitan of leading a luxurious lifestyle, with a number of properties in Europe. It was during a trip to a dacha in France that Suzuki says the first physical contact happened, with the Metropolitan ostensibly trying to warm the young man who was suffering from a fever. He alleges that Met. Hilarion then began regularly sleeping in the same bed with him, though he specifies that there was never any sexual contact.
Suzuki says he was under constant psychological pressure from Met. Hilarion and his assistants, and he began to record conversations, many of which he shared with Novaya Gazeta.
In January 2024, Suzuki told Met. Hilarion he needed to go to the doctor, and flew home to Japan. It was later discovered that he had stolen an expensive watch and money totaling $32,800 (30,00 euros) from the Metropolitan’s house, as seen on security footage. A criminal case has been opened against Suzuki in Hungary.
His Eminence categorically denies the accusations of sexual harassment and says he will file a defamation lawsuit.
After Suzuki left, Met. Hilarion sent emails offering to send him money. According to the Metropolitan, the young man often spoke of his poor health and his family’s poverty, and he wanted to help. He made this offer before discovering that items were missing from his safe.
According to Suzuki, money was offered for him and his mother to erase all video and audio recordings. Novaya Gazeta published a screenshot of an email said to be from Met. Hilarion in which he writes: “Let this [money] be a testimony of my sincere regret for all the mistakes made.”
However, Suzuki’s mother rejected the offer of monthly payments, instead demanding a lump sum for 16 years in advance—$420,000 (384,000 euros)—saying she would use it to do something good for George. According to her, he now regularly visits a therapist. Conversely, Met. Hilarion told RIA-Novosti that it was Suzuki’s mother who blackmailed him, offering to erase all footage in exchange for money.
Further, Met. Hilarion says he later learned that this woman only poses as George’s mother, having him psychologically under her control. When she would visit George in Budapest, he completely dropped all his duties, which caused disruptions to liturgical services, and did whatever she said. The woman demanded that Met. Hilarion pay for a 7-week stay at an expensive hotel and for all her excursions. When her demands were not met, she concocted a scheme to extort money from him, the Metropolitan explains.
Moreover, according to His Eminence, during the investigation of the theft, evidence of other crimes was uncovered, including that Suzuki held a fake Russian driver’s license, which he used to get a Hungarian license, and that he accessed and saved child pornography. At this point, Met. Hilarion realized he had to withdraw his offer of monthly payments to George and his supposed mother.
Suzuki admits that he used a fake license, that he had registered on gay dating sites and viewed pornography, but completely denies the charges of child pornography.
On July 10, the Hungarian Diocese published an open letter from its clergy in support of their hierarch. They write:
It is very important for us that the bishop constantly lives among us. For two years now, Vladyka Hilarion has been with us. Every week he serves in the Holy Dormition Cathedral, regularly visits the parishes of the diocese, communicates with the clergy, laity, and recently visited a children’s camp for the third time. We see the Vladyka every day, we love him, we value his presence among us.
With Vladyka’s arrival, the level of Church life has qualitatively improved. Thanks to the personal charisma and talents of the bishop, our small diocese has become a noticeable phenomenon in the spiritual and cultural life of Hungary…
We were deeply hurt by the fact that on July 5, an online publication published an article based on the testimony of George Suzuki, a former subdeacon of the Metropolitan, who robbed the hierarch’s apartment and is wanted by the police for this and other crimes. While admitting the fact of the theft, Suzuki is trying to justify himself by slandering our bishop.
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