February 13, 2015
"It seems that we should expect an essential rapprochement of positions after many decades of interchristian dialog. Meanwhile, the rapprochement did not happen... On the contrary, today contradictions between Orthodoxs and Catholics, on the one side, and Protestants, on the other side, become more sizeable, than it were 50 or 70 years ago," RIA Novosti cited the Metropolitan's words.
According to him, today these contradictions between Christians of different denominations refer not only faith questions, but the morality sphere also - "the sphere, where Christian testimony can be unified, regardless of faith disagreements."
"Today, it becomes harder to speak about one system of spiritual and moral values, accepted by all Christians in the entire world. Today, different communities show different version of Christianity," Hilarion noted.
From this point of view, he underlined, that all present-day Christians can be divided into two big groups - traditional and liberal. "Now, a precipice separates not Orthodoxs and Catholics, or Catholics and Protestants, but 'traditionalists' and 'liberals.' Some Christian leaders assert that church should become 'inclusive' to recognize alternative behavior standards and bless it officially," said the representative of Patriarchate of Moscow.
According to the Orthodox Church, as Hilarion shared, the issue is not in old-fashioned 'traditionalism,' but in the faithfulness to God's revelation, which is contained in the Scripture, and so, about the authenticity of Christian evangelism.
