9/1/2011
Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)
For Orthodox Christians, the texts of Divine Services are of exceptional significance. Thanks to them, participation in Orthodox Divine Services becomes not merely a school of prayer, but a school of theology, of raising the mind toward contemplation of God, and of abiding under the authority of God.
We should remember that in accepting into ourselves God’s Body and Blood, we assume great responsibility for our personal future.
As long as the history of humankind continues on earth, Christ will continue to act in this history.
How did any autocephaly in Church history begin? With this or that Church declaring its desire to receive independence. This process did not always go smoothly. And unlike what the hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople are indoctrinating everyone with now, Constantinople certainly did not grant autocephaly in every case.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, answered questions from the Greek newspaper Kathimerini on the breaking off of Eucharistic Communion, Russian Church unity, and the Council of Crete.
Rating: 9.3|Votes: 68
For the past four months not a single Local Orthodox Church has recognized the act committed by Patriarch Bartholomew in flagrant violation of Church canons. A number of Churches officially expressed their disagreement with this act, as well as their non-recognition of the legalization of the schismatics, and expressed their support for the canonical Ukrainian Orthodox Church led by Metropolitan Onuphry. Other Churches took time to examine the situation. None of them has supported the lawlessness. Why?
Rating: 9.7|Votes: 24
The heroism of the holy new martyrs and confessors is a spiritual treasure to be carefully preserved and revered by our Church. We do not know what times await us ahead.
Rating: 8.6|Votes: 58
We have made this statement today in the hope that they will reconsider their decision, that no exarchs will go to Kiev. However, in the event that the decision is not reconsidered, we will be forced to think of retaliatory measures. At the moment, such measures are being discussed by our Holy Synod.
Rating: 9.2|Votes: 12
The film presented here, on the great feast of the Pentecost, was made by His Eminence Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), with Studio Neophyte, which produces films and programs for those who believe, and those who are seeking God, offering numerous videos on the feasts of the Church year, the saints, theology, and much more.
Rating: 7.3|Votes: 3
"I would like to point out that the positions of the Pope and the Patriarch on Ukraine are in many ways similar. I can note that the primates have to a large extent similar views on the situation in Ukraine, as well as on the measures that should be taken to stop the fratricidal confrontation. Both the Pope and the Patriarch called on the faithful of the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches to exert every effort to restore peace in the Ukrainian land."
His Holiness Patriarch Kirill, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)
Rating: 8.5|Votes: 2
On the occasion of the anniversary of his enthronement, Patriarch Kirill and Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) sent greetings to His Beatitude Patriarch John X of Antioch.
On the occasion of the anniversary of his ascendance to the primatial throne of Greece, Patriarch Kirill and Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) sent greetings to His Beatitude Archbishop Ieronymos.
On the occasion of his Name's Day Patriarch Kirill and Met. Hilarion (Alfeyev) sent greetings to His Beatitude Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania
"Today all the true followers of Christ are faced with the task to preserve and multiply in their personal life and in the society around them the intransient ideals of evangelical love and sacrifice, the virtues of mercy and compassion for our neighbours and to promote peaceful and mutually respectful relations between countries and peoples."
Rating: 2|Votes: 1
"Today with hope we listen to the words of the greeting of the angels: Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord (Lk. 2:10-11)."
On 26-27 November 2015, the 4th Forum held within the framework of the All-Russian Programme “The Sanctity of Motherhood” on the theme “The Centuries-Old Family Traditions as the Foundation of Russia’s Future” takes place in the capital of Tatarstan. The meeting was sponsored by St Andrew the First-Called Foundation and the Centre of National Glory.
Rating: 10|Votes: 1
We must clearly realize that it is not a war of one religious confession against another. The very notion of ‘religious terrorism’ can only lead us astray. There is no religious terrorism whatsoever.
"Today, when the world ever more resembles that foolish man ‘which built his house on the sand’ (Matt. 7: 26) it is the Church’s duty to remind the society of its firm foundation of the family as a union between a man and woman created with the purpose of giving birth to and bringing up children. Only this type of family, as ordained by the Lord when he created the world, can forestall or at least halt temporarily modern-day society’s further descent into the abyss of moral relativism."
"Today in the Middle East we are witnessing the unprecedented wholesale destruction of Christianity. The endless executions and kidnappings, the destruction of ancient holy sites and the expulsion of Christians from their homelands cannot but alarm the Christian Churches," Metropolitan Hillarion said.
His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem, His Eminence Anastasios of Tirana, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev)
The largest ever conference dedicated to the plight of Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East was held in Athens October 19-20, 2015, entitled "Religious and Cultural Pluralism and Peaceful Co-existence in the Middle East." Delegates from fifty countries gathered, including primates of local Orthodox Churches, representatives of Catholic and Protestant communities, Muslim leaders, governmental officials, and representatives of international organizations and the academic community.
On September 26, 2015, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, anchorman of the Church and the World talk-show on Russia-24 TV network, hosted film director Andrei S. Konchalovsky.
Rating: 5.8|Votes: 6
The sakkos first appeared in Russia no later than the fourteenth century as a liturgical vestment of Moscow’s metropolitans. The sakkos of Metropolitan Peter (1308-1326) is preserved to this day. It was sewn in 1322 from light-blue satin material on which crosses in circles are woven with gold.
In the discussion on the significance of Christianity as an essential factor in the development of European nations, it is necessary to dwell on one of the developments which, having been born in Europe, has come to influence many modern global processes. The consistent secularization of the European civilization going back to the Renaissance has acquired an unprecedented scale in our days.
There is much in common among the three hierarchs and great ecumenical teachers whom we commemorate today: Saints Basil the Great, Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom. All three lived in a time when the Christian Church, after almost three centuries of persecution, received freedom and was flourishing throughout the Byzantine ‘oikoumene’. All the three were involved in contesting contemporary heresies. All the three combined serving the Church in episcopal rank with literary activity, and it is precisely their literary legacy which secured for them the paramount place that they occupy in Christian Tradition. All the three were victims of ecclesiastical intrigues. Their posthumous glory, however, exceeded any expectations their contemporaries might have had, and their significance for the entire Christian Church in East and West cannot be overestimated.
A prominent hierarch in the besieged Russian Orthodox Church has warned that political correctness can lead to “the physical destruction of European nations.”
Rating: 10|Votes: 4
There is a simple axiom, understandable to every educated European. European civilization is a culture that has developed on a Christian foundation.
I should say that there are no doctrinal differences or disagreement in canon law among the Local Orthodox Churches. All the difficulties we encounter concern political issues that can be resolved either in dialogue between the two Local Churches or on the inter-Orthodox level.
