Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk: Temples are the cultural heritage of all the people MP

On May 4, 2019, in the “Church and the World” program, which is being broadcast on the Russia-24 channel on Saturdays and Sundays, the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations , Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, answered questions from the leading TV channel Ekaterina Gracheva. E. Gracheva : Hello! This is the “Church and the World” program, in which we talk with the chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, about events in Russia and in the world. Lord, hello! Metropolitan Hilarion : Hello, Catherine! Hello, dear brothers and sisters! E. Gracheva : Vladyka, while all the world media were discussing the outcome of the presidential elections in Ukraine, an almost imperceptible topic was very important for the Church, namely: representatives of several Churches — Alexandria , Antioch , Jerusalem and Cyprus — declared the protection of believers and churches in Ukraine. How did our church diplomacy work in this direction? Does she have to do with this? Metropolitan Hilarion : I think our church diplomacy is related to this, because I personally visited the heads of churches (some of them several times) all last year to explain what is happening in Ukraine. But each Local Church expresses its opinion freely, not under any pressure. In spite of the fact that the Patriarch of Constantinople tried to enlist the support of the Local Orthodox Churches in the deeds he performed on the “Ukrainian front,” he did not receive this support. Four Local Churches, three of which are the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem, and the fourth is the ancient Cypriot Church, discussed the situation in Ukraine, and agreed that the Archbishop of Cyprus would in the coming months come up with initiatives aimed to resolve the situation. What kind of initiatives are proposed, we do not know. I am not sure that the meeting participants themselves knew. But one can definitely say that the Church of Cyprus is now willing to play the role of a mediator. I think this is a very interesting and in its own way a new alignment. The Patriarch of Constantinople did not do anything to reach an understanding between the Antioch and Jerusalem Churches, and the Archbishop of Cyprus did. Therefore, we can hope that this initiative will be continued. It is very important that all these four Churches unequivocally condemn the lawlessness that is taking place: the seizure of temples, the violent actions that schismatics are taking against the believers of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church . E. Gracheva : So, very soon we can hear such a term as the “Cyprus Agreement”? There are Minsk negotiations. There will be Cypriot. Metropolitan Hilarion : I cannot exclude this, because the Archbishop of Cyprus has taken such an initiative. Three churches have already supported her. I think that other churches will support her too. We need some kind of platform for negotiations, at least a temporary center of coordination between the Orthodox Churches. It cannot be ruled out that, by agreement of the Churches, Cyprus and the Cyprus Church will become such a center. E. Grachev : Lord, in Paris, a terrible tragedy occurred for the entire Fifth Republic. The main symbol of France, the Notre Dame Cathedral, was partially lost. You have lived in Europe for many years. Do you have any personal memories associated with this cathedral? Metropolitan Hilarion : My strongest memory associated with this cathedral is the visit of the ever-memorable Patriarch Alexy II to France and his presence at the divine service in this cathedral. As you know, this cathedral houses one of the main Christian shrines - the crown of thorns of the Savior. He is taken out to worship believers rarely, but on the occasion of the arrival of Patriarch Alexy, this shrine was taken out, and His Holiness had the opportunity to worship her. Of course, if we talk about the fire at Notre Dame, I think that many share the words that our president said, who said that we all watched with tears at what was happening. And when the cathedral caught fire, many clung to the TV screens and waited, what is it all over. Because, of course, the loss of such a shrine of the whole Christian world, a kind of symbol of the French people - the cathedral, which survived the French Revolution, and many other disasters, would be irreplaceable. Fortunately, the ancient construction of the cathedral has been preserved, and the building is to be restored. Already collected, as far as we know, more than a billion euros for the restoration of this cathedral. Many people immediately responded, including wealthy people. I think the cathedral will be restored. The main shrines and major works of art that were inside the cathedral, as far as can be judged from the preliminary estimates, were not affected. But, of course, the actual amount of damage can be assessed only after relevant studies are conducted there, and it will take many months. E. Gracheva : Unique specialists are also needed to restore the cathedral. Russia made a proposal to provide France with such specialists. Paris is not a foreign city for Russian culture, said Vladimir Medinsky. They promise to send "the best star specialists" for restoration. In this regard, there was a mixed assessment and discussion on the Internet. Many immediately began to upload photos of our Russian abandoned unique architectural monuments. Do you share the opinion of skeptics that you must first establish order with the cultural heritage at home, and then help France? Metropolitan Hilarion : I think one does not interfere. Russia is rich enough to engage in its own cultural heritage and help those in need. But judging by how quickly people from different continents and from different countries began to respond to trouble in Paris, it can be assumed that enough funds will be raised to restore Notre Dame. If we talk about our temples, then literally at the last meeting of the Supreme Church Council, we discussed this topic. And the Metropolitan of Pskov and Porkhovsky Tikhon presented a picture that indicates that about 4,500 Russian churches are in an emergency or ruined state. In an emergency condition, these are temples where services are held, but there is a risk of losing these temples, for example, there are very significant structural defects, restoration of the foundation, restoration of walls, roofs and so on is required. And ruined - these are temples, which are mainly located far from settlements, where once there were villages, and now they are gone, and these temples are in ruins. Although there are in the cities and settlements such temples, which stand in ruins. Moscow Architectural Institute has developed a program that allows in a short time to fully diagnose the condition of the temple building and create a computer model of its restoration, which then will work restorers. The task of restoring and preserving these thousands of temples still stands before the Church, before the state. And even in Moscow there are temples that have not yet been restored and are in disrepair - those that have only recently been returned to the Church and require very serious restoration. E. Gracheva : What do you associate with the fact that Russian people with a relatively low by European standards income are ready to help the restoration of Notre Dame, but at the same time they are often indifferent to those monuments, abandoned temples that are in their village? Metropolitan Hilarion : I do not think that we have such people who are willing to help Notre Dame, but at the same time forget about the temple in their own native village. As a rule, people who are ready to help there also help here. I know wealthy people who have invested a lot of money in, for example, rebuilding or rebuilding a temple in their native village. And now this same businessman helps many other churches and, perhaps, one of these businessmen responded to trouble in Paris. But the restoration of the temples remains relevant. We know that so many temples have been restored. Thirty years ago there were 6 thousand temples in the Russian Orthodox Church, and now there are more than 40 thousand. This means that we have restored or rebuilt every year more than a thousand temples. But in Russia there are many temples that require emergency measures for their salvation. E. Gracheva : Well, if misfortunes occur, as with Notre Dame, when, as a result of fires, unique temples can no longer be saved. For example, recall the temple of the Assumption of the XVIII century in Kondopoga. According to statistics, from 1985 to 2018, 45 such unique architectural monuments burnt down in Russia. Who now finances fire safety systems in temples that are classified as architectural monuments? In your opinion, who should supervise these systems? Is this work actively carried out? Metropolitan Hilarion : As a rule, if the temple is owned by the Church, the parish community is responsible for its fire safety. At the same time, with respect to state-protected monuments of architecture, especially wooden temples, which, in the event of an attack by an intruder, flare up like a match and burn in minutes, particular attention should be paid by the relevant state supervisory authorities. But some objects are more at risk of fire, while others are less. And the ancient wooden temples, of course, must be protected in a special way. I have not heard that after the fire in the Assumption Church of the 18th century in Kondopoga, some new measures were taken to protect such temples from fire and from losing them forever. I would like to believe that such measures will be developed very soon. We should not forget that temples are not only the property of the Church, it is also the cultural property of the whole nation. E. Gracheva : The fire in Notre-Dame was a convenient excuse to talk about the uncomfortable topic of migrants in Europe and of migrants in Paris in particular, who filled this city. And many Russian bloggers wrote: "The cathedral burned down with shame, seeing how the cultural code of the French capital has changed." Someone wrote more sharply that "today's Paris, its inhabitants, Notre Dame do not deserve." When was the last time in Vladyka? And your personal opinion, were the authorities of the Fifth Republic able to enter migrants into the cultural code of the capital, or did this task fail? Metropolitan Hilarion : I was in Paris in early December last year, when the so-called yellow vests were very active there. Many streets were blocked. Somewhere there were demonstrations. But these demonstrations were not related to the topic of migrants. They were connected with another subject - with rising prices, with increasing taxes. If we talk about the so-called integration of immigrants from the third world countries into the society of the country where they came, then, of course, such integration in most cases is not observed. Many people, coming from their own countries, continue to live in France as they lived in their own country. Migrants create a kind of ghetto, entire neighborhoods are inhabited by such immigrants from other countries. When you find yourself in a similar quarter, it seems that you are not in Paris, but in Algeria or in some former colony of France, where immigrants mostly come to this country, because they speak French. Well, those who do not speak French learn to speak this language when they already arrive in France. But cultural transcoding fails. This, of course, creates very serious problems, and therefore the migration policy should not be illegible. It should take into account the cultural code of the country's population and not put at risk the preservation of this cultural code. This is now a lot of debate in Europe. Too liberal migration legislation leads to a change in demographic balances and in the future can lead to very serious internal conflicts. In the second part of the program, Metropolitan Hilarion answered TV viewers questions that came to the website of the Church and Peace program. Question : What are the requirements for those who temporarily fell away from Orthodoxy, in order to carry out the rank of joining them, and why do people kneel during this rank? And what if a person cannot kneel due to illness? Metropolitan Hilarion : This is reminiscent of a question I was asked recently: how to shave a man as a monk if he is bald, if there is nothing to shave? I think that if a person cannot kneel down, then it is not a problem to come to church, to participate in the rite of joining, to participate in church sacraments. Who can not kneel, let him not get up. If a person cannot stand at all, he can sit. If he cannot move, he is brought to the temple in a wheelchair, and he is present at the service and participates in church sacraments. If we talk about the essence of the order of joining, then this order is performed in some temples over those who were previously baptized, was a member of the Church, but then fell away from the Church and dodged into various sects. Unfortunately, there are a lot of such sects now (for example, the sect of Jehovah's Witnesses, which pretends to be the Christian Church, and in fact is a sect aimed at destroying the human person, destroying the family and destroying the psyche). And if people shy away from sects and stay there for a long time, and then they want to reunite with the Church, then they undergo a special order of reunion. In particular, in the temple on Bolshaya Ordynka, where I serve, every six months this order of reunification with the Church takes place. And at various times from 50 to 100 people join the Church through this rank. During the rite of joining, indeed, once or twice the believers kneel, but if someone cannot kneel, it is not an obstacle to reunite with the Church.