Report of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk at the XXVII International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality “Called to Life in Christ”

Report of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk at the XXVII International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality “Called to Life in Christ” Доклад митрополита Волоколамского Илариона на XXVII международном симпозиуме по православной духовности «Призваны к жизни во Христе» print version September 6, 2019 12:38 On September 5, 2019, the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, as the head of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, took part in the XXVII International Symposium on Orthodox Spirituality on the subject “Calls to Life in Christ”, which takes place in the monastic community of Bose (Italy). 1. “Life in Christ” and “imitation of Christ” The expression "life in Christ", widely used in Orthodox theology, describes the very essence of that being of the "new creation" to which all who believe in the Son of God who came in the flesh are called. “Life in Christ is born in the life here, and the beginning accepts here, and is accomplished in the next life, when we reach that day” (Word I, 1) ¹. With these words, the holy righteous Nicholas Kavasila (1322-1398) begins his classic work on the mystagogy, “Seven Words about Life in Christ”. Based primarily on the teachings of the Apostle Paul on the revival of the "old man" in the "New Adam", the Byzantine ascetic argues that the new gracious life bestowed by believers in Christ is obtained by them and supported in them by the power of the Saving Sacraments, and also thanks the efforts of believers themselves, seeking to live in accordance with the law of Christ. “In the sacred Sacraments, depicting His burial and proclaiming His death,” writes St. Nicholas, “we are born and formed, and unanimously unite with the Savior. For through them we, as the apostle says, “They live and move and exist” (Acts 17:28) ”(Word I, 35) ². This union with Christ here on earth reaches its highest manifestation in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, in which the believer becomes a partaker of the Risen Savior spiritually and physically. The holy righteous John of Kronstadt also taught about the transforming power of the Eucharist in his spiritual diary “My Life in Christ”: “For through the communion of the pure Body and Blood of Christ we become flesh from His flesh and bone from His bones” ³. In the Western Church in the Middle Ages, the ascetic tradition of "imitation of Christ" (imitatio Christi) was developed, which, like the Eastern Christian tradition of "living in Christ", goes back to the Epistles of the Apostle Paul, instructing the Corinthians: "Imitate me, as I am to Christ" (I Cor. 4:16). St. Augustine already considered likening to Christ as the fundamental goal of Christian life and as a means of overcoming the consequences of original sin. But it would be a mistake to think that this tradition has an exclusively ethical meaning. Ascetics in the West were also convinced that it was impossible to become Christlike by human efforts alone. It is necessary to really unite with Christ so that He can change a person by His Divine grace. In the most famous monument of Western asceticism, bearing the title “On the imitation of Christ” and attributed to Thomas Kempius (1420s), the author points to the person and earthly path of the Lord Jesus Christ as a model for every Christian: “Remember often the earthly path of Jesus Christ , and you will be ashamed of kindness that you have not yet tried to reconcile your life with His life, although you have long been standing in the way of God ”(pr. I, 25, 6) ⁴. At the same time, he points out the insufficiency of the efforts of the man himself, who is always too weak to change: “You will never find peace if you do not unite inwardly with Christ” (pr. II, 1, 3) ⁵. This connection is achieved, first of all, in the Sacrament of the Eucharist: “Through holy communion a person joins God, is renewed, recalls the reverential sacrament of the Incarnation of Christ and His Passion and is ignited by the love of Christ” (pr. IV, 10, 6) ⁶. Thus, both in the Orthodox tradition, the doctrine of "life in Christ", and in the Catholic tradition, the doctrine of "imitation of Christ" always emphasized the same fundamental idea, without which there is no genuine Christian faith - the living person of the God-man Jesus is the focus of the life of a Christian Christ, who, in His own words, abides with His disciples “all the days until the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). And nowhere does this fundamental truth find such a real embodiment as in the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ. 2. Jesus Christ - the meaning of Christianity and world history A concept that is quite common in religious studies and even among Christians seems to be deeply erroneous, according to which Christianity, along with Judaism and Islam, should be attributed to the so-called “book religions”. If this is true in relation to Islam and, to a lesser extent, in Judaism, then this is completely untrue in relation to Christianity. The Bible, and especially the New Testament, undoubtedly have unquestioned authority for Christians, but the recorded Word of God cannot replace the eternal Word of the Father, embodied in the Lord Jesus Christ and directing the history of the world and the life of every person. The outstanding Russian thinker of the beginning of the 19th century, Pyotr Chaadaev wrote about this in the eighth “Philosophical Letter”, objecting to those who see in Christianity the “religion of the Book”: “The word - a verb addressed to all centuries is not only the Savior’s speech, it’s all His heavenly image, crowned with His radiance, covered with His blood, with a crucifix on the cross ... When the Son of God said that He would send the Spirit to people and that He Himself would remain among them forever, did He think of this book, compiled after His death, where it is bad whether it’s good, is told about his life His speeches and some notes of His disciples have been collected? .. He wanted to say that after Him there will appear people who will so much delve into the contemplation and study of His perfections, who will be so filled with His teaching and example of His life that they morally form one with Him ; that these people, following each other from generation to generation, will pass from hand to hand all of His thought, all of His being: that’s what He wanted to say, and that’s exactly what they don’t understand. His divine mind lives in people such as we are and what He is, and not at all in the book compiled by the Church. ” These words of Chaadayev clearly set forth the concept of the essence of Christianity as “life in Christ”, the highest evidence of which is the Eucharist: “And this is why the stubborn attachment of the faithful to the amazing dogma of the real presence of the Body in the Eucharist and their unlimited worship of the Savior's Body so worthy of respect ... It is in this that the source of Christian truth is best understood: here it is most convincingly revealed that it is necessary to try to make the reality by all available means th presence among us of the God-man, incessantly invoke his body image to have it constantly before our eyes, in all its glory, as an example of the eternal lesson of the new humanity »⁷. The Eucharist and other Church Sacraments are the highest and necessary form of participation in the Living Christ for salvation. At the same time, it is very important to emphasize that Christ, as the Savior of the world, is involved to one degree or another both believers of other religions and all of humanity as a whole. Just think, was there a different personality in history that would have such a profound, comprehensive and fertilizing influence on the development of human culture? It was Jesus Christ who for many centuries set the vector for the cultural development of several continents. Starting in the Middle East, Christianity spread very quickly across the territory of Asia Minor and North Africa, and then spread to Europe - East and West. Subsequently, Christian civilization encompassed both America, Australia, a significant part of Africa and Southeast Asia. And in each of these regions, Christianity had a huge, in many cases decisive influence on the development of culture, formed the cultural codes of entire nations. Can any other person be compared with Jesus Christ by the degree of influence on the development of morality? With the complete absence of any features of a social reformer from Him, His teaching over the centuries has caused deep, radical changes in the entire system of relationships between people - not only at the level of personal morality, but also at the social level. Jesus did not call for the abolition of slavery, but it was thanks to the Christian understanding of the natural equality between people that slavery was eventually abolished. He did not call for a change in the political regime or reform of the legal code, but it was thanks to Christianity that the human community created the legal mechanisms that today underlie the vital activity of many states. Jesus was not a fighter for social rights, but it is the Christian teaching that is based on the understanding of human rights that enabled women and children to become full members of society, eliminated inequalities in public rights, discrimination based on nationality and race, and many other defects in social structure that are characteristic for the ancient world. Many moral teachers left behind compositions that we admire and study, but at the same time we can know very little about these teachers themselves and not feel any personal connection with them. If we talk about the teachings of Jesus Christ, then it is inseparable from His person, and following the teachings of Christ implies an indispensable personal connection with Him. This may seem paradoxical. Is it not enough to learn the moral lessons He taught and to follow them in life? Some thinkers of the past, for example, Leo Tolstoy, believed that enough. But separating Christianity from Christ, rejecting the basic tenets of Christianity - about His Divine Hypostasis, about the birth of Christ from the Virgin, about His miracles, about the redemptive nature of His death, about His resurrection - Tolstoy, together with water, splashed out a child from the bathtub. In Tolstoy’s version, there was nothing left of Christianity except banal moralizing; it completely lost its inspiring and transforming power. What is the secret of this unique personality? Why, two thousand years after the birth of Christ, do people continue to orient all the dates of their calendar on this event? Why, two thousand years after His resurrection, millions of people around the world on Easter, and many on every Sunday day, come to the temples to celebrate this event? Why does the book about Him remain the most read, published, translated, quoted of all ever written? Why does the person of Christ remain relevant and significant on the threshold of the 21st century? These burning questions compel more and more new generations of scholars to take up the pen in order to present their contemporaries as fully as possible the image of Jesus Christ, starting primarily from the gospel narratives. 3. Biography of Jesus Christ in the series “Life of wonderful people” I tried to answer these questions in a six-volume work under the general title “Jesus Christ. Life and doctrine. " Work on this book series gave me the opportunity to thoroughly study the historical context of the life of Jesus Christ, to give a detailed analysis of His teachings with reference to the interpretations of ancient authors and modern scientific literature. Based on this extensive work, which not all readers will be able to familiarize themselves with because of its volume, I compiled a one-volume biography of Jesus Christ, which was published in the biographical series “The Life of Wonderful People”, popular in our country. While preparing this publication, I was absolutely convinced that the name of Jesus Christ should be included in the series “The Life of Wonderful People,” the biography of this Man should be known not only to church people, not only to those who revere Jesus Christ as God and Savior, but also all those who are simply interested in this very bright, wonderful personality. Somehow they asked me a question: how is it that the book about Him will be on the shelf in the same series with books about terrorists, revolutionaries - is it not humiliating for Jesus Christ? But I have an answer. I think that if Jesus Christ did not shy away from being crucified between two robbers, then He would not shun so that the book about Him would be in the series of books about a wide variety of people, including people about whom it could be said that they went down in history with minus sign. The fact that more and more biographies of Jesus Christ are being created, some of these biographies containing His distorted image and, in fact, offering a false interpretation of His life and teachings, makes us, church people, again and again turn to the person of Christ , talk about him and write. There are so many hypotheses about who Jesus Christ was. For at least two hundred and more years, various theories have been put forward that try to contrast themselves with the church concept of Jesus Christ. At the end of the XVIII century, authors appeared who began to say that the image of Christ was distorted by the Church, but in fact He was a completely different person, not the way the Church depicts Him, and in order to get to the bottom of the “historical Jesus”, it is necessary to clear this image of all sorts of church strata. Very diverse theories began to appear. For example, German writer Herman Samuel Reymarus was the first to put forward the theory that Jesus Christ was supposedly a rebel who wanted to raise an armed uprising in Israel in order to overthrow the Romans, but nothing happened - He was crucified on the cross, and after the death of Jesus His disciples began invent all kinds of stories and fables about Him. The theory has received a certain circulation, and there are still authors who preach it. More recently, a book was published in Russian, which presented the same theory: that Jesus Christ was a terrorist, that He captured the Jerusalem temple and held it for several days, and then He was expelled from there, and He fell into depression, which was reflected in the story about Gethsemane prayer; then He was crucified on the cross, and after the disciples of Jesus began to invent all kinds of fairy tales about Him. After the French Revolution of 1789, it was in France that the so-called “mythological theory” emerged, according to which the person Jesus Christ did not exist at all - this is a literary character that is modeled, in particular, on the basis of the Egyptian myth of Osiris and other myths. In the Soviet Union, this theory was given official status, and atheistic propaganda proceeded precisely from it. Some still adhere to this theory. For example, in America there is a person who once was, it seems, a Baptist pastor, and then took the position of atheism. He says that we will never know if Jesus Christ existed unless someone finds his bones or his diary. In my book, I answer that we will never find the bones of Jesus Christ, because He has risen from the dead, and we will not find His diary, because in general no ancient writers have left any scriptures of their own, which is not a reason for that to question the existence of these people. If we turn to sources that speak about the life of Christ, we will see that, perhaps, not a single person associated with ancient history has received such a documented biographical description as Jesus Christ. We have four of his biographies in the form of the four gospels. In addition, there is a significant body of apocryphal literature (in my book I talk about why such literature should not be perceived as a reliable source of information about the life of Jesus Christ). His life is very well documented, and this gives the right in our time to turn to the Gospel as a biographical source. In my book, I look at the sources on which our knowledge of Jesus Christ is based, and talk about their quality and reliability. In particular, I am considering the question of the validity of the Gospels. It is known that the gospel story for some time - maybe for several decades - existed only in oral tradition, and only then it was put on paper or, more correctly, on papyrus. On this basis, many scholars say: how can we judge the reliability of certain information given in the Gospel, if all this was recorded only a few decades later? The speech of Jesus Christ was very bright, very aphoristic, it was poetic and remembered as poems. So it would not be surprising that the disciples of Jesus Christ, even if they wrote many decades after the death and resurrection of Christ, reproduced what He said, word for word. And so it happened. I also consider the time of writing the Gospels, and contrary to the existing hypothesis that they were supposedly written almost at the end of the 1st century, I say that this happened before the destruction of the Jerusalem temple, that is, before the year 70. And this is proved by a very simple fact: the Gospel of Luke was not the first, it begins with the mention of the fact that many have already begun to compose the narratives. It ends with the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the book of the Acts of the Apostles serves as the continuation of the Gospel of Luke, ending with the fact that Paul comes to Rome and lives there for two years. The author of Acts, at the time when he was finishing this book, still did not know anything about the death of the Apostle Paul, who was executed in 67. It turns out that the book was written before this happened. And since the Gospel was written before the Acts of the Apostles, it means that in search of the time of its writing we are leaving in the 50s and early 60s of the 1st century. And I think that all the Gospels were written during this period. In my book, I look at the life of Jesus Christ from the very beginning to the very end. I am talking about who the brothers and sisters of Jesus were, where He was born, how he was raised, and why there are two versions of the Nativity of Christ: one version is in the Gospel of Matthew, and the other is in the Gospel of Luke in the same way that they exist in these Gospels and two dissimilar genealogies of Jesus Christ. I consider this issue in detail and talk about why they do not match and why there are two versions. A separate chapter in the book is devoted to Jesus Christ as a person, His human personality, and His character traits. We learn from the gospel that Jesus Christ was a full-fledged person. Jesus was not some kind of superman - He, like other people, was tired, hungry, sleepy; He was angry, rejoiced, cried. All this is spoken of in the gospel. And the Gospel provides enough material to restore what might be called a “psychological portrait” of Jesus Christ. A separate chapter of my book is devoted to the Sermon on the Mount as the quintessence of the moral teachings of Jesus Christ. Another chapter is about the miracles of Christ. I classify them into several categories and say, in particular, that in history there was no other person who would perform so many miracles. Separately, I examine the parables of Jesus Christ and answer the question of why He spoke in parables. There are several theories. One of them suggests that Christ spoke in parables in order to make it easier for people to perceive His teachings, the other, on the contrary, that Jesus uttered parables in order to make it difficult to understand. I consider both theories and come to the conclusion that they have a right to exist, because a parable is a special genre that was used by Jesus Christ for specific didactic purposes. Of course, the parable made the perception of His teachings more laborious, but at the same time always required an answer from a person. And until now, any parable of Christ appeals to a specific person, and everyone answers this parable in one way or another. Separately, the book considers the material from the Gospel of John that other gospels do not duplicate. Finally, I look at the history of the Passion of Christ in great detail, I talk about the Last Supper, about how Jesus Christ entered the Jerusalem temple and overturned the tables of the money changers, about His last conversations with his disciples, disputes with the Jews, about arrest, interrogations, crucifixion and death on the cross. I consider all this material not only on the basis of the Gospels, but also on the basis of available historical information about the era of Jesus Christ and how these or those events occurred. For example, we do not know the details of the terrible execution through the crucifixion, because, before our eyes, thank God, no one is crucified, and the evangelists left no details. But there are many sources that talk about how this execution was carried out. Often, when we read the Gospels, we ask ourselves why Pontius Pilate, who seemed to be convinced of the innocence of Jesus Christ before he was crucified, still gave him to be scourged? Why was this needed? But historical sources show that in almost all cases when a person was crucified on the cross, this execution was preceded by a very cruel flagellation. Moreover, some people could not stand the torment and died under the scourges before they were tied or nailed to the cross. A lot of this kind of information, which is little known even to believers, allows us to understand what happened then. The last chapter of my book is dedicated to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Here I consider in detail all the criticism to which this event was subjected in the scientific and popular literature, and those so-called contradictions between the evangelists that were noticed by scholars. I am talking about why faith in the resurrection of Jesus Christ was, after all, not only approved by the Church, but also became the property of millions of people. Unbelievers, coming to Easter to watch the procession, are always amazed that when the priest says “Christ is Risen!”, Those gathered (and this may be thousands of believers) answer: “Truly Risen!”, And many of these words are uttered with tears at eyes, as if it was not a question of a man being resurrected somewhere in Judea two thousand years ago, but your closest relative was back from the war or your closest person who was dying suddenly turned out to be alive and healthy. Why does the person of Christ still have such a personal impact on millions and even billions of people? I try to answer all these questions in my book and I really hope that not only Orthodox Christians, but also those people who are far from Christianity and religion in general, will get to know this really wonderful Person through this book - Jesus Christ, and thanks meeting many of them will have a desire to enter into fellowship with Him and follow Him. The modern French philosopher Rene Girard, the author of the "mimetic theory", argues that there is no person completely free from imitation: each in his life is formed according to one or another model. Truly, there is only one alternative - either following Christ, imitating Christ, who gave a new model of life as selfless and sacrificial love, or imitating his fellow man, guided by impulses of rivalry and desire for possession. In the first case, the model will be personal spiritual perfection, the desire for forgiveness, peace and social justice, a loving attitude towards creation. In the second - indulgence of one’s own passions, endless struggle of interests leading to conflicts and wars, deepening environmental crisis. What the world will be like tomorrow, along which path civilization will develop, largely depends on who our contemporaries will choose as a role model. We, Orthodox and Catholics, must make joint efforts so that the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world, becomes this model. ¹ Holy rights Nikolay Kavasila. Seven words about life in Christ, M. 2006, p. 7. ² Ibid., P. 12. ³ Cit. by: Metropolitan John (Fedchenkov), Father John of Kronstadt, St. Petersburg 2005, p. 84. ⁴ Thomas Kempisky, On the imitation of Christ, trans. K.P. Pobedonostsev, Rome 1949, p. 66. ⁵ Ibid., P. 72. ⁶ Ibid., P. 314. ⁷ P.Ya. Chaadaev. Complete Works and Selected Letters, vol. 1, M. 1991, ss. 438-439.

The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics adopted a number of amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception”

The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics adopted a number of amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception” Церковно-общественный совет по биомедицинской этике принял ряд поправок к документу «О неприкосновенности жизни человека с момента зачатия» print version September 6, 2019 1:20 p.m. On September 4, 2019, in Moscow, under the chairmanship of the Metropolitan of Petrozavodsk and Karelian Konstantin , the regular meeting of the Church and Public Council on the Biomedical Ethics of the Russian Orthodox Church was held. The meeting was attended by: Chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Charity and Social Ministry , Chairman of the Hospital Service Commission at the Diocesan Council of Moscow, Bishop Panteleimon of Orekhovo-Zuevsky ; Archpriest Dimitry Smirnov , Co-Chair of the Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics, Chairman of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, Maternal and Child Welfare ; Head of the Department of Biomedical Ethics, Russian State Medical University N.I. Pirogova professor Doctor of Philosophy I.V. Siluyanova; Protopriest Maxim Obukhov, member of the Patriarchal Commission on Family, the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, head of the Orthodox Medical Education Center "Life"; Chairman of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of St. Petersburg St. Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky), Archbishop of Crimea, Doctor of Medical Sciences Archpriest Sergiy Filimonov; Archpriest Igor Aksenov, Chairman of the Department of Religious Education and Catechesisation of the Vyborg Diocese, Rector of the Iliinsky Church of Vyborg Hierodeacon Kirill (Pustograev), member of the Executive Committee of the Society of Orthodox Doctors of Russia; Archpriest Valentin Zhokhov, member of the diocesan department for combating the alcohol threat and drug addiction; Rector of the Church of St. Nicholas at the Straw Gatehouse in Moscow, psychiatrist Archpriest Vladimir Novitsky; Priest Theodor Lukyanov, co-chair of the World Russian People’s Council on Healthcare working group; Honored Doctor of Russia, Head of ANO "Orthodox Center for the Care of Cancer Patients" Oncologist N.V. Bogdanova; Head of the Department of Preventive Gerontopsychiatry of the National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology named after V.P. Serbian L.E. Pishchikova; Konstantin Pavlyuchenko, member of the Synodal liturgical commission, secretary of the head of the Karelian metropolitanate. During the meeting, a second discussion and adoption of the application for genetic passports took place. The Church and Community Council on Biomedical Ethics recognizes the importance of the achievements of genetic research for humans and society as a whole. But at the same time, he understands that they can be fraught with unpredictable threats to the entire human race, since a genetic passport is a document that contains information about an individual DNA profile for a particular person. The information contained in it can be used not only for error-free identification of a person, but also for medical, social, commercial and other purposes, and the possibility of access to such information is fraught with the most formidable and unpredictable consequences, especially if it is used by criminal structures. Precedent: the use of electronic signatures, theft of funds from bank cards. The Council recognizes that genetic identification and genetic testing can be carried out freely only on the basis of respect for dignity, freedom and individual rights. Amendments to the document “On the inviolability of human life from the moment of conception” were adopted. The Bioethics Council draws attention to the pressing urgency of the discussion about the legal status of the human embryo as a whole, since the data of modern medicine do not allow us to talk about the human fetus as a part of the mother’s body or tissues, which should impose ethical restrictions on manipulations that are not related to the treatment of diseases. The Council also draws attention to the fact that both parents are responsible for the sin of infanticide. Doctors, regardless of their beliefs, should promote the development of pre-abortion counseling, in which each treatment for an abortion should be accompanied by preventive measures and, first of all, persuasion. The Council also calls for strengthening abortion prevention measures. Abortion prevention methods include outreach and education, charity and legislative protection. Council members reiterate the inadmissibility of IVF. Although the ethical problem of embryo death during IVF is recognized by the medical community and attempts are being made to solve it, it has not been resolved, which is an obstacle to the recognition of IVF as an acceptable method. The Council also draws attention to the fact that any means that kill a human embryo after conception are abortive rather than contraceptive, and that if prenatal diagnosis obviously involves only the identification of diseases for the purpose of subsequent abortion, a visit to this procedure is not blessed by the Russian Orthodox Church. The Council reiterates the need to comply with the code of ethics for older persons. The Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics reiterates the inadmissibility of any attempt to legalize euthanasia as an action to intentionally kill patients and elderly people, considering euthanasia as a special form of killing. It was decided to hold a conference on bioethics "Actual Issues of Bioethics", a discussion was held on the alleged names and topics of the reports. The conference was decided to coincide with the International Christmas Educational Readings, which will be held in January 2020 in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Four reports have already been included in the preliminary program of the conference: I.V. Siluyanova, “On technologies for editing the human genome”; L.E. Pishchikova, “Ethical Challenges in Psychiatry. Euthanasia and assisted suicide ”,“ Ethical aspects of the provision of psychiatric care in psychoneurological boarding schools (PNI) (based on the results of the inspection) ”; N.V. Bogdanova, "On the genetic certification of the population." It was decided to reissue the collection of materials of the work of the Church and Public Council with the inclusion of new statements by the Council. During the meeting, reports were also presented: on the glorification of psychiatrists through pr. Gabriel of Sedmezerny, locally revered saint of the Kazan diocese, in the face of church saints; about the inadmissibility of early sexual education of primary school students. The participants discussed proposals for creating the website of the Church and Public Council on Biomedical Ethics, as well as selected a date and outlined the agenda for the next meeting of the Council.

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirms the candidacy of Archimandrite James (Corazza) for Bishop of Sonora, Second Vicar of the Western American Diocese

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church confirms the candidacy of Archimandrite James (Corazza) for Bishop of Sonora, Second Vicar of the Western American Diocese The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, during a meeting on August 30, 2019, at Danilov Monastery in Moscow, deliberated on the confirmation of a decision of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the candidacy of Archimandrite James (Corazza) for Bishop of Sonora, Second Vicar of the Western American Diocese. In accordance with the Act of Canonical Communion of May 17, 2007, hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia "are selected by her Council of Bishops or, in cases foreseen by the Regulations of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia, by the Synod of Bishops. Such elections are confirmed in accordance with canonical norms by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church." The members of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church decreed to confirm the decision of the selection of Archimandrite James (Corazza) as Bishop of Sonora. The place and time of his consecration are left to the discretion of the Hierarchy of the Russian Church Abroad.

Anthems to God, connecting centuries (ending)

Anthems to God, connecting centuries (ending) Гимны Богу, соединяющие века (окончание) print version September 2, 2019 16:43 In the July issue of the Journal of the Moscow Patriarchate, a story was started about akathists, one of the most popular among the believers in the genre of church hymns. The total number of Akathists has already exceeded two thousand original texts; they are currently written in 14 languages. Every week, two or three new hymns appear in the world. Who compiled the very first collection of akathists in Russia? Are there any canonical violations in our beloved akathist “Glory to God for all”? What is being done to create a “golden fund” of akathists? These and other questions are answered by a member of the working group on the codification of akathists of the Publishing Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, clergyman of the Saratov diocese, priest Maxim Plyakin . Interview published in No. 8, 2019 (end, start see No. 7 ) ( PDF version ). - Your Reverend, what problems does your working group face? - Firstly, these are situations when we have a definition of the highest church authority, that the anthem is approved, but the anthem itself is not. For example, in 1952, from the Archbishop of Minsk Pitirim (Sviridov), the Synod received a request to approve the akathist to all Turov saints: Cyril, Martin, and Lavrentiya (the author of the akathist is Archpriest Cosma Rain). The synod then decided to approve it for use within the borders of Belarus. Since one of the tasks of our working group is to search for and codify akathists already approved by the church authorities, we, of course, also deal with texts from the 1950s. And when we took up this akathist, it turned out that he wasn’t in the Russian archives that were available to us. They turned to the Belarusian exarchate , but they did not have an akathist either in the archive or in the Turov diocese . Therefore, it remains to be hoped that someday this typewriter of the 1950s will be found. The second problem: the Akathist was approved, but not officially published on time. This happened, for example, with an akathist in honor of St. Tikhon , the Patriarch of Moscow. There is a resolution of the Synod of 1992 and a typewritten copy approved by it. There is the first edition of this akathist, which is already different from archival typewriting. It can be seen that it was edited, really made better, but after synodal approval. There are numerous reprints of this akathist, but all of them - somewhere a little, and somewhere seriously - differ from each other. And when a few years ago the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate decided to reprint this akathist, it was necessary to temporarily abandon this idea. After all, it is not clear which text to take as a basis! This is one and the same akathist, but with inconsistencies that do not allow him to raise the issue of its re-publication now. I hope the hierarchy will resolve this situation. In addition, in the edited version of the text there are a lot of lexical Russisms. Thirdly, if the akathist is approved by the Synod, and there are several akathists with this name. As, for example, an akathist in honor of the Smolensk Icon of the Mother of God: it was approved by the Holy Synod back in 1914. But with this name, there are two different akathists, and one of them has several seriously differing options. And it is not known which one was approved by the Synod - the corresponding archival documents have not been identified. As a result, we made a compromise decision: the Smolensk diocese determines which akathist they consider the best, and our commission checks the grammar. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill also expressed his opinion on which of the existing options for akathist was the best, as the former bishop of the Smolensk diocese. As a result, they chose the text according to which the Smolensk people had been praying before the Hodegetria icon in the Assumption Cathedral for many years. Or, for example, an akathist to St. Luke (Voyno-Yasenetsky). It was written in 1995 by Simferopol archpriest George Severin , who also composed a service to the saint. Over the years, many publishers have made changes to the text. It turned out, probably, five different options. And when this akathist came to our working group, I had to take these discrepancies into account, since each of them was already published in a large circulation and in some places there could be successful editorial finds. After us, this akathist was also corrected by members of the Holy Synod and approved it two years ago. The Greeks, by the way, wrote their own akathist and their service to St. Luke of Crimea. Their author is the now living Metropolitan of Edessa Ioil ( Fancacos ), he also wrote a service to St. Paisius the Holy Mountaineer. The situation is different, if there is a decision of the Synod, it is known which of the hymns it has approved, and in modern publications that are popularly held, this hymn is printed with different interpretations. Then we either direct all church publishers to print the version approved by the Synod, or reconsider and approve after corrections the most common version of this akathist to date. For example, there are four different akathists to the holy righteous John of Kronstadt. The author of the very first of them, created in the 1970s and approved by the Holy Synod back in 1992, is Metropolitan of Kharkov Nicodemus. But in the mid-2000s, the Synodal Liturgical Commission radically edited this akathist. In 2008, the Holy Synod considered both versions of the text and considered that the second option was preferable to the one approved earlier. This text is recognized today as an official version for church publishers. There was a case when from the funds of the museum of the Nizhny Novgorod diocese we were sent a copy of the akathist to St. John Damascene. On this typewritten hand of Metropolitan Sergius ( Stragorodsky ), the future Patriarch, it says: "Blessed for church use." And the date is 1928. We do not know if there are other copies of this akathist, it is possible that he exists in a single copy. Honestly, the Soviet period is a headache for us, because the akathist could have never been printed anywhere, including in the documents of the Synod, confirmed by the members of the Holy Synod (or individually by the Holy Patriarch - this could have been under the leadership of Sergius or Alexy I ). - On what grounds is the decision made which of the akathists is preferable? - We consider a whole complex of features - how long the text has been in use, what is its literary quality. We take into account the reviews (if any) of authoritative people of the Church, the number of grammatical errors in a particular akathist, etc. And already by the totality of the signs, we must make a decision after a general discussion at the working group. But sometimes they make it easier for us. For example, from the Don metropolis they sent an akathist to the holy righteous Pavel Taganrog. We were asked to consider this particular, newly written akathist, although he was already the fourth in a row. But all the others were significantly worse, and at the request of the Taganrog deanery, a new one was written, which in the end approved the Holy Synod last year. - And what is the most difficult part in the work of your working group? - A very difficult situation arises if for some reason none of the akathists has yet considered the Synod, and our working group is invited to decide for ourselves which of several options we will work with. So, at a recent meeting, we examined the akathist to the martyrs Guriy, Samon and Aviv, very beloved and honored by our people. Today he wrote two different akathists, and both versions were already printed by church publishers. As a result of the discussion, we came to the conclusion that it is necessary to create a synthetic text: since none of the available Akathists fully satisfied us, the anthem published by the Kiev Pechersk Lavra was taken as the basis. However, part of the rejoicing was taken from the second akathist, after which we unified the style of the text. Very rarely, but it happens that both options are blessed for print. For example, akathists of the Bogolyubsky icon of the Mother of God. The first akathist was written before the revolution in the Bogolyubovsky monastery of the Vladimir diocese . Approved for publication in 1886. But in the 1920s, the Vladimir bishop and one of the most remarkable hymnographers of the 20th century - the future Patriarch Sergius ( Stragorodsky ) - writes a new akathist. He did this at the request of the governor of the Bogolyubov monastery, Hieromonk Athanasius (Sakharov), the future saint and confessor. At the request of Metropolitan Sergius, Patriarch Tikhon approved this acathist on a par with the first. St. Athanasius, while he was personally very skeptical of akathists, admitted that the akathist of Metropolitan Sergius is very good. Both akathists are approved by the Synod. It is characteristic that the Synod does not formally approach the statement of akathist. The hierarchy not only reads, but also corrects the proposed option, sometimes returns for revision. And we are not the last resort here, our function is advisory. As a rule, if there is an amendment of the Synod, then we will introduce it into the text immediately. But sometimes the question arises - to uphold our option or accept the revision of the members of the Synod. In this case, we assemble a working group, study the reviews of the Synod and look for compromise solutions. "Thank God for everything" - Are there canonical violations in the akathist very popular among our people, “Glory to God for all”? - There are no canonical violations there. But this akathist is unaccustomed, since it is an unalloyed Russian language. This is not Slavic interspersed with Russian and not Russian, which “pretends” to be Slavic, it’s just modern Russian. And since the liturgical language of our Church is Church Slavonic, the anthem written in Russian causes a certain dissonance. Its author is Metropolitan Trifon (Turkestanov), a very authoritative, revered spiritual writer. The akathist himself was enormously popular and has been on the list since the 1930s. It is curious that when he came out in the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate in 2007, the editorial foreword read: “Unfortunately, we did not have any authentic manuscript of the akathist“ Thank God for everything ”written by Vladyka Tryphon. <...> Unfortunately, the akathist "Thank God for everything" continues to be published in large print runs with a significant number of missing lines and typos that distort the meaning. We tried to reconstruct his text based on all the options available to us. ” But, as it usually happens, there are still minor differences in one or two words between different texts. And to understand which of them is the text of Metropolitan Tryphon himself is not yet possible. The autograph (author's manuscript) of this akathist has not yet been discovered. It is curious that “Thank God for everything” is translated very actively: there are English, French, Ukrainian versions. He fell in love not only in Russia. And since this akathist, although the most famous, is not the first in Russian, this is a precedent when we do not let him into public worship, but are allowed to pray at home (i.e., for private prayer use), it allows us to think now what to do with the rest of the Russian-speaking Akathists, who have already begun to appear. For example, there is an akathist in Russian dedicated to the Lord (unfortunately, the site where this hymn was published has been deleted with all its contents). It was written by Archpriest Alexander Makarov, rector of the St. Nicholas Church in the city of Yasinovataya in the Donbass. He wrote under fire. But the anthem itself is very bright and joyful, the priest called it "The Joy of the Orthodox." And this feeling of a prayer impulse that you experience when reading even atones for any shortcomings of this akathist. The author of this akathist himself wrote in the preface to the akathist: "In the circumstances, words were needed that would help to see something bright and good in the surrounding chaos." And this is human experience. Bombs are breaking around him, and he is trying to express joy in prayer. This experience also cannot be simply taken and discarded. Poetry and Prose - Have you noted the mutual influence, for example, of Greek on Russian akathist or vice versa? - It must be admitted that we in the akathist creativity influence the Greeks much less than they do on us. The Greeks, in principle, do not like to translate Slavic texts. They consider liturgical texts to be poetry, and akathists in the Slavic language are prose for them. As they say, it’s worthless to force Slavic prose into poetry. Rather, they themselves will write a new hymn to some saint, rather than engage in translation. Although there are exceptions. The Greeks still transferred from Slavic to Greek akathist to Jesus the Sweetest (see: ZhMP . 2019. No. 7). This is a hymn of great beauty. There is evidence that this translation was known to the Monk Nicodemus the Holy Mountaineer and had a definite influence on his work (he wrote about a dozen Akathists in Greek). At the same time, Greek creativity quite significantly affects Russian. First of all, through translations. In this context, I already mentioned an akathist to St. Nectarius of Aegina (see: ZhMP . 2019. No. 7). Another case. Several years ago, when the relics of St. Spyridon of Trimyphuntus were brought to Ukraine, the Publishing Department of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church published a book with the life, ministry and akathist of St. Spyridon. Akathist was translated from Greek into Church Slavonic. We see that the publishers acknowledge the fact that one cannot limit oneself only to the Russian anthem. By this they make it clear: "There is also a Greek akathist, and we offer it to you for prayer." Naturally, many of our akathists, in principle, are oriented towards Greek patterns. The first akathist was written in Greek, and the main, first tradition is the Greek akathists. Before they came to Russia, the akathists were the property of the Hesychasts (silent monks) in Greece. Of course, this could not but affect our anthem-making . - When did the very first collection of akathists appear in Russia? - Probably the earliest known collection of akathists on Russian soil is Canon, belonging to the Monk Kirill Belozersky, a student of the Monk Sergius of Radonezh. It was rewritten at the very beginning of the 15th century. These akathists were written by the Patriarch of Constantinople Isidor Wuhir ( XIV century). Very quickly they were transferred from Greek to Church Slavonic (it is likely that on Mount Athos), and St. Cyril in his Beloozero ordered to copy them (or, perhaps, even copied them himself) for his personal cellon Canon. Among these Greek examples was an akathist to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (from whom our modern comes). There are handwritten copies of this akathist of the XV-XVI centuries. Several akathists were written by the friend of St. Sergius, Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Philotheus Kokkin . And the fact that our great Hesychasts used akathists in their secret rule also does not allow us to dismiss them - they say, this is “low poetry”. Moreover, among the authors of the akathists are Saints Nicodemus the Holy One, John of Kronstadt, Tikhon Zadonsky, St. Tikhon (Belavin), Patriarch of All Russia, Patriarch Sergius ( Stragorodsky ), Holy Martyr Peter Grigoryev. The saints did not consider it shameful for themselves to write akathists, and not just read them. - Have you come across unusual, strange akathists who were remembered for something? - One of the strangest akathists we have ever seen is an akathist to the previous Pope Benedict XVI (who still lives), written in Slavic . This akathist is incomplete, that is, it lacks four stanzas. Instead of them - a note: "Kondaky and Ikosy over numbers 10 and 11 are missing, for the Pope will still accomplish much." It was written in 2007, two years after the accession of Joseph Ratzinger to the papal throne. Firstly, writing an akathist to the living is wrong. And secondly, to write an akathist in Russia in honor of the Pope, and with the addition that he still has a lot to do, is just strange. And among the terrible akathists (it is also published on the Internet, but not sent to us for censorship), I’ll probably name the “anthem” in honor of the late brother Joseph Munoz , who was the keeper of the famous Montreal Iveron Icon of the Mother of God. He is loved throughout the Orthodox world, prayers are written to him, his icons are already there, many people believe in his holiness, but there has not yet been official canonization. The very presence of akathist before canonization occurs. For example, the akathist to Bishop Ignatius (Brianchaninov) as an ascetic of piety was written by his granddaughter niece long before his canonization. But the akathist to brother Joseph was distinguished by some prohibitive amount of theological mistakes. Already in the first line of the akathist there is the phrase “Taken from the ark of the Novago Covenant ” , and the refrain says: “Rejoice, new wine of the Father of Heaven” , but in relation to a person (and not to God) it is not only indecent, but no longer clever, because these are biblical images attributed to God. When Jose is praised as “the new conquistador to America, decrepit sins” - this is geopolitics. And the rejoice, “Rejoice, rock that’s not insane, smite America” is an example of complete ignorance of the church tradition of understanding biblical texts. That is, in someone’s head it all happened. And for us, this akathist has remained an example of the transcendent theological lack of culture. People somewhere read out a loud epithet and put it into an akathist. And the fact that the “uncreated stone” is a prophecy about the Lord Jesus (Dan. 2:34) and, in principle, cannot be applied to a person as an epithet, that this is heresy, has already remained outside their understanding. But there is also a very joyful surprise. A few months ago, we considered the akathist of the Mother of God for the sake of Her icon "Joy or Consolation." Its author is the new martyr Porfiry Mironositsky, a well-known liturgical scholar, he died during the investigation in 1932. The icon in honor of which this akathist was written was in the temple where Porfiry Petrovich prayed. And when a person who has given half his life to church singing sings the Mother of God himself, this is poetry without exaggeration. We recommended this akathist to the Holy Synod, but there is no solution yet. - Is the “golden fund” of akathists, verified and approved by the Hierarchy, prepared for publication in our Church? - Last year, the Holy Synod decided to prepare such a body of texts for publication at the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate. And we are trying to collect it, and even include there those akathists approved by the Synod who have different interpretations in the text (in the hope that it will be possible either to select the preferred option or to edit these hymns by the directors of the Moscow Patriarchate Publishing House and the Publishing Council). The project has not yet been completed, but we expect to place about 250-300 Akathists there. The project involves the Publishing Council and the Publishing House of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Moscow and St. Petersburg Theological Academies, the Office of the Moscow Patriarchate (where the archive of the Holy Synod is stored). The St. Tikhon University also helps our project. It is planned that in each volume there will be 50 akathists, 5-6 volumes will be released. This will be the corps of the most verified akathists. Today there is only one similar publication - this is Akathist, prepared by the late Metropolitan Pitirim (Nechaev). It was published twice - in 1989 and 1993. But with the claimed multivolume collection, only two volumes went out of print. And even to this Akathist, our working group has questions today. For example, on the basis of which decisions of the supreme church authority, Vladyka Pitirim included this or that akathist in his Akathist. Interviewed by Alexei Reutsky

Bp. Irinej of Bačka: Difference between Church and schism mustn’t be erased

Bp. Irinej of Bačka: Difference between Church and schism mustn’t be erased Bishop Irinej of Bačka The statement of the Synod of the Serbian Church says nothing about breaking communion with Constantinople, it only points to the canonical norm. It is impossible to put in one row the legitimate heirs of the holy apostles and impostors, the essential difference between the Church and schism mustn’t be erased. This point of view was expressed by the hierarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Bishop Irinej of Bačka in his explanatory comments on the statement of the Serbian Orthodox Church regarding the church crisis in Ukraine. According to the bishop, the situation in Ukraine has put world Orthodoxy face to face with a serious challenge. “If the Local Orthodox Churches cope with the expected pressure and remain at the same position not to acknowledge Denisenko, Dumenko, and their supporters, this will mean, in practice, general agreement with the principled position of our Church,” the bishop states. “If any Church fails, it will inevitably lead to ... the beginning of a great turmoil, with an ever more fragile unity, even within the same Local Church. This will be a prelude to long-term canonical chaos, and, perhaps, God forbid, to dogmatic, ecclesiological disagreements and disputes.” The hierarch also commented on the current relations of the Serbian Church with the Patriarch of Constantinople: “Some have wondered if our Church breaks communication with the Ecumenical Patriarch because of his concelebration with Epiphany, a man without the grace of the bishop, referring to his rights and privileges of primacy, overlooking – temporarily, I hope, – the word of Christ, that in the Church the first is the one who wants to be a servant for all.” Bp. Irinej notes that the statement says nothing about breaking communion with Constantinople. Communion is easily broken he says, but it’s not so easily repaired. “In the face of such challenges and temptations, we should not act hastily, but with reasoning, in the hope that the grace of the Holy Spirit will soon heal our weakness,” the Serbian hierarch writes. The Serbian Church points to this canonical norm, but without applying it in full for now: “Our Holy Synod … calls for its application, but without haste … doing everything possible so that the Lord would return the gracious gift of unity to the Church.” Therefore, it is recommended, but not required, that Serbian hierarchs and clergy abstain from serving with those who have communion with the schismatics. Such a heavy decision as breaking communion can only be made by the Council of Bishops, not the Holy Synod, in the Serbian Orthodox Church. As the UOJ reported, the Serbian Patriarchate sent out letters to all the Local Churches that the Serbian Orthodox Church does not recognize the OCU and considers the Phanar’s actions in Ukraine to be non-canonical.

Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church took part in celebrations in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery

Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church took part in celebrations in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church took part in celebrations in the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery print version August 29, 2019 18:02 On August 22, 2019, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill, a group of hierarchs and clergy of the Serbian Patriarchate arrived on pilgrimage to the shrines of the Russian North: Bishop Irenaeus of Bach, the rector of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Moscow, Bishop Anthony of Moravia, Archbishop Bishop of Bavaria Bach diocese archpriest Vladan Simich. The guests were accompanied by A. Yu., a member of the Secretariat of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate for Inter-Orthodox Relations Khoshev. On August 23-26, pilgrims from the Serbian Orthodox Church visited the Transfiguration of Valaam Stauropegial Monastery , where they worshiped the shrines of the monastery and visited the monastery’s monasteries, and on August 25, when the Council of Valaam Saints was celebrated, Bishop Irenei of Bacs led the Divine Liturgy in Transfiguration the cloister. On August 26-27, guests from Serbia visited Pskov, bowing to the shrines of the Trinity Cathedral and visiting a number of historical churches of the city: they also visited the Transfiguration of the Savior Mirozhsky Monastery and got acquainted with the temples and sights of Izborsk. On August 27, Bishop Irenaeus of Bach and his entourage arrived at the Assumption Pskov-Pechersky Monastery , where they were warmly received by Metropolitan Pskov and Porkhov Tikhon and the brotherhood of the monastery. On August 28, on the feast day of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery, a large gathering of believers was performed on the square in front of the Cathedral of the Holy Archangel Michael of God, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk , Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhovskiy, hierarch of the Serbian Church Irenaeus, Moravian Anthony and Mochac Hesychius. At the end of the service of Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, guests from the Serbian Orthodox Church and all participants in the celebration were warmly welcomed by the head of the Pskov Metropolitanate and the Archimandrite of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery Metropolitan Tikhon. In a speech to the DECR chairman, he noted, in particular: “Your young years passed here, too, in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery ... We are very glad that you returned here many decades later and pray to the Most Holy Theotokos to be in this special Her day has given you special powers, joy, peace - all that the Queen of Heaven so abundantly bestows upon any sincere heart that comes to Her, especially on the days of Her great holidays. We ask your holy prayers and we will always be glad to see you in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery. ” Addressing the hierarchs of the Serbian Church, Metropolitan Tikhon also said: “We ask your holy prayers, thank you that you are with us on this day.” In response, the chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said: “Your Eminence, Dear Vladyka Metropolitan Tikhon! Your Eminences, dear fathers, dear brothers and sisters! I would like to heartily congratulate you all on the great feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and to convey to you the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Now we are celebrating a very special holiday. It is no coincidence that all the ancient cathedrals in Russia were Assumption - this is due to a special reverent veneration, which the Blessed Virgin Mary has used in our holy land since the Baptism of Russia. The Mother of God has given us many great and indescribable gifts. And the greatest gift that She has endowed us with is Her Divine Son. We know that the Son of God came into the world, because such was the favor of God the Father: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3.16). By His love, God the Father granted us His Only Begotten Son. But the Blessed Virgin Mary was the One through whom the Divine Son was born into the world - She gave life to the Lord Jesus Christ in the flesh. From Her and from the Holy Spirit He was born, as we confess in the Creed. Therefore, we can call the Lord Jesus Christ Her gift to us all. She also gave us herself, because she has become a heavenly mother for all of us. And throughout the liturgical year, starting from the September feast of the Nativity of the Virgin and right up to the August feast of the Assumption of the Virgin, prayers dedicated to Her are heard at every service, and in our homely, secret cell prayer, we also constantly speak to the Queen of Heaven, because we know that She hears our prayers, answers them and comes to us when it is difficult for us and when it is easy, when we are sad and when we have fun, when we are healthy and when we are ill. She comes to the aid of our loved ones when we Her pray for them. The Blessed Virgin Mary is always with us. And whenever we gather in the temple of God in order to honor the Mother of God on the days of Her holidays, we especially feel Her closeness. And, of course, here, in this ancient monastery, which is dedicated to the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, on this holy holiday we feel Her closeness especially strongly. We offer prayers to Her, asking that She cover all of us from all evil with Her honest omophorion, that She will bow to us and to our land the grace of God, that She will pray for all of us at the Throne of Her Divine Son and at the Throne of God the Father. We pray that the Blessed Virgin Mary will cover our loved ones, our parents, our friends, and our entire earth with Her omophorion. With a special feeling today, I have performed the Divine Liturgy here. About forty years ago, as a young man, I first crossed the threshold of this monastery and I remember well the ever-memorable father John (Krestyankin), at whose grave we prayed yesterday, other elders of the monastery. I remember how the spiritual life in this monastery flourished in those years when the authorities did everything possible to eradicate faith from the hearts of people and prevent it from becoming stronger. And here, within the walls of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery, people seemed to be torn from that reality, they fell into another kingdom. And every time I crossed the threshold of this monastery, I felt it - both in those years and now, forty years later. I am very glad that it is for you, dear Vladyka Tikhon, that the Hierarchy of our Church has been entrusted with being the ruling bishop of the Pskov diocese and at the same time as the holy archimandrite of this holy monastery. In the same years when I came here as a young man, you, also a young man, lived here, you were a novice in the monastery. You knew all the elders of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery and many years later created a wonderful film about them. It is no coincidence that the choice of His Holiness the Patriarch fell on you when the question arose of replacing the Pskov diocesan department and, almost simultaneously, the question of appointing the head priest of the Pskov-Pechersky monastery. You deservedly received this obedience, but it is not only responsible, but also difficult. I had the opportunity to visit several churches in Pskov yesterday and saw what a deplorable state they are: architectural monuments that crumble walls that slide to water, which require urgent and costly labor so that they do not collapse, but saved. I sincerely and sincerely wish you, Master, God's help in this very difficult obedience. May the Lord help you both in your efforts to revive this diocese and in your efforts to manage this sacred and dear monastery for our hearts. Today I am very pleased to welcome guests from the Serbian Orthodox Church - Bishop Bishop Irenaeus, Bishop Bishop Anthony, Bishop Bishop Ishihii with companions who arrived on our land in order to worship the shrines of the Russian North. They have already visited Valaam, now they are here in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery, and then they will go to St. Petersburg - our northern capital. The Serbian Orthodox Church has always been close to the Russian Orthodox Church. Our peoples are faithful and consanguineous. We feel this closeness especially now, when the Russian Church was aggressed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which invaded the sacred borders of our Church - Ukraine - in spite of all church canons and all canonical and historical Tradition. Not a single Local Orthodox Church recognized this lawless act of the Patriarch of Constantinople. And the Serbian Church immediately raised her voice against this act, and today we are opposed to the ongoing lawlessness, praying to the Blessed Virgin Mary that she would stop this turmoil in the Orthodox Church. For each Divine Liturgy, we now offer special prayers for the unity of the Orthodox Church. We believe that the events will not shake our Russian Orthodox Church, nor the world Orthodox Church. There were Constantinople heretic patriarchs in the history of the Church, there were Constantinople patriarchs who became apostates from Orthodoxy, there were Constantinople Uniate patriarchs, and the Church both stood and will stand. And no one can shake our holy Orthodox faith - we testify of it with our whole lives. And the fact that you, dear brothers and sisters, today gathered in such a multitude in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary, is an eloquent and visible evidence of the strength of our faith. Having completed the Divine Liturgy, we will go on a journey around the walls of the holy monastery and will go through it with prayers and chants, with the reading of the Gospel. We will go this way after the Most Holy Theotokos, Which by Her miraculous icon will precede us. I would like to wish all of us to, as we go today in a circle around this holy monastery following the Most Holy Theotokos, so that in our life path we will follow God, the Virgin and the saints. I believe that the Mother of God will always cover from all evil with her honest omophorion both our holy Church, and our beloved Fatherland, and all of us. Happy holiday! God bless you!" Further, the hierarchs, clergy, monks and lay people who arrived at the celebrations took part in the traditional procession around the Pskov-Pechersky monastery. At the festive meal on the occasion of the festival, welcoming speeches were made. In a word to those present, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk stated that the Pskov-Pechersky monastery always had a special meaning for the Russian Orthodox Church, emphasizing: “In the second half of the 20th century, this monastery had a very special mission: just like Optina Pustyn in the 19th century was a place where old people lived, to whom people from all over Russia and from abroad flocked to get advice, comfort, instruction in spiritual life, in the same way, the Pskov-Pechersk monastery in the 20th century became the place where the elders lived, to whom people gathered from all over the country. I remember this time well, because I first visited the Pskov-Pechersky monastery about forty years ago, when nothing had yet foreshadowed the revival of church life in which we are all participating. Then the Church lived very separately, it was isolated from society. Nowhere - neither in newspapers, nor on television - the Church was never mentioned, as if it did not exist. And people came to this city, taking a train from Moscow to Tallinn (now there is no such train, but I remember this route well: it left at about three in the afternoon and arrived in Pechory at five in the morning), then everyone ran to the bus to get there to the monastery, and already somewhere at the beginning of the sixth, the gates opened, everyone entered this monastery and fell into a different kingdom - completely special, even the air seemed different. People who in those difficult years were fortunate enough to visit the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, to communicate with the elders, this, of course, erased in memory forever. I am very pleased today to see portraits of the elders on the wall of this refectory. I personally knew many of them, including, of course, our dear, ever-memorable father John (Krestyankin), who once blessed me on the monastic path, as I blessed many young people who serve the Church today: someone in a hierarchical dignity, someone in pastoral service, someone in a monastic and monastic form. This sacred monastery is dear to me and for many, precisely because here we came into contact with people who were carriers of a special spirit, who seemed to come to us from heaven, and now have returned to heaven. And everyone who remembers Father John keeps in mind that he was a man of a very special spiritual dispensation. It was as if he did not go, but flew. When he prayed, his prayer was always fiery, and he knew how to involve other people in his prayer. The minutes of communication with him were, of course, completely unforgettable, because it was a communication of a very special kind. Through such people we came into contact with the mountain world. “We saw with our own eyes what holiness is and the ideal to which we all - each to the best of our ability - should strive.” The DECR chairman thanked Metropolitan Tikhon of Pskov and Porkhov for their hospitality, noting his efforts to decorate the monastery. “You, as archpastor, care about the beautification of the entire diocese, and I saw yesterday what a huge front line of work is ahead. The Lord also entrusted you with this spiritual garden, where for many decades old age and spiritual life flourished, ”said Metropolitan Hilarion. - I would like to express the hope that in the 21st century the Pskov-Pechersk monastery will have the same meaning for Orthodox believers as it had in the 20th century, that new elders will appear, that thousands of people, as we saw today, will flock to the miraculous icon of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary and come to those living bearers of the Christian spirit, whom you so wonderfully described in your book "Unholy Saints." "I think that some of these unholy saints will be canonized and then the word" unholy "can be justly taken away from their description." Vladyka Hilarion cordially greeted guests from the Serbian Orthodox Church who arrived in the Pskov-Pechersk monastery during a pilgrimage to the shrines of the Russian North, and thanked Bishop Irenaeus of Bach, Anthony of Moravich and Bishop Ishih of Mohavich for participating in the celebration. “I would especially like to thank you, dear Vladyka Irenaeus,” he said further. - You are one of the leading hierarchs of the Serbian Church. You are a major theologian. You are the person who today stands guard over the canonical church Tradition. In the spiritual struggle against the worldlords of the darkness of this world, we rely on people like you, and we are grateful for your firm, consistent, calm and theologically verified position, which you voiced both in the Serbian Orthodox Church, and among the Greek episcopate, and on inter-Orthodox platforms . We really need such evidence now. “I would like to express my gratitude for this firm canonical position on my own behalf, and on behalf of His Holiness the Patriarch and on the whole Russian Orthodox Church.” The archpastor also wished the help of God's brethren of the monastery. “I would like to wish that the spirit that has developed in this monastery always be preserved here, so that the young monks who come to the Pskov-Pechersk monastery are imbued with this spirit, emanating from the monks of the older generation. I wish that the blessed gifts that the elders of the Pskov-Pechersk monastery so generously shared with the pilgrims be passed on from generation to generation, ”said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

DECR Secretary for Interfaith Relations attends meeting with Vice Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates

DECR Secretary for Interfaith Relations attends meeting with Vice Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates Секретарь ОВЦС по межрелигиозным отношениям участвовал во встрече с вице-премьером Объединенных Арабских Эмиратов print version August 31, 2019 1:53 p.m. On August 29, 2019, on the sidelines of the Moscow International Forum “City of Education”, held at VDNH, the Secretary of Interreligious Relations of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, the Executive Secretary of the Interreligious Council of Russia Priest Dimitry Safonov met with the blessing of the DECR chairman Metropolitan Hilarion Volokolamsky and the Deputy Prime Minister and The Minister of the Interior of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. The meeting was held in the pavilion dedicated to educational projects of the UAE. The meeting was also attended by the bishop of the Russian United Union of Christians of the Evangelical Faith S.V. Ryakhovsky and President of the Conference of European Rabbis, Chief Rabbi of Moscow Pinchas Goldschmidt. During the conversation, a representative of the DECR introduced the distinguished guest to the activities of the Interreligious Council of Russia and presented a brochure on the 20th anniversary of the MCP. Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al-Nahyan told the guests in detail about the work being carried out in the UAE in the field of strengthening inter-religious cooperation.