Metropolitan Hilarion and Bishop Nikon were welcomed by the LSTU rector A. Pogodaev and the regional education department director Yu. Taran.

In his address to the audience of over one thousand students and representatives of Orthodox youth organizations in Lipetsk and the region, Metropolitan Hilarion spoke about the personality of Jesus Christ and a possibility for modern man to follow His teaching. He said in particular that ‘a Christian is a person called to swim against the tide notwithstanding all the hardships and to seek the ideal of Christian love and morality’. To do it is beyond the powers of an ordinary person, he said, and for this very reason Christ left behind the Church as a source of divine power able to support a person in his or her personal efforts on the way to salvation.

Then the archpastor answered questions from the audience. The text of his talk will be published at the DECR official website shortly.

DECR Communication Service

Mr. Janjetovic thanked the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church for the opportunity to meet and conveyed greetings from the leaders of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He informed Patriarch Kirill about interreligious and inter-ethnic relations in his country as well as the domestic situation and major tendencies in its development. He also told the patriarch about the work of the interreligious council in his country and the dialogue it promotes between the major religious communities there. The ambassador also pointed to the high level of relations between the Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches.

Patriarch Kirill gave a high assessment to the interreligious dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina and noted the role of the leaders of religious communities in the country in the development of this dialogue.

DECR Communication Service

Speaking at the meeting were President of Lithuania Dalia Gribauskaite, President of Poland Lech Kacinski, President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers, President of Finland Tarja Halonen, President of Slovenia Danilo Türk, high representatives of other countries, the  former chairman of the Seim of the Lithuanian Republic Vitautas Landsbergis, and the first President of Estonia Arnold Ryuitel.

Flags of the three Baltic states – Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were hoisted on the square in front of the Seim building. The ceremony was followed by military parade and grand dinner.

During the events to celebrate the 20^th anniversary of the independence of Lithuania, Metropolitan Hilarion met with the Archbishop of Vilnius Cardinal Audris Juozas Bačkis, with professor Landsbergis, and other church, political and pubic leaders, as well as with representatives of the diplomatic corps.

Reports were presented by archimandrite Sergiy (Govorun), first deputy chairman of the Education Committee of the Russian Orthodox Church; the Revd. Georgy Zavershinsky, head of the DEC communication service; professor A. Korotkov, head of the department of global information processes and resources at the Moscow State University of Foreign Relations, and O. Genisaretsky, leading researcher of the Institute of Philosophy at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Taking part in the meeting and discussion were also vice-rector of the postgraduate and doctoral programme of the Russian Orthodox Church archpriest Vladimir Shmaliy, and secretary of the academic board of the Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary, editor-in-chief of the ‘Bogoslov.ru’ theological portal archpriest Pavel Velikanov.

The Revd. Georgy Zavershinsky presented report on “Dialogue as a way of human life.” He said in particular that personal attitude to the world and its Creator in philosophy and theology has seriously re-oriented human interest to a dialogue and interpersonal relations. A scientific objective method does not present a whole picture of the phenomenon of human being, but rather deals with different aspect of life as a part of the natural world. Personal life is not a product of individual or social conscience, but a function of attitude. We all are born as individuals, and personal principle in us is not an actuality, but rather a potential that is realized when we enter into relations with other people and with the world around us.

He believes that a scientific method isolated from aesthetical outlook, from human spiritual and moral principles that shape personality, does not present a complete picture of the life of the world and human beings in its integrity. This particularly concerns a phenomenon of information society. When we think about it in theological terms, we see that a method of dialogue is more appropriate, as it is an attempt to look at the world and human being in totality of mutual relations. A method of dialogue does not run contrary to an objective method of cognition, but rather supplements it pointing at the necessity to take personal and impersonal relations into account in order to understand the life of the world and human beings in their ontological relation.

Fr. Georgy answered many questions. He remarked that when we ask ourselves whether theology and information society need relationship, we might well answer that both require mutual comprehension and dialogue as far as they are interested in human person.

Metropolitan Hilarion proceeded to the Monastery of the Holy Spirit where he took his monastic vows twenty-three years ago and was ordained hierodeacon. The brethren met the Metropolitan at the main church of the monastery. He venerated the relics of the holy martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilno and other holy places of the monastery.

Metropolitan Chrysostom of Vilnius and Lithuania addressed the high guests:

“Your Eminence, beloved in the Lord Metropolitan Hilarion:

We all, who have gathered at this holy monastery in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit, greet you wholeheartedly. Your have begun your ministry here as a monk and presbyter. Over the years you have ascended on the steps of episcopal ministry and have become metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church and appointed to the responsible post of the head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations.

There is no doubt that your life and ministry have been influenced by the spiritual milieu in which you were beginning your monastic life, being filled spiritually by the martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilno. God has endowed you with many talents, which you are multiplying while serving the Church of Church and God’s people.

Your ministry is particularly important to us and to this holy monastery, as you are a spiritual representative of our little flock in Moscow. For us, the Orthodox Christians of Lithuania, Moscow is the place where the Primate of our Church lives and works. The first visit of His Holiness Patriarch Alexy II of the blessed memory had been a great joy for us. We fell prayers and care for us of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church.

This spiritual link is very important to us. We live amidst brothers and sisters belonging to the Catholic and other Christian confessions, but we see that the modern world is hostile to anything that is Christian, spiritual and moral. Therefore, we need communion with the plenitude of our Church; we rejoice in it and are spiritually encouraged by it.

We wish you, beloved Vladyka in the Lord, success in your noble ministry. May the intercession of the martyrs of Vilno be with you so that you fulfill your ministry in the Church in good health, multiplying your talents while serving God and people.”

Metropolitan Hilarion, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for external church relations, said in his address:

“Your Eminence, dear fathers, brothers, and sisters:

First of all I would like to convey to you blessings and greetings of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, upon whose blessing I have arrived in Lithuania. This is not a church visit, as I was invited by the chairman of the Seim of the Lithuanian Republic. I accepted the invitation gladly as it gives me an opportunity to come again here and be within the sacred walls of the monastery where my monastic life and my ministry to the Church began twenty-three years ago. It was with a feeling of inner trembling that I crossed the threshold of this church, venerated the Cross of Christ, and prayed at the relics of the martyrs Anthony, John, and Eustathius of Vilno, the intercessors for the Lithuanian and Russian land.

“Twenty-three years ago, I had been laying prostrated in this church before archimandrite Nikita, the then abbot of the monastery, tonsured me. The first days and months of my monastic life passed here, and here I was ordained hierodeacon. I cherish memory of my spiritual making in the Vilnius Monastery of the Holy Spirit and in Lithuania. I remember the late hierarchs and cherish loving and respectful memory of Archbishop Viktorian (Belyaev) of Vilnius and Lithuania, who invited me, a very young man, to come to the monastery for short periods of time. Later I came here to take my monastic vows and to begin my ministry to the Church. I remember the late brethren of the monastery who instructed me during the first days and months of my monastic life. I thank them all and also all those who are living and working here.”

Metropolitan Hilarion thanked the head of the Vilnius and Lithuania diocese of diocese for his confidence in him, expressed, for instance, in appointing him rector of the Cathedral of the Annunciation in Kaunas. “You have been serving in Lithuania over twenty years and have gained love and respect of your flock and the entire Lithuanian society,” the DECR chairman continued addressing Metropolitan Chrysostom.

In memory of his visit to the monastery, Metropolitan Hilarion presented panagia to Metropolitan Chrysostom, and the library of the monastery – his book entitled “Orthodoxy” issued by the Moscow Sretensky monastery in 2009 with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.

In conclusion of his address, Metropolitan Hilarion called on all those present to continue their zealous and tireless ministry to the Church. Reminding them of Metropolitan Chrysostom’s words of the Orthodox Christians living in the country surrounded by people belonging to other Christian confession, Metropolitan Hilarion underscored:

“It is not easy to carry the cross of witnessing Orthodox faith, being always conscious of the truth of Orthodoxy and at the same time treating representatives of other confessions with respect, persuading them not by high-sounding words, but by the way of life. This is required of the monks who should be ‘the light of the world’ (cf. Mt 5:14), of the clergymen. And of all Christians, as the Lord has called all of us for apostolic ministry irrespective of the place we occupy in the Church.”

Metropolitan Hilarion and Chrysostom together with the brethren proceeded to the burial place of Archbishop Viktorin (Belyaev) of Vilnius and Lithuania and sang “Memory Eternal” to the late archpastor.

The hierarchs continued their talk at the repast in the chambers of the head of the Vilnius and Lithuania diocese.

That same day, the DECR chairman visited the Cathedral of the Dormition of the Mother of God and St. Nicholas’ church in Vilnius. He also prayed before the icon of Our Lady of Ostrobrama.

His Eminence Hilarion told Mr. Akopov about the present status of Russian Orthodoxy in Brazil, drawing his attention to the fact that the Brazilian parishes of the Church Outside Russia rejected the restoration of canonical communion in the Russian Orthodox Church. According to Metropolitan Hilarion, the reason for it to a great extent is that a considerable number of the Russian emigres in Brazil live by out-of-date ideas of their historical homeland and the Moscow Patriarchate. ‘Our common task is to help our compatriots to learn the truth about the Mother Church’, he said.

His Eminence expressed hope that cooperation between the DECR and the Russian embassy in Brazil will grow and urged Mr. Akopov to take special effort for introducing local people to the Russian spiritual tradition and the history and today’s life of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Mr. Akopov, on his part, assured the DECR chairman of his readiness to help in all possible ways to develop the presence of Russian Orthodoxy in Brazil.

In token of the meeting, Metropolitan Hilarion gave the new Russian ambassador in Brazil a disk with his composition Passions According to St. Matthews.

DECR Communication Service

Speaking about the Patriarchal Council for Culture established by the Holy Synod on March 5, he said, ‘The point is not control or censure. The point is constructive cooperation between the Church and those representatives of the world of culture who wish this cooperation. The Church does not impose anything on anybody; she only offers her participation and assistance to those who wish it’.

The Church does not have ‘an ideology’ of her own, he said, unless it is viewed as ideology that she ‘is called to save people, to make their life better, purer and brighter. And this is unachievable without having a spiritual and moral pivot’.

According to him, culture is not neutral spiritually and morally as ‘it can carry both a positive and negative moral message and can equally create and destroy’.

‘If the Church does not participate in the development of cultural life in the country, culture faces a risk of turning into an anti-culture, as was repeatedly the case in the past’, the DECR chairman warned.

In order to avoid the mistakes of the past, His Eminence Hilarion urges, ‘the wall erected between the Church and culture during the Soviet times should be removed once and for all to be replaced by a model of such relations between church and culture as to avoid putting any fetters on the development of culture but rather to create an additional potential for its comprehensive development and flourishing’.

Asked about the heated public debate about the return of valuables from museums to the Church, Metropolitan Hilarion expressed the conviction that the Church and museum workers should deal together with the problem of preserving church valuables.

‘An exchange of open letters and mutual accusations will hardly help to deal with this problem effectively. A more constructive approach would lie in direct dialogue between the Church and museum workers. This dialogue can be carried out within the framework of the Patriarchal Council for Culture’, the metropolitan stressed.

He believes that ‘a church should be a church, not a museum; the place of an icon is not in a museum, but in an acting church; the place of the Eucharistic cup or paten is on the altar, not in a glass showcase’. At the same time, he added, ‘it does not mean that old churches representing architectural monuments cannot function at the same time as museums and that icons kept in a museum church cannot be placed under security’.

As a positive example of church-museum cooperation, Metropolitan Hilarion mentioned the Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir placed in St. Nicholas’s-at-Tolmachi, which is part of the Tretyakov Gallery museum compound. This icon is under round-the-clock observation by specialists. ‘There must be much more of such examples’, the metropolitan said.

Among other areas of concern for the Patriarchal Council for Culture, not involving the problem of returning valuables, the metropolitan mentioned the restoration of church monuments of architecture and art, development of religious and secular architecture, as well as literature, poetry, painting, applied arts, cinematography and television.

As a composer, Metropolitan Hilarion believed it important that the Church should participate in the musical life of countries in the post-Soviet space. ‘We should move from one-time events, such as festivals or particular concerts, to systematic planning… The Church should promote the popularization of the musical works which carry a positive spiritual and moral message, giving special attention to Russian musical tradition and supporting young composers and performers’, he said.

Along with spiritual culture, the Council will be concerned with physical culture and cooperation with the ‘world of sports’.

‘It is quite logical to have the Council led by the Patriarch since any other level would not be appropriate today considering the scale of tasks facing the Church in her dialogue with the world of culture’, the metropolitan remarked.

The membership of the Council will be adopted by the next session of the Holy Synod. ‘Clearly, the Council will include people of creative professions as well as church workers who are linked with the world of culture in this or that way’, the Metropolitan informed the RIA Novosti.

Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, father superior of the Sretensky Monastery, who is a film director by education, has been appointed as secretary of the Council.

­- Your Eminence, what is the reason for the Holy Synod’s decision to establish a Patriarchal Council for Culture? How is it linked with the debate concerning the return of valuables kept in museums to the Church?

- I believe the decision to establish a Patriarch Council for Culture to be very wise and timely. Indeed, the problem of relations between the Church and culture is very acute today.

Many of us remember the time when a dead wall was erected between the Church and culture, when it was impressed on people that culture and art serve progress whereas the Church is a mud box for failures and old women ‘who seek consolation in religion’.

Today we seem to have moved rather far from that. But the wall has not been fully eliminated. Relapses of the old disease occasionally act up again, and the muddy ideology, on which the Church was set off against culture in the Soviet time, has not been overcome fully.

- Today some ask: Can the Church preserve the cultural valuables, ancient icons and church vessels which are kept in museums?

- I will answer by asking: why cannot she? Is it not the Church who has created these valuables? It is not the Church who has been their careful keeper for centuries? Were they created rather for museums and storerooms then for the Church?

A church must be a church, not a museum. The place of an icon is not in a museum but in an acting church. The place of the Eucharistic cup or paten is on the altar, not in a glass showcase.

It does not mean that old churches representing architectural monuments cannot function at the same time as museums and that icons kept in a museum church cannot be placed under security.

The Icon of Our Lady of Vladimir is placed in St. Nicholas’s-at-Tolmachi, but St. Nicholas’s itself is part of the Tretyakov museum compound, and the icon is under round-the-clock observation by specialists. So, there are positive examples of cooperation between the Church and museum workers. But there must be much more of these examples.

It is important that the Church and museum workers should deal with the problem of preserving church valuables together. An exchange of open letters and mutual accusations will hardly help to deal with this problem effectively. A more constructive approach would lie in direct dialogue between the Church and museum workers. This dialogue can be carried out within the framework of the Patriarchal Council for Culture.

- Clearly, the theme of relations between religion and culture is not limited to the question of church valuables. What other areas will the Council be concerned with?

- No, it does not. Today a wide field is opening up for cooperation between the Church and musicians, painters, writers, poets, architects, actors and art directors. The world of culture and art is open for the Church and seeks her attention and participation. Direct dialogue with people of this world, a possibility for them to communicate with the patriarch and discuss together with him various joint projects – all this will become a reality within the Patriarchal Council for Culture.

It seems to me that within the Patriarch Council for Culture there will be several independent areas and a fairly wide range of themes will be discussed. The restoration of monuments of church architecture, as well as icons and works of applied art, in particular, will probably occupy a substantial place on the newly-established Council’s agenda.

The Council could give attention to such areas of culture as literature and poetry, painting and applied art, architecture both religious and secular, cinematography and television. In each of these areas there are their own problems and everywhere the Church can be of tangible benefit.

It seems to me that among the very important areas is that of the Church’s participation in the musical life of countries in the post-Soviet space. We should move from one-time events, such as festivals or particular concerts, to a systematic planning of such events. The Church should promote the popularization of the musical works which carry a positive spiritual and moral message, giving special attention to Russian musical tradition and supporting young composers and performers.

Along with spiritual culture, the Council will give attention to physical culture as well. Cooperation between the Church and the world of sports will clearly be among the Council’s concerns. This cooperation is especially relevant today.

- There have been no ‘Patriarchal Councils’ in the Russian Church so far. Why has the Primate come to head this new structure? And how will the Council’s membership be formed?

- It is quite logical to have the Council led by the Patriarch since any other level would not be appropriate today considering the scale of tasks facing the Church in her dialogue with the world of culture.

The membership of the Council will be adopted by the next session of the Holy Synod. Clearly, the Council will include people of creative professions as well as church workers who are linked with the world of culture in this or that way.

Archimandrite Tikhon Shevkunov, father superior of the Sretensky Monastery, who is a film director by education, has been appointed as secretary of the Council.

- What would you answer to those who have suspected that the Church, by creating a Patriarchal Council for Culture, seeks to take culture under control, acting as censor or ideologue?

- The point is not control or censure. The point is constructive cooperation between the Church and those representatives of the world of culture who wish this cooperation.

The Church does not impose anything on anybody but only offers her participation and assistance to those who wish it.

The Church does not have ‘an ideology’ of her own unless it is viewed as ideology that she is called to save people, to make their life better, purer and brighter. And this is unachievable without having a spiritual and moral pivot.

Culture is not neutral spiritually and morally. It can carry both a positive and negative moral message and can equally create and destroy. If the Church does not participate in the development of cultural life in the country, culture faces a risk of turning into an anti-culture, as was repeatedly the case in the past.

We should avoid the mistakes of the past and eliminate the wall erected between the Church and culture during the Soviet times.

At the same time, we should create a model of such relations between the Church and culture as to avoid putting any fetters on the development of culture but rather to create an additional potential for its comprehensive development and flourishing.

Olga Lipich, interviewer



A recital of Russian spiritual music will take place on March 26, 2010, at the old museum church of Agia Eirini in Istanbul, Turkey, to perform Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk’s Passions According to St. Matthews, and oratorio for soloists, a choir and an orchestra.

The idea of this concert was discussed by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia in a talk he had with His Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew during his official visit to the Church of Constantinople on July 4-6, 2009. It was supported by the Primate and other prominent hierarchs of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. His Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, who has given his blessing upon the concert, is expected to attend.

This monumental oratorio composed by Metropolitan Hilarion was first performed on March 27, 2007, at the Grand Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. Later this composition was performed in Italy, Australia, Canada and Ukraine, as well as various regions in Russia, invariably arousing a genuine interest of the public.  On March 25, 2010, it will be played at the Church Councils Hall of the Cathedral Church of the Saviour in Moscow. Passions are based on the story from the Gospel of St. Matthews about the last days of the Lord Jesus Christ’s earthly life.

Passions According to St. Matthews will be rendered by the Russian National Orchestra founded in 1990 by Mikhail Pletnev, a People’s Artist of Russia. Internationally renowned, this orchestra is ranked among the best orchestras in the world. The choral music will be sung by the Moscow Synodal Choir conducted by Alexey Puzakov, an Honoured Artist of Russia. With the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Synodal Choir has been recently recreated on the basis of the choir singing in the church of Our Lady the Joy of all the Afflicted in Moscow. This team, engaged in reviving the repertoire and traditions of performance which were characteristic of the Synodal Choir in its prime in the late 19^th- early 20^th century, also gives great attention to the works of modern composers.

At its meeting on 5 March 2010 in St. Petersburg, chaired by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church made a number of decisions on the Church’s external work.

The Synod appointed Archbishop Justinian of Tiraspol and Dubossary as administrator of the Patriarchal Parishes in the USA, vicar of the Moscow diocese, with the title of Bishop of Narofomisnk.

Having heard a report by Patriarch Kirill on his visit to Kiev for the inauguration of Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovich, the Synod pointed to the importance of the visit to so significant an event in the life of the country and resolved that prayer be lifted up that God’s help may be granted to the Ukrainian President in his public service.

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, DECR chairman, made a report concerning Metropolitan Christopher of the Czech Lands and Slovakia’s stay in Russia during his private visit from January 24 to February 7, 2010, by agreement with Patriarch Kirill. On February 1, the Primate of the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia attended the enthronement of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. The Synod thanked the Lord for the communion in prayer that took place between the primates of the two Local Orthodox Churches.

The Synod also heard and acknowledged a report by Metropolitan Hilarion on the Russian Orthodox Church delegation’s visit to France from February 28 to March 2, 2010. The participation of the delegation led by Metropolitan Hilarion in the launching of the Year of Russia in France and the Year of France in Russia and their meetings with French and Russian state officials as well as clergy and laity of the Moscow Patriarchate’s diocese of Korsun were deemed important. The Synod also considered it useful to maintain contacts with the Roman Catholic diocese of Paris with the aim to bear witness to holy Orthodoxy in the West and consolidate friendly relations between France and countries under the pastoral care of the Moscow Patriarchate.

After a report by Metropolitan Hilarion on the canonization of the Holy Martyr Philoumenos of the Brotherhood of the Holy Sepulcher by the Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, the Synod resolved that the name of this saint be included in the Russian Orthodox calendar and his memory be celebrated on November 16/19 as established by the Church of Jerusalem. St. Philoumenos suffered martyrdom at the hands of heterodox fanatics on 29 November 1979, while serving at Jacob’s Well in Samaria. He is buried in the Trinity Church at Mount Zion.

Having heard the report of Metropolitan Hilarion on the bringing of the relics of St. John Chrysostom to New York, USA, the Synod praised the Lord for the opportunity He gave to the Orthodox believers in the USA to venerate this shrine. This event was noted as important for consolidating the spiritual unity of the Russian diaspora.

The Synod acknowledged the report by Metropolitan Hilarion on the plenary session of the Christian Inter-Confessional Advisory Committee of the CIS and the Baltic (CICAC) which took place on 4 February 2010 under the theme ‘Christian family – a minor church and the foundation of a healthy society’ and approved the result of the session.

The Synod approved the 2009 DECR work report submitted by the DECR chairman.

Having heard a report by Patriarch Kirill on dioceses and parishes abroad, the Synod assigned Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, to St. Nicholas’s Cathedral in New York and appointed him as representative of the World Russian People’s Council to the UN. Archpriest Alexander Abramov, who occupied these posts previously, was placed at the disposal of Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia due to the expiration of his term.

Archpriest Mikhail Povalyaev of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, by agreement with Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and All Ukraine, was placed at the disposal of Archbishop Innokenty of Korsun for pastoral care of the Ukrainian Orthodox diaspora in Italy.

Archpriest Nikolay Kim was relieved of his duty as a cleric of the diocese of Hungary and placed at the disposal of the DECR chairman.

Archpriest Vladimir Makeyev was granted his request to relieve him of the duty of rector of the Parish of the Intercession in Sidney, Australia, and placed at the disposal of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. Rev. Alexander Filchakov was appointed as rector of this parish upon obtaining a letter of release from the Chairman of the Bishops’ Synod of the Russian Church Outside Russia, Metropolitan Hilarion, administrator of the ROCOR diocese of Australia and New Zealand.

Having heard a report by Metropolitan Hilarion on a request that came from Metropolitan Kosmas of Etolia and Akarnania (Greek Orthodox Church), the Synod authorized the move of Hierodeacon Vasily Maslenkov, a former novice of St. Daniel’s Monastery, to the jurisdiction of the Greek Orthodox Church for service at the diocese of Etolia. An appropriate letter of release will be sent to Metropolitan Kosmas of Etolia and Akarnania.

DECR Communication Service