Hilarion Alfeev

Hilarion Alfejew, 2011

Hilarion Alfeyev (alternative spelling Hilarion Alfeyev , born Grigori Valeryevich Alfeyev , Russian Григорий Валерьевич Алфеев * 24. July 1966 in Moscow ) is Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of Volokolamsk and head of the Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate . Between 2003 and 2009 he was Bishop of Vienna and Austria .

Career

Hilarion Alfejew studied violin , piano and composition at the Moscow State Conservatory. When he was three he played the piano, when he was six he played the violin and when he was twelve he began to compose sacred music. From 1984 to 1986 he did military service. He entered the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius in 1987 , where he was ordained a priest on August 19 . In 1989 he graduated from the Theological Seminary in Moscow and in 1991 from the Theological Academy in Moscow . Until 1993 he taught homiletics , dogmatic theology , New Testament studies and Byzantine Greek at the theological schools in Moscow. In 1995 he received his PhD in philosophy from the University of Oxford under Bishop Kallistos Ware . In 1999 he received his doctorate in theology at the Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge in Paris .

From 1995 to 2001 he was secretary in the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. On January 14, 2002, he was ordained bishop in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior by Alexius II , the Patriarch of Russia . He was first assistant bishop of the Diocese of Sorouzh in Great Britain and from July 2002 head of the representation of the Russian Orthodox Church at the European institutions in Brussels. In addition to this position, he was also appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria on May 7, 2003 .

He completed his habilitation in 2005 at the University of Friborg with a French-language study on the debates about the Imjaslavie , the worship of the Name of God, which started from Mount Athos at the beginning of the 20th century . This study, externally reviewed by Nicolas Lossky from the Institut de Théologie Orthodoxe Saint-Serge , was published in 2007 in the ecumenical supplements of the Freiburg Institute for Ecumenical Studies .

On February 19, 2005, he received the Venia legendi , began teaching in the 2005 summer semester at the Theological Faculty of the University of Friborg as a private lecturer in dogmatics, and in February 2011 he became adjunct professor in the same subject .

On March 31, 2009, he was appointed Bishop of Volokolamsk and Head of the Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate (a position held by the current Patriarch Kyrill I before his election). As such, he is an ex officio member of the Holy Synod . On February 1, 2010 he was raised to the rank of Metropolitan . On October 5, 2011, he was appointed head of the Biblical-Theological Commission of the Moscow Patriarchate, of which he has been a member since 1996.

In May 2018 he was responsible for the hoax that Pope Francis would support a joint declaration ("goszadanie") with the Moscow Patriarch for peace and de-escalation in Syria.

Ecumenical point of view

He advocates bilateral and strategic alliances between the individual Christian groups and churches. He is mainly thinking of the Roman Catholic Church . He is very critical of Protestantism. Many Protestants would have a light version of Christianity developed, without apostolic succession , without sacraments , without dogmatic teachings and with no ties to Christian moral standards manages . In his speech at the family synod in October 2015 in the Vatican, he denied that some Protestant “church communities” would even be Christian because of their dealings with homosexuals. He is also regarded as an advocate of a hard line towards the autonomous Ukrainian Church and as an opponent of its independence.

When the Turkish government repealed Ataturk's ordinance converting Hagia Sophia into a museum in July 2020 , Metropolitan Hilarion regretted that the political “boom” had gained the upper hand over consideration for other religious traditions. According to the Metropolitan, the intellectual and cultural heritage of the whole world must not be held hostage to the current political situation. The museum status granted in 1934 allowed the visit of both Muslims and Christians and members of other religions. According to the metropolitan, Hagia Sophia is comparable for Orthodox Christians to St. Peter's Basilica for Catholics, and its transformation into a mosque is a slap in the face that the Turkish leadership has given the Orthodox Church and all of world Christianity.

Composition activity

As a student of a musically oriented school, Alfejev learned to play the violin and composition in his youth. Since the 2000s he has emerged as the composer of several large-scale sacred works for choir and orchestra, including a Christmas Oratorio , a Divine Liturgy and a St. Matthew Passion , which were performed in the presence of prominent Orthodox and Catholic church representatives and others. a. was performed in Moscow and Rome. Stylistically, he follows in the footsteps of early western romanticism, including elements of Russian liturgical choral singing.

Memberships

• Bishop Hilarion is a member of the Central Committee and the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches .
• He is a member of the Presidium of the Faith and Order Commission.
• He also participates in the Orthodox-Catholic Commission.

Publications

Bishop Hilarion is the author of thirty books in Russian, English, French, Italian, German and Finnish. In 2003 he published his introduction to orthodox dogmatic theology under the title Mystery of Faith .

The Christmas Oratorio by Bishop Hilarion was performed on December 22nd, 2008 in the Konzerthaus in Vienna under the direction of Vladimir Fedoseyev with Archdeacon Viktor Schilowsky as evangelist.

Web links

Commons : Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokamsk  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Hilarion Alfejew in the catalog of the German National Library
• Russian Orthodox Church: Representation to the European Institutions
• Our churches are on the way to unity
• Russian Orthodox theologian and bishop qualified as a professor at the Friborg Theological Faculty
• Pope Benedict XVI receives Archbishop Hilarion (September 18, 2009)

Individual evidence

Metropolitan Hilarion (Grigorij Valerievitch Alfeyev) , biography (pdf, unifr.ch; 62 kB)

1. ^ Bishop Hilarion Head of the Foreign Office of the Moscow Patriarchate . ORF . April 1, 2009. Retrieved April 14, 2009.
2. ↑ Rainer Hermann, patron saint of Christians in the Middle East, in: FAZ No. 193, August 21, 2014, p. 8.
3. ↑ Hilarion Alfeyev, Le mystère sacré de l'Église. Introduction à l'histoire et à laproblemématique des débats athonites sur la vénération du nom de Dieu, New Series of Ecumenical Supplements, Volume 47, Friborg 2007, ISBN 978-2-8271-0975-3 .
4. ↑ Zenit: Switzerland: Metropolitan Hilarion becomes professor in Friborg , Vatican Radio , February 12, 2011
5. ↑ Le patriarche Cyrille celebre le premier anniversaire de son intronisation , egliserusse.eu
6. ↑ Mospat.ru: Митрополит Волоколамский Иларион возглавил Синодальную библейско-богословскую комиссию ; Retrieved October 8, 2011.
7. ↑ Putin's People Claimed Pope Francis Was With Them Supporting Assad. Nope. , The Daily Beast, May 21, 2018
8. ^ No more romantic ecumenism
9. ↑ http://www.katholisch.de/aktuelles/aktuelle-artikel/tag-17-geredet-ist-genug
10. ↑ The Thrones at Play , Novaya Gazeta, May 16, 2018
11. ↑ Metropolitan Hilarion described the transformation of Hagia Sophia into a mosque as a slap in the face against Christianity as a whole , Metropolitan Hilarion's interview for TASS , July 11, 2020
12. ↑ owep.de
    interfax-religion.com
13. ^ Opening choir of the St. Matthew Passion on YouTube
14. ↑ Attention, new version: Ecumenical major event in Vienna is imminent

predecessor	Office	successor
Paul (Ponomarev)	Bishop of Vienna and Austria 2003–2009	Mark (Golokov)
Pitirim (Nechayev)	Metropolitan of Volokolamsk since 2009