Source: Novaya Gazeta The Russian Orthodox Church’s supreme administrative body has decided to remove the scandal-prone head of its Budapest and Hungarian Diocese, the church’s Holy Synod announced on Friday. Grigory Alfeyev, who took the religious name Metropolitan Hilarion, was temporarily suspended by the body in July following an investigation by Novaya Gazeta Europe that uncovered evidence of misconduct in both his financial and personal affairs. As the head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations since 2009, Hilarion had been touted as a possible successor to Patriarch Kirill, the current head of the church, until he was…
Browsing: Budapest
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA Metropolitan Hilarion of Budapest has given a long interview to RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency. https://ria.ru/20230725/mitropolit_ilarion-1886120415.html To the best of my knowledge, this is the first significant interview that Metropolitan Hilarion has given since his transfer to Budapest in June 2022. Most of the interview relates to Constantinople and the document presented by Metropolitan Hilarion at the recent Bishops’ Conference (https://mospat.ru/ru/news/90540/ ). However, the Metropolitan also addressed the discussion at the Conference concerning the “current armed confrontation between Russia and Ukraine.” Thus, the Metropolitan stated: I would like to quote the words of His Holiness the Patriarch…
Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA On January 23, 2023, President Zelensky of Ukraine signed Decree № 26/2023 “On the application of personal special economic and other restrictive measures (sanctions).” https://www.president.gov.ua/documents/262023-45613 Attached to the decree are the names of 22 individuals, all of whom are representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. Six individuals are sanctioned for 30 years, while 16 are sanctioned for five years. See also https://lb.ua/society/2023/01/24/543485_zelenskiy_zaprovadiv_sanktsii_proti.html. The first person on the list of those sanctioned for 30 years is Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev), presently Metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary. As is well-known, he was chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department…
Source: Orthodox Christianity BUDAPEST – Patriarch John X of Antioch and the heads of several other Christian churches in the Middle East met with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orband in Budapest on Wednesday, October 30 to discuss the ongoing persecution and ways to protect the suffering Christian communities in the Middle East. The meeting, which was organized by Prime Minster Orban, was also attended by Patriarch Mar Ignatius Ephraim II of the Syriac church, Melkite Patriarch Youssef I AbsI of Antioch and All the East, Alexandria and Jerusalem, and Syro-Catholic Patriarch of Antioch and all…