Print This Post


On 8 September 2015, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, met with Ms Kristalina Georgieva, a Vice-President of the European Commission, European Commissioner for Budget and Human Resources. The meeting took place at Ss Cyril and Methodius Theological Institute of Postgraduate Studies.

Ms Georgieva thanked Metropolitan Hilarion for an opportunity to organize the meeting and pointed out three issues which are on the agenda of international institutions and the world community today. These are rendering assistance to victims of various conflicts, improving aid effectiveness, and seeking ways to settle conflicts. According to the Vice-President of the European Commission, in order to find ways to end conflicts, it is necessary to make the world a more humane place. Religious organizations can make their contribution to it by providing aid to conflict-affected people.

Metropolitan Hilarion told his guest about the situation in the Middle East, where the genocide against Christian population is going on. As the DECR chairman noted, in a number of countries in the Middle East the system of checks and balances was destroyed, what has led to a wild outburst of terrorism.

The hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church noted that traditional confessions in Russia had begun a constructive dialogue on basic social problems. For instance, the dialogue is carried out within the framework of the Interreligious Council of Russia.

Metropolitan Hilarion informed his guest that the Russian Orthodox Church in collaboration with the Imperial Orthodox Palestine Society provided humanitarian aid to people affected by the hostilities in Syria, regardless of their religious beliefs. As part of the project, thirteen planes delivered humanitarian cargo to Syria.

The DECR chairman also mentioned the difficult situation in south-east Ukraine and said that the Russian Orthodox Church provided humanitarian aid to victims of the civil confrontation, with her departments for charity in the border dioceses being in charge of this work.

DECR Communication Service