DECR chairman meets of Austria’s ambassador to Russia

April 20, 2015 – Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations (DECR), met with Austrian Ambassador to Russia Emil Brix.

Metropolitan Hilarion welcomed the high guest to the DECR, and Mr. Brix, on his part, thanked Metropolitan Hilarion for the opportunity to meet.

The DECR chairman recalled the years he spent at the See of Vienna and Austria and good contacts he enjoyed at that time with the Pro Oriente Foundation and Cardinal Christoph Shoenborn, Archbishop of Vienna.

They dealt with a number of topics concerning the development of religious life in Russia and Austria, the significance of the Church for today’s Russian society, and church-state relations in Russia.

Metropolitan Hilarion expressed concern over the tragic events in the Middle East and North Africa and the growing threat of terrorism and extremism disguised under religious slogans. He expressed the idea of the need for common European efforts for establishing stability in the region.

They also discussed the grave situation of Christians in the Middle East. Metropolitan Hilarion spoke of the efforts of the Russian Church to attract the attention of the international community to the miserable situation of the prosecute brothers and sisters in the Middle East.

In conclusion of the talk, Metropolitan Hilarion presented the ambassador with a token of the meeting.

DECR Communication Service