Metropolitan Hilarion moved in Russian Orthodox Church shake-up

[Michie]

Metropolitan Hilarion has been released from his position as the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief ecumenical official, it emerged on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old had served as chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate since 2009.

The theologian, Church historian, and composer is one of the most internationally visible figures in the Russian Orthodox Church. In the role sometimes described as the Moscow Patriarchate’s “foreign minister,” he met with popes Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

The Moscow Patriarchate’s official website said on June 7 that the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church had decided that Metropolitan Hilarion would oversee the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary.

Continued below.
Metropolitan Hilarion moved in Russian Orthodox Church shake-up

 

[Gregory Thompson]

I guess taking sides in a war, is not very ecumenical.

 

[pdudgeon]

I wonder also if that move might be for his future safety and protection, before we have that WW3 that some are pushing for?
I pray that God watches over him, and keeps him safe, in the coming years.

 

[Bob Crowley]

It's difficult to know what to make of this event, in the Byzantine world of Russian and Orthodox Church politics.

One could propose he's upset Kiril and / or Putin or both, or one could propose he's been quietly sent to an Eastern European country as a potential conduit for negotiations with the West, other Orthodox churches and the Catholic Church, since he has prior experience with a foot in both camps, or one could propose ....?

 

[chevyontheriver]

Metropolitan Hilarion has been released from his position as the Russian Orthodox Church’s chief ecumenical official, it emerged on Tuesday.

The 55-year-old had served as chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate since 2009.

The theologian, Church historian, and composer is one of the most internationally visible figures in the Russian Orthodox Church. In the role sometimes described as the Moscow Patriarchate’s “foreign minister,” he met with popes Benedict XVI and Pope Francis.

The Moscow Patriarchate’s official website said on June 7 that the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church had decided that Metropolitan Hilarion would oversee the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary.

Continued below.
Metropolitan Hilarion moved in Russian Orthodox Church shake-up

Looks like a downgrade. Hilarion was a bright light in Orthodoxy.

 

[pdudgeon]

Looks like a downgrade. Hilarion was a bright light in Orthodoxy.

Yes, a bright light will lite a room.
But if you move it outdoors, it can light the way for those who are living in the darkness.
My guess is that we have by no means seen or heard the last of his influence.

Just as Jesus, the Son of God, was moved from his place in heaven to the Earth, and that move changed history, so too this move could begin a new chapter in religious history.

The movement of a great man is always worth noting and watching.