Metropolitan Hilarion: The Two Largest Christian Churches Must Cooperate - This is the Imperative of the Times

Moscow Patriarchate ^ | 12/25/21

[marshmallow]

On December 25th, 2021, on The Church and the World TV program shown on Saturdays and Sundays on “Rossiya-24”, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), answered questions fr om the anchor Ekaterina Gracheva

E. Gracheva: Hello! This is the time of the program “The Church and the World” on the TV channel “Rossia 24”, where we talk weekly with the Chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Hello, Vladyka!

Metropolitan Hilarion: Hello, Catherine! Hello dear brothers and sisters!

E. Gracheva: Vladyka, the other day you were at the Vatican, where you met with Pope Francis, in fact you have just returned from there. Earlier, Pope Francis said that he did not rule out a possibility that he could come to Moscow very soon, he even called Patriarch Kirill his brother in an interview with journalists. “You don't need protocols to have a dialogue with your brother. A brother is a brother”- he said. Does Patriarch Kirill treat Pope Francis in the same way - as a brother?

Metropolitan Hilarion: Patriarch Kirill met with Pope Francis in 2016. I was present at that meeting, it lasted more than two hours. I think, it really showed a brotherly fellowship. There was no talk about rapprochement, about unification, as many now suspect that secret negotiations are underway. No secret negotiations are being held, no unification is planned, but the fact that the two largest Christian Churches should interact is now quite obvious. The main topic of the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill in Havana was the situation of Christians in the Middle East. Unfortunately, this situation remains very difficult. In a number of countries in the Middle East, Christianity not only declined, but actually ceased to exist.