The Chair of the Department for External Church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hilarion (Alfeyev), will pay a visit to Israel, during which he will discuss with the Patriarch of Jerusalem the holding of the “pan-Orthodox” council in Amman.
The Chair of the Department for External Church relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, Hilarion (Alfeyev), will pay a visit to Israel, during which he will discuss with the Patriarch of Jerusalem the holding of the “pan-Orthodox” council in Amman.
He said this in an interview with RIA Novosti, according to Religiyna Pravda (Religious Truth).
“The main purpose of the trip is to participate in events to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. Delegations from many countries will take part in these events. [...] I also plan to pay a visit to the Patriarch of Jerusalem Theophilus during my trip to Israel,” Metropolitan Hilarion said.
The Russian clergyman recalled that the Patriarch of Jerusalem initiated a meeting of the Primates.
“During a visit to Moscow in November last year, His Beatitude Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem put forward a proposal to hold a fraternal meeting of the primates of the local Orthodox Churches at the end of February to discuss the issue of preserving our unity in Eucharistic communion.” The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church positively assessed this initiative aimed at overcoming divisions and restoring unity in the Orthodox Church. We are ready to support any proposal and any format of a general discussion of ways out of the crisis because every high-level meeting gives a chance to take at least a few steps in this direction,” Metropolitan Hilarion said.
He also said that the initiative of Patriarch Theophilus was "positively evaluated in a number of Orthodox Churches”, but at the moment it is known that only one Church in the Czech Lands and Slovakia has agreed to participate.
As previously reported, the Ecumenical Patriarch managed to persuade the Patriarch of Jerusalem not to force a meeting in Amman, to which the Primates of all Churches were invited.
On November 21, Patriarch Theophilus of Jerusalem, while in Moscow, called on the Primates of the local Orthodox Churches of the world to gather in the Jordanian capital of Amman to discuss "issues of preserving Pan-Orthodox unity".
This initiative was supported by the ROC, as well as individual hierarchs of the Churches of Albania and Alexandria.
The head of the Church of Greece, Hieronymos, refused to go to the meeting to Jordan.
Archbishop Yevstratiy of the OCU drew attention to the fact that it is difficult to recognize the Moscow initiative of the Patriarch of Jerusalem as an independent. Moreover, before making his loud statements, Theophilus had a pretty cold meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which was marked by threats on the part of the Russian leader.