Mgr Hilarion: "Notre mission dans le monde"
Le site « Patriarchia.ru » a publié une interview importante et programmatique de Mgr Hilarion, président de la direction des relations extérieures du patriarcat de Moscou à l’hebdomadaire « Expert » (« Эксперт»). Cette publication est intitulée « Notre mission dans le monde ». Les sujets traités sont nombreux:le bilan des premiers cent jours du patriarcat de l’ex métropolite Cyrille. Le patriarche, conscient de la nécessité d’établir des passerelles entre l’Eglise et « la société civile » tient à simplifier le cheminement vers l’écclésialisation parachevée du néophyte qui franchit pour la première fois le seuil d’une paroisse et se sent souvent rejeté…Il est indispensable de mieux mobiliser les laïcs à la mission.
Orthodox Mission in the 21st century
According to a widespread view, the Orthodox Church is not a missionary church. Some Orthodox even claim that the Orthodox Church does not need any mission. ‘We are the holders of the Truth, and we testify to it by the very fact of our existence,’ said proudly one Orthodox clergyman with whom I was speaking on this subject. One wonders, though, whether this approach can be justified by the church history. If the apostles after Christ’s Resurrection sat behind closed doors in Jerusalem, testifying to the truth by the simple fact of their existence, any further spread of Christianity would have been extremely unlikely.
Prayer and monasticism in orthodox tradition
‘...When you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father Who is in secret; and your Father Who sees in secret will reward you. And in praying do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask them’. These words of Christ may provoke the following question: what is the sense of praying if God knows beforehand what we actually need?
Theological education in the 21st century
My presentation will consist of three parts. In the first part I will attempt to describe the contemporary situation of Christianity vis-à-vis the secular world, with special reference to the predominant trends in the Western system of elementary, secondary and higher education. In the second part I will try to formulate certain principles around which, I believe, the system of Christian theological education should be shaped in the 21st century. In the third part I intend to speak about patristic theology and why the church Fathers are important for the 21st century students of Christian doctrine and morality.
The theology of St Isaac the Syrian
My presentation will be dedicated to the theology of St Isaac the Syrian, known also as Isaac of Nineveh, a famous Eastern Christian ascetical writer who lived in the seventh century. The biographical information on Isaac is contained in two Syriac sources: The Book of Chastity by the East Syrian historian Isho‘denah, the Bishop of Basra, comprised of short biographies of Persian ascetics, and in a West Syrian source of uncertain date and origin.
"The Passion according to St Matthew" by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev
The internet site of "Radonezh" radio station made available the TV version of "The Passion according to St Matthew" by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev. The premiere performance of this work, whose duration is 2 hours, took place on 27 March 2007 at the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory. The 45-minute TV version was shown by the Russian state TV channel "Kultura" on 6 April, Good Friday.
God, Science, communism and the Russian Orthodox Church
Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev talked to STN about communism, scientific advancements and religion in Russia
Towards a Catholic-Orthodox Alliance
Interview with Hilarion Alfeyev, Bishop of Vienna and Austria, Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions, by Robert Moynihan, editor-in-chief of ‘Inside the Vatican’, on 24 April 2005, the day of enthronement of Pope Benedict XVI
Das Prinzip des "Kanonischen Territoriums" in der Orthodoxen Tradition
Vortrag auf dem Internationalen Symposium für Kirchenrecht an der Budapester Katholischen Theologischen Akademie
La notion du territoire canonique dans la tradition orthodoxe
Conférence au symposium international de droit canonique à l’Académie théologique catholique de Budapest
Christianity and the Challenge of Militant Secularism
‘The glory of God is the living man.’ This dictum of St Ireneus encompasses the theological and anthropological vision of early Christianity, according to which there is an intrinsic and inseparable link between God and humanity. Man is considered to be the highest expression of God’s creative process, while God is regarded as the absolute value, the ultimate criterion of truth for all living creatures. Man’s vocation is to be the glory of God, that is, to glorify God with his life, words and deeds.
Le christianisme face au sécularisme militant
En s’opposant avec ferveur à toute manifestation de religiosité, le sécularisme militant gagne de plus en plus l’Europe. Au débat sur la mention des racines chrétiennes de l’Europe dans la future Constitution européenne a succédé celui sur l’interdiction de porter les signes religieux dans les écoles publiques en France. Derechef, le sécularisme se proclame comme le seul système légitime sur lequel peut s’édifier le nouvel ordre en Europe et en dehors d’elle.
La primauté et la conciliarité dans la tradition orthodoxe
Dans la tradition orthodoxe la question de la primauté est intimement liée à celle de l’autorité dans l’Église et est inséparable des notions de la catholicité et de la conciliarité.
Primat und Katholizität in der orthodoxen Tradition
In der orthodoxen Tradition ist das Thema des Primats eng mit dem Thema der kirchlichen Autorität verbunden, das seinerseits für den orthodoxen Theologen nicht vom Begriff der Katholizität (russisch kafoličnost’ oder sobornost’) getrennt werden kann.