SYNOD OF BISHOP: March 16, 2006

Clarification of the Synodal Website's Interview with Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria

With the blessing of His Eminence Metropolitan Laurus, the Editors of the official website of our Church posed questions to Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria on the recent Assembly of the World Council of Churches and the participation of the Moscow Patriarchate in the ecumenical movement. Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America , the Editor-in-Chief of our website, gave his blessing to post the interview. This decision was motivated by the fact that many visitors to our site had asked how the members of the delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate participated in the recent Assembly of the WCC. It was decided therefore to ask the head of their delegation to answer questions directly and provide information on this event.

Many clergymen of the Diocese of Eastern America and New York and of the eastern portion of the Canadian Diocese had expressed the desire to attend a recent round-table held at Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville, NY, in order to pose such questions to the members of the Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate on dialog with our Church. Some laypersons also addressed our hierarchs with the request to organize such a round-table in New York .

This illustrates that the clergy and laity feel that they are not sufficiently informed, and desire contact with the "other side" in order to express themselves, discuss all sorts of ecclesiastical contradictions and obtain answers to their questions.

The interview with Bishop Hilarion is therefore nothing more than an effort to evoke serious and thoughtful discussion on topics which continue to trouble the clergy and believers of our Church.

See the interview here.