Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk (1966- ), the Head of the MP Department for External Church Relations
In a communication with John Beyrle, the US Ambassador to Russia, Archbishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the Head of the MP Department for External Church Relations (DECR), offered the assistance of the Moscow Patriarchate in the preparation of the annual US State Department report on freedom of conscience in the world. Archbishop Hilarion noted “the importance of the work of the US State Department in preparing an annual report on the state of religious freedom in the world. The MP, according to Vladyki Hilarion, could be involved in preparing the materials for this document, which would make it more objective. He also stressed the positive dynamics in the content of this document manifested in recent years”, said a statement posted on the website of the DECR. The statement went to claim that Mr Beyrle expressed his satisfaction with the response of the DECR to the State Department report and expressed his readiness to work with the MP. During a meeting, Archbishop Hilarion told the US ambassador about the current state of church-state relations in Russia and about the public service of the MP. He told the ambassador that, in Russia, the traditional religious communities made a “decisive contribution” to the establishment of the state, and this affects both the status and the specific implementation of religious freedom in Russia, this “should be considered in any analysis of church-state relations”.
29 January 2010
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=33967
Editor’s Note:
This piece was badly translated by Interfax. The title was badly botched as, “Russian Church to Assist US Department of State on Annual Report on Freedom of Religion”. Of course, this gives the implication that the initiative for this action was from the American side. It was not so. This is much less than it appears at first glance. Mr Beyrle was polite to HA… nothing more. Nothing was committed to or agreed to. It looks as though HA is trying to make up for his gaffe at Der Spiegel. HA made an offer, Mr Beyrle did not even give him a hint of the actual response. In actuality, Foggy Bottom careerists who are, in the main, Russophobes trained by Brzeziński, write the report. Trust me; they shall not change their spots. There is a good side to all this… perhaps, it will open up the Boy Wonder’s eyes to the perfidy of the Western secularist class and sour him on cooperating with the Latins… one should always pray for a happy result, no?
In any case, American policy towards Russia since Clinton has been a mindless rehash of the Polish interwar policy of Prometheism (don’t forget, Brzeziński’s father was a member of the fascist junta of the colonels (he was the Ambassador to Canada in 1939)). It’s not going to change, for the career personnel are fixed in their ways by now. Only a collapse on the entirety or a portion of the post-Soviet space will effect a change. Shall the impeding fall of the Ukrainian successor-state be such a catalyst? We shall have to see… my crystal ball is out for repairs.
BMD
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