Suspended Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Hungary

When Orthodoxy in Dialogue began reporting on then-Metropolitan Joseph Al-Zehlaoui’s  predatory, adulterous affair in August 2022, our inbox became flooded with a daily barrage of incriminating evidence from sources all over. We did our due diligence to sift credible information from uncorroborated gossip. Our hard work resulted in his swift, forcible “retirement.” He finished himself off by giving the Holy Synod of Antioch no choice but to defrock him and return him to lay status—precisely what we had urged from day one of our coverage.

The same snowball effect may have begun to gain traction since our report on Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev ‘s alleged predatory gay affair just three short days ago. Read More

The present report appeared with a different title yesterday, July 25, at Novaya Gazeta Europe as a translation and revision of its original exposé in Russian on July 5. Orthodoxy in Dialogue’s mandate does not include exposing the sexual sins of hierarchs and priests except when they engage in the same activities that they so virulently denounce as spokesmen of the Church. Our readers will recall that Alfeyev has served as the Moscow Patriarchate’s main anti-LGBTQ voice. (See here, for instance.) Alfeyev repeatedly went on record condemning same-sex love while engaging in non-consensual, assaultive same-sex acts. His global reputation as a theologian and composer is collapsing like a house of cards. Will SVS Press do the right thing and remove his titles from its list?

We should also note, when reading about Alfeyev’s lavish lifestyle, that Orthodox bishops are selected from among the monks and should in principle continue to live in monastic austerity.

Russian Orthodox turmoil

Hilarion Alfeyev addresses the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest, Hungary, 6 September 2021.

Photo: EPA-EFE / Noemi Bruzak 

The Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church announced the temporary suspension of the metropolitan of Budapest and Hungary from his diocese on Thursday, pending the findings of a commission appointed to study “the situation there”. While the wording of the church statement was deliberately ambiguous, the matter being investigated is almost certainly a series of recent sexual harassment claims against Metropolitan Hilarion.

Read More

Introduction: Orthodoxy as a Diplomatic Tool

Diplomatic mediation between Orthodox hierarchy, governments, and non-profits in the Russia-Ukraine conflict can bring about peace and prosperity in the Orthodox world in the 21st century. The powerful global Eastern Orthodox world should have a more active and engaged role in promoting conflict resolution and ending the war between Russia and Ukraine. Multiple actors in the global Orthodox world can play active negotiating roles in ending this conflict These actors include the governments of majority Orthodox countries, global Orthodox ecclesiastical leadership, and Orthodox deposed inter-related nobility. All can play significant roles in ending this conflict to neutralize the war path charted by Western powers waging a new Cold War against Russia’s Putin.

I will  briefly examine the history of the Orthodox world and offer a plan of action for unifying and promoting dialogue among the Orthodox spheres of influence that I define as composed by the following groups. First, we have Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, and Serbia, states with Orthodox believers firmly planted within the European Union’s democratic economic and political order. Second, we have the sprawling Orthodox diaspora in North America, Australasia, and other parts of the world. Third, we have authoritarian Russia and now invaded and victimized Ukraine. Finally, we have non-state historical and non-profit actors. Read More

In his The Ordination of Archdeaconess Angelic-Phoebe Molen of May 25, 2024,  editor Giacomo Sanfilippo writes,

[The Patriarchate of] Alexandria has restored or renewed nothing.  […] The creation of a new diaconal order, as I call it, unprecedented in Orthodox history or Tradition, seems to me an unfortunate unilateral move without extensive consultation among all the Patriarchates. […] [The Patriarchate of] Alexandria’s decision to ordain Sister Angelic casts into stark relief what is perhaps the most divisive question in contemporary Orthodoxy, to whit, the intersection of Holy Tradition and historical precedent.

A member hierarch of the Holy Synod of Alexandria sent us the following important correction this morning.

Metropolitan Seraphim (Kykotis) of Zimbabwe

I read your article on the issue of the deaconess and agree with it on many points. I merely wish to point out that the ordination, together with its canonical issues, was not a decision of the Alexandrian Patriarchate, its Primate, or its Synod, but rather a unilateral one by Metropolitan Seraphim. It caught us all by surprise. Read More