On July 10, 2021, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, arrived in the United States of America on a working visit.
At New York’s airport, Metropolitan Hilarion was met by the Consul General of the Russian Federation in New York, S.K. Ovsyannikov, and the clergy of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral, Hegumen Nikodim (Balyasnikov), Archpriest Yaroslav Lutoshkin and Priest Mark Rashkov.
On July 11, at St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral in New York, the Divine Liturgy was celebrated by His Beatitude Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk concelebrated with the Primate of the Orthodox Church in America. Also taking part in the service were the Secretary of the Orthodox Church in America, Priest Alessandro Margheritino, and the clergy of St. Nicholas Cathedral.
Addressing Metropolitan Tikhon at the end of the service, Metropolitan Hilarion said:
“Your Beatitude, Most Blessed Tikhon, Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada!
Allow me to cordially welcome you on behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’ to the Patriarchal Cathedral of St. Nicholas in New York. You have been a guest of this cathedral — the center of the spiritual and liturgical presence of the Russian Orthodox Church on American soil — many times, but recently the pandemic has prevented you from visiting this church. And today, when the pandemic is not yet over but has already greatly weakened on the American continent, we have the opportunity to welcome you here warmly.
A trial has befallen all the peoples of the world. We remember how last Pascha, both in Russia and here in America, many churches were closed to parishioners: although services were celebrated and the Bloodless Sacrifice was offered, most people could see this only on their computer screens and were unable to be present at the service in church.
The most severe wave of the pandemic, which covered America last fall and winter, took tens and hundreds of thousands of lives. Russia and other countries of the canonical presence of the Russian Orthodox Church have also drunk this cup of suffering to the full; we too have suffered great losses. In Russia more than 140,000 people have died of the coronavirus, and from its consequences — as many as we do not know and probably will never be able to count.
Unfortunately, while in America, as we see, the pandemic is subsiding, in Russia a new wave has begun, because although Russia was the first country to invent a vaccine, vaccination did not proceed at the proper speed, and today we have a new surge of infections and again a large number of deaths. We pray to the Lord that this trial may end as soon as possible both for us and for you.
All these sad events prevented us last year from jointly marking a significant jubilee of the Orthodox Church in America — the 50th anniversary of its autocephaly.
The Orthodox Church in America is the fruit of the saving sowing of Russian missionaries, Russian bishops and priests, who brought Orthodoxy to the American continent through Alaska, through the West Coast, and then it reached here — the East Coast of the USA. Much righteous labor was expended so that the Orthodox faith might shine forth on the American continent. And in 1970 the Orthodox Church in America, which had been a Daughter of the Russian Orthodox Church, became its beloved Sister. It was granted autocephaly by the inalienable right that every Local Orthodox Church has: to determine the future of those of its parts that have grown and attained independence. And although new theories and new views on this question have appeared recently, looking at history we see that the process of granting autocephaly has never been uniform, but the fundamental principle has been preserved: autocephaly was granted by the Mother Church to its Daughter Church.
Thanks to that momentous event in the history of the Orthodox Church in America, this Holy Orthodox Church became a truly national Church of its people, where people can take part in services in their native language. This Church is developing dynamically and flourishing today under the primatial omophorion of Your Beatitude.
On behalf of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’, I cordially congratulate you on these church-wide events, as well as on the upcoming milestone in Your Beatitude’s life — your 55th birthday. You and I are the same age: our birthdays are only a little more than a week apart. I am very glad that people of our generation today have the opportunity to serve the Church of Christ and devote their strength to serving their flock. I wish that in the next 55 years of your life the Lord may strengthen you and grant Your Beatitude strength to bear the heavy archpastoral and primatial cross.”
In response, His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon warmly greeted Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, noting the spiritual, canonical and doctrinal unity of the Orthodox Church in America with its Mother Church — the Moscow Patriarchate. “Dear Vladyka Hilarion, I am glad to have the opportunity to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with you despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic,” His Beatitude emphasized.
The Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, presented His Beatitude Metropolitan Tikhon of All America and Canada with a holy panagia, sent to him as a gift by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus’.
Metropolitan Hilarion also addressed the clergy and parishioners of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral:
“Dear fathers, dear brothers and sisters!
I would like to convey to you the greeting and blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill.
We have all gone through and are still going through a difficult time of trials. But the Lord is merciful: in this time He comforts us with many of His grace-filled gifts. Our chief consolation is the Divine service celebrated in church, the Holy Eucharist in which we can take part, and Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, which gives us strength to endure the trials of this age and to prepare for the life to come.
I wish all of us to hold firmly to the holy Orthodox faith, to love our churches, to be faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ on our life’s path and to fulfill His Divine commandments.
I wish the clergy of St. Nicholas Patriarchal Cathedral God’s help in carrying out their pastoral work, which is now especially in demand and much needed.”
At the request of the youth club of St. Nicholas Cathedral, Metropolitan Hilarion gave a number of his books for the parishioners.
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk is accompanied on his trip to the USA by DECR staff member Philip Champion and Subdeacon Vyacheslav Lee.
