Moscow Patriarchy Department for External Relations Chairman Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, left, and Metropolitan Laurus of Orthodox Church Outside Russia
Photo: Mikhail Ilyin
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No Clericalism Is Underway in Russia
No clericalism is underway in Russia but the church won’t allow to be driven into isolation again, said Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, who chairs the Moscow Patriarchy Department for External Relations.
”Clericalism is out of the question. The church never keeps making the same mistakes,” Metropolitan Kirill told RIA Novosti Monday when commenting on the accusing letter of nine academicians of Russia’s Science Academy to President Vladimir Putin.
”They fear clericalism. But clericalism is when the clergy takes secular powers. If a metropolitan is appointed the science minister, it will be clericalism,” Metropolitan Kirill explained.
When commenting on the calls of some clergy advocating isolation and refusal to communicate with authorities and non-Christians, Metropolitan Kirill said that withdrawing to isolation would mean abandoning the mission to transfigure the society. According to Kirill, the church should hear voices of others and be in dialogue with authorities to maintain proper relations with them.
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