Home page News
Metropolitan Hilarion: Constantinople encroaches on&nbs…

Metropolitan Hilarion: Constantinople encroaches on others’ property

During his visit to Hungary, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople stated that the Cathedral Church of the Russian Orthodox Church’s diocese of Budapest and Hungary - the Cathedral of the Dormition in Budapest, “during the sad and hazy days of the Communist regime, because of the shady and perfidious machinations and unbearable pressure of the Soviet power, was forcibly purloined and wholly unlawfully and uncanonically subjected to the Moscow Patriarchate, which to this day continues to possess it sacrilegiously”. At a request of the RIA Novosti news agency, the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk commented on this statement speaking about the past and present of the church.

-   Your Eminence, you have recently visited Budapest, where you spoke at the opening of the Eucharistic Congress. And right after you, the same congress saw Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople. In his sermon after the Liturgy he celebrated in the Catholic cathedral, he mentioned the “capture” of the Cathedral of the Dormition in Budapest by the Moscow Patriarchate. How can you comment on these words?

-   The Cathedral of the Dormition has never belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. It was built in the late 18th century by a community consisting predominantly of Greeks and Vlachs. Divine services were celebrated in it in Greek. But it was not under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople prohibited as it was in the territory of the Austro Hungarian Empire. True, in the 20th century 20s, Constantinople tried to create its exarchate in Hungary, but it existed only on paper. In Hungary proper, no trace of this exarchate has ever been found; no normative basis for it has ever been established in the Hungarian legislation.

Since 1945, representatives of the parish repeatedly appealed to Patriarch Alexis I of Moscow and All Russia to accept the parish in the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. In 1949, a Hungarian Deanery of the Russian Orthodox Church was established and in 1950, the Cathedral of the Dormition and a few more parishes, in which divine services were celebrated in Hungarian, joined the Moscow Patriarchate. Thus, there was a change in the church jurisdiction, but the community remained the same. The correspondence concerning the admission of these parishes to the fold of the Russian Church was carried out not with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, with which they had no relations whatsoever, but with the Serbian Church.

In the early 2000s, Constantinople laid claims to the Cathedral of the Dormition and filed a suit. All the three court instances fell on the time when I administered the diocese of Hungary. And we won all the three instances - first the Budapest City Court, then the Court of Appeal and, finally, the Supreme Court. We managed to prove convincingly that the present community of the Cathedral of the Dormition, including Greeks and Hungarians and people of other ethnic background, was a direct legal successor of the original community. Moreover, direct descendants of the first founders are serving in the clergy of our church to this day.

Therefore, the Patriarch of Constantinople can make whatever claims he wants, but it has been already thrice proved judicially and finally that these claims are altogether ungrounded. The tenth commandment of the Law of Moses reads, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:17). It is appropriate to remind the Patriarch of Constantinople of this commandment. Expressing such ideas publicly, he encroaches on others’ property whose right holder has been determined by court. Besides, he thus casts doubt on the competence of Hungarian courts.

The Hungarian state acted very wisely by giving the Patriarchate of Constantinople as a gift a territory and a group of buildings where a church will be built (Patriarch Bartholomew blessed the foundation stone). It should seem what else does he need? But no, it proves to be not enough. Right in the presence of benefactors, Patriarch Bartholomew voices claims also to a church building that has never belonged to Constantinople.

The Hungarian state generally treats traditional religious confession with great consideration subsidizing their work. The repair and restoration work in the Cathedral of the Dormition is carried out with the financial support of the Hungarian state.

When I came to Budapest in 2003, the first thing I saw was our Cathedral of the Dormition with only one spire. I was told that the second spire was cut off by a bomb during the Second World War. At that time I set myself the task to reestablish that spire. And it should be said that in the Austro Hungarian Empire, Orthodox churches did not differ externally from Catholic ones. Only when you enter inside and see the icon screen you can understand that it was an Orthodox church. On the outside there were not cupolas but spires. So, one of the latter was missing.

Several years were spent in courts, and when they were finalized, we, with the help of Lukoil Company managed to build a stone base for the second spire. The further work was carried out already under my successors at the see of Hungary. The lost spire was fully restored; the full repair on the outside was fulfilled and now work is carried out on the interior of the church. It is a very large-scale restoration project. Upon its completion, I hope, the cathedral will appear before parishioners in all its beauty.

Share:
Phone conversation took place between the Primates of Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches

17.11.2024

Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

Address by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill at the VIII World Congress of Compatriots Living Abroad

30.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

Primate of the Russian Church celebrates Divine Liturgy in the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius Lavra on the commemoration day of St. Sergius of Radonezh

09.10.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers and Akathistos hymn to St. Sergius in the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

07.10.2024

Message from the Primate of the Russian Church to His Holiness Patriarch Porfirije of Serbia in connection with blasphemous act on the ruins of ancient Ulpiana

14.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates on the feast of the 300th anniversary of the transfer of relics of St.Alexander Nevsky to St. Petersburg

12.09.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates All-night Vigil at the Christ the Savior Cathedral on the eve of Transfiguration

18.08.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Rus' met with the Ambassador of India to Russia

30.07.2024

Catholicos-Patriarch Mar Awa III: Ukrainian government’s support for schism and persecution of the major canonical Church is a religious pogrom against the faithful Orthodox Christians of that country

24.07.2024

Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church consecrates the Holy Transfiguration Cathedral in the city of Tver.

21.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Liturgy at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius on the commemoration day of the saint

18.07.2024

The Primate of the Russian Church celebrates All-night Vigil at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius

17.07.2024

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill celebrates Little Vespers at the Lavra of the Holy Trinity and St. Sergius and reads akathist to the saint

17.07.2024

Phone conversation took place between the Primates of Russian and Serbian Orthodox Churches

17.11.2024

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with His Holiness Serbian Patriarch Porfirije

17.11.2024

Conference dedicated to centennial of the Holy Trinity Russian church is held in Belgrade

16.11.2024

Delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church takes part in COP29 Summit of Religious Leaders

06.11.2024

DECR chairman concludes his visit to India

03.11.2024

Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk meets with young Indian Christians

02.11.2024

Primate of Malankara Church of India receives Order of Glory and Honour, 1st Class

02.11.2024

DECR chairman takes part in church celebrations in India

02.11.2024

Telephone conversation held between His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and the Primate of the Malankara Church of India

01.11.2024

DECR Chairman has begun his visit to India

31.10.2024

Work of the Commission for Dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church is declared successful

24.10.2024

Synod acknowledges importance of bilateral projects carried out in collaboration with Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church

24.10.2024

Order of Right-Believing Prince Daniel of Moscow presented to Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk by Patriarch Kirill

24.10.2024

DECR Chairman heads celebrations for the fifteenth anniversary of the consecration of the Dormition Church at the Russian embassy in Beijing.

19.10.2024

Saint Petersburg Theological Academy hosts conference on the occasion of the 95th anniversary of metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) entitled ‘The Person of Metropolitan Nikodim in the History of the Church’.

16.10.2024

Metropolitan Hilarion: Many things in a person's life depend on faith

29.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Holy Spirit is the main treasure of the Christian soul

01.08.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: Holiness is a constant striving to imitate the Lord Jesus Christ

27.06.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: God does not want to condemn, but to save us

07.03.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord always grants to us the opportunity to display our talents

24.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: The Lord has imbued the waters of Jordan with his divine presence to wash away human sins

19.01.2021

Metropolitan Hilarion: to repent means to change your way of life

17.01.2021

On commemoration day of St. Catherine, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk officiated at the Church of St. Catherine the Great Martyr In-the-Fields  the representation of the Orthodox Church in America

07.12.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We can always show compassion for people

29.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion celebrates on commemoration day of St. Varlaam of Khutyn at the church of ‘Joy to All the Afflicted’ icon of the Mother of God

19.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: We should remember that the life of each human being is in the hands of God

06.11.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: For God there is nothing impossible

25.10.2020

Metropoplitan Hilarion: The cross which was an instrument of dishonourable execution becomes the symbol of salvation for millions of people

27.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Eucharist is the wedding feast, to which Lord Jesus Christ invites each of us

13.09.2020

Metropolitan Hilarion: Faith alone is not enough for salvation

30.08.2020

Feedback

Fields marked by * are mandatory required

Send a message
Рус Укр Eng Deu Ελλ Fra Ita Бълг ქარ Срп Rom عرب