International Orthodox Christian News

Moscow, April 10, Interfax – Head of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Bishop Hilarion of Volokolamsk promises to diversify missionary policy of the Church and forms of church dialogue with youth.

“Today Church and society is in fact one and the same thing. Our church believers go to discos and rock-concerts, and if there’s a chance to give some church tinge to such youth meetings and punches, if young people are glad to hear a few words from a priest, why doesn’t he go there and say these few words?” Bishop Hilarion said on Friday at Interfax press conference.

He reminded that last year in Kiev the acting Primate of the Russian Church preached at the rock concert dedicated to the 1020th anniversary of Russia’s Baptism and then “dozen thousands of people greeted him very enthusiastically.”

“Model of such Patriarch will surely inspire bishops, priests and laymen. This missionary dimension of our church activity will be intensified thanks to His Holiness Kirill’s personality,” the bishop promised.

According to him, “every responsible church worker and priest should have inner feeling that will prompt him where he can go where better not.”

“When we speak about very notion of mission, we mean that we will go and preach, not that people will come to us. We mean that priests should come out from their churches, officials of church departments should step out of their organizations. We should go and meet people, even at the so-called youth hangouts even if it’s not usual to see a man in cassock there,” the Russian Church official said.

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