the terms of their republic dictated to them by other people. outside entities. not just governments but corporations what do you encourage. those that want to help to do if you really want to involve yourself in it. then teach them that you know i mean if you're a doctor go down. work in a clinic don't understate if you're an ordinary average citizen find a grassroots organization that is actually physically doing things on the ground. rather than just mailing fifty dollars to the red cross twenty dollars of which is actually going to go to the asian people. and i think that more than anything else . what i learned. from my trip. was that. humanity when confronted with some of the most drastic and devastating. of tragedies that can possibly befall them

still has the capacity for resilience that. touch of the soul. for you the latest news from around the world and russia this is. the future

in football. five years after the removal of israeli settlers from. the west bank. as part of a peace deal with palestinians. a summer of extreme. heat wave. russia. which have already hit. next we look at all of the orthodox church in modern russia today interview show spotlight is chairman of the church's external relations department. he's with.

every month we give you the future. and around the world. more news today. these are the images. of. the day.

again i walk into a spotlight i've been through a show i take tylenol you know and today my guest on the show is metropolitan polarity june twelfth as one of the main dates in the history of new rochelle three from the covers to it almost twenty years after the collapse of the soviet union the russians are still looking for they new prey density is a change in what and one of the main goals here below the russian orthodox church what exactly is the church doing today to help the russians change the country and is it changing itself. and to the question my guest on the show is the chairman of the external relations department in the russian orthodox church. metropolitan hilarion is one of the most high profile figures in the modern russian orthodox church he started serving in masses when he was fifteen and later left musical

college to become a monk metropolitan hilarion has a ph d. from oxford university and lectures at top theological colleges but despite being progressive the department hilarion respects the traditions of the russian orthodox church he believes they provide continue to people's identity a thing been craving so how can the russian orthodox church help its people realize who they are metropolitan hilarion is here to give his views on this edition of spotlight. thank you very much for being with us on the show. first of all i would like to ask you. the twelfth of june is one of the national holidays of russia all the day of russia it's not the only holiday in this country russia seems to be. be looking for its identity for its new identity as the new state needs as a new rich today what's the role of the church in this process today of finding for

this for this new ideas new identity. throughout the history of russia the role of the church has been formative and it is impossible to think about russian history with can see during the influence that the church exercised on all segments of the russian society. the church was suppressed and persecuted during the soviet totalitarian regime but it. was. a reason from so that it was never there of course but it was. the collapse of the soviet union and it is can see there was by many people in russia as one of the strongest or perhaps this strongest moral and

spiritual force. after the collapse of the syria union in the soviet ideology that went together the soviet union many are talking about the moral decay in the country the other is on the contrary are talking about religious renaissance what would you say what is what is right what's happening with the morale today both sides right to a certain extent because we definitely see a considerable moral decay we see of the degree of spiritual values or moral failures which for centuries constitute the basis of human existence for example the. of the traditional idea of the family. based on mutual trust on the love between a man and

a woman. on mutual feedin it's the spouses also. bringing up many children which is no longer popular. and instead of traditional image of the family. various sexual deviations are propagated by the must media and unfortunately many people. take this. power a little too as the as we see considerable revival of religious life. we see that many people including young people come to the church we see that. for example. more than eight hundred new monasteries

and each of them is filled with monks and nuns and this is during that time which many in the west call. in the book and mania churches in the west complain about the shorter cheerful kitchens we do not complain about the shortest shortage of occasions because very mania young people come to the church and become priests. your eminence. christianity orthodox christianity has long been the main religion and sometimes even the official state religion in russia but today there are lots of religions that are existent in the country but are thought of christianity is still the most popular the biggest religion here while the president of this country the prime minister go to an orthodox church do you have privileges the orthodox church there is a pair of any privileges at all in the country we don't have any approval which is

with regards to the law for example we are sure officially and not officially we. have equal status to a religion of course there is the law on the freedom of conscience which mentions orthodox christianity islam buddhism judaism and christianity in general as traditional religions but this is mentioned in the preamble and nowhere else in the text of the war any preference is given to any of this religions. and of course we can see that being the church. as the maturity of the population the russian orthodox church has a very strong influence perhaps we can say that it is not comparable to the influence of has a really chins we also see is that a page or

a coup of moscow and over it is regarded that not only as the chief priests of orthodox clergy but also as in their way as a spiritual leader of the entire nation and many people who belong to other religions including religious leaders. are. in constant dialogue with him and very often he convenes he can vokes. meetings of. representatives of different religions in order to come to a common position so the church also. plays a very strong unifying growth in our society for a long time you have worked in vienna and europe as. nasser sort of of the russian orthodox church can you compare the the the influence of church

as an institution on the part of the on the public opinion on the country and held in here in russia because people say that in russia it is greater is it i think it is greater and russia. of course in the europe there are countries like austria for example where the catholic church is the church of the majority of people where it is indeed quite influential on that and very often catholic leaders i'm not speaking about the pope i am speaking about local leaders of local catholic communities they are very often in my opinion too shy and they do not there to speak on political issues on social issues they somehow. except the point of view according to which churches should be dealing exclusively with religious and church issues we on the contrary believe

that the church should be fair meant for the entire society and that the church can speak about many issues not only religious or so logical but also social and related to human life and we believe that the church should play important social role and this is what we see in our country should the church criticize acting politicians would that be considered as an interference into politics it can and should criticize political if they for example call to immoral acts or if they. propagate views which are unacceptable from the george point of view and you don't consider it to be or the state doesn't consider to be interference into state the slide into politics well

politics has to do with human life and as long as it touches human lives the church should be concerned politics is not something completely ho thomas and is not only for political. the church is not only for the church people obviously and politics is not only for the political and so it's for the people so very often the interests of the politicians and of the church people somehow. coincide and therefore. it is impossible to speak about interference if for example the church expresses its or opinion on a certain political issue. the russian orthodox church has been criticized a lot including by the church people from the inside for being too close to the

state you know what i mean how do you replied to those critics well i think. the current situation. is very favorable to the work with the state because the city ation which we have now is a unique for history. for seventy years of the communist regime the church was persecuted and there was no dialogue with the secular. powers at all before that before the revolution for more than two hundred years the church was a part of the state organism and therefore it was not free it was it was linked to closely with the state. what we see now is on the one hand a complete separation of the church from the state and mutual non interference into each other's affairs so for example the church is free to elect its patriarchy its

bishops nobody from outside would influence these internal processes. and vice versa the politicians do their job the church may criticize them or may give them advice but they are doing what they're doing. with the state authorities in the russian federation we have now is very close collaboration on many issues without i repeat without interfering into each other's affairs. for example such issues as the demographic craze. it's it is impossible to deal with it. exclusively on the core political point of view or exclusively from the religious point of view here we have to join our forces and say this and many other similar areas are precisely those where the church and the state can and should

collaborate says mitchell poets and. we will continue our interview with the head of the external relations department of the russian orthodox church paul to a short break so stay with it does that. send up to fill in the military. because i thought that it was my duty that it was something that i could do to help my country i believe my government that is necessary for americans to feel. there was a lot of drug abuse the lot of the murder of american officers and soldiers there were a lot of. the problems by. the school the war i always

thought i wanted to win a lot of medals and to sound a lot of decorations but afterwards i realize that they don't mean anything. that importance. i don't i don't i never kept the medal. for the full story we've gone to and from. the biggest issues get a human voice face to face with the news makers. welcome back to spotlight are we at all then. just a reminder that today our guest is metropolitan hilarion the chairman of the external relations department in the russian orthodox church your eminence you have told us. quite a lot of interesting things about the relations of the states with the church about

the position the situation in which we find the russian orthodox church today in modern world in what or russia but even in modern russia today while the people i want to repeat still continue searching russians searching for their identity change will many people try to look for it in the past in the immoderately in the tradition of russia and there are a lot of people who believe that monarchy is what would be best for the church well what i wanted to ask you what's the what's the attitude of the orthodox church towards that and is the orthodox church. compatible with democracy it's not very democratic institution is it well first of all i don't things that there are so many people who would be a nostalgic for the monarchy and who would call for restoration of the monarchy.

secondly i would like to say that tradition and the past the are two different things. when we speak about the past it is something which we should not normally repeat when we speak of tradition for the. religious people it's a very important notion and it is what i would say tradition with a capital t. which means continued c. which means unbroken line of. experience of spiritual experience of moral values. are transmitted from one generation to another and this is in their ways a foundation on which the church stands and it is also the foundation on which human life. existed for centuries and for millenia.

therefore the church is always traditional which doesn't mean that it should be looking at the past. the in traditional means being rooted in the experience of previous generations of our fathers and mothers of our grandparents. you are asking whether the church is a democrat a democratic organism well it's difficult to say what i am going to say it's it's not our democratic party right i feel it is yes well i think to a certain degree it's very democratic because first of all. the very fact that someone is a member of the church is a matter of his or her own free choice therefore nobody is actually compelled not always i was baptized when i was too small to make a choice here as well you were also feared by milk and by. products when

you didn't make any choice this was a church choice of your parents it would be rather stupid to expect from the child that he should ask for food. before food is given to him so you were but you grew up you became a grown up person and then you. choose you are not obliged to stay in the church you are not obliged to obey the rules of course we. will see this and as above taste personally you will always be considered a member of the church even if you refuse to be such but when you return or if you return you will not be again. was there any harm done to you by your being booked i don't think so. human. in the changing world does have to change

does it have to fall. the tendency is the russian orthodox church is one of the most orthodox institutions in the world anyway well it's their lives according to the old calendar it's still speaks in cherish in the old slavic language which is known in the inexistent so. the word change what does it mean mean for you is it exist in the dialogue between yourselves yes well there are things in the church which are not changeable and there are many things which are changing the unchangeable things for example the doctrine which we cannot change we cannot modify because this is what we receive from service we believe that it is a divine truth which was revealed to us therefore unchanged will be the face and the holy trinity in the jesus christ as a golden savior unchanged are many moral norms related to religious life

but there are many changeable things like the customs for example a certain local traditions it was a question of the literature co-lead which it's a very disputable quick quick question the. level in the. language or the church slavonic language which we are using today is not at all the same language as was used. for this is eleven years ago therefore iran this language is developing and the life of the church is that. there are many parts of the russian orthodox church which do not speak the russian or church slow or nick they celebrate services in the mall there or. in glacier or whatever other language. may exist in a place where the church exists so all this things are changeable and they are and

letter of discussion was in the church there are people who are. people who call for the use of their neck you are russian in the literature go service there are many people who say that it is in the book there is an ongoing discussion which will definitely bring some results. you spent a lot of time working and preaching in europe. your. boss the head of the russian orthodox church the patriarch used to be. the head of the foreign relations department of the church so the church today the russian orthodox church many feel that it's turning towards europe is becoming more open to to. corporation with a european country one of the questions that all the christians around the world

are asking is the pope ever coming to visit russia do you think this will happen in your lifetime well the first question which we should pose is the pope and the patriarch of moscow will meet. or in some other place. i think this meeting will take place but we are not ready to speak. or work asian or the timing of such meeting because it has to be prepared and not only from the point of view of the protocol and their gender. there are some issues which have to be solved before this meeting takes place there is the issue of the reservoir office still as are difficult situation in western ukraine the situation which we inherited from the. one nine hundred ninety s. but of course the history is much longer. there are many other

difficulties which we have to discuss before. we. embark on the preparation of such a meeting and therefore as soon as we reach some kind of agreement on this crucial issues we'll start preparing this meeting. when people ask me how different the russians are from from the europeans from other people on the planet how you usually see that russia russia is a different universe is really a different universe on the planet but if we speak about civilizations which is slightly different what would you say is russia part of any civilization east to west whatever or is it a different civilization with a different religion or with a different set of ideas and beliefs well russia is multi-ethnic multi-lingual multicultural. multi-religious and

as such it cannot be a part of only one civilization i believe the trash is an integral part of the european civilization well as other hand russia is also an integral part of the asian civilization and mania. ethnic groups who live and russia they would actually consider themselves being closer to asian density then to the european they dance it's. the russian federation as it exists now of course is a european country i am not speaking the. membership in the european union i am speaking about some kind of cultural identity which was somehow ingrained in the russian soul from the very beginning but which received its impetus especially after the reforms or after the reforms of peter the great patriot thank

you very much for being with us in just a reminder that my guest on the show today was a metropolitan area. chairman of the foreign relations department in the russian orthodox church and that's it for now from all of us here and if you want to have your say on spotlight you can always drop me a line a cauldron of god for you and let's keep the show interacts moved back with more first time comments on what's going on in and outside russia stay in our teeth and take it. personally thank you rick.