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AUTHORS/ Alfeyev, Hilarion
His Eminence, the Most Reverend Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, is a hierarch of the Moscow Patriarchate, theologian, church historian, composer, and television presenter. He is also the author of several volumes on dogmatic theology, patristics and church history, numerous articles in various languages, and musical compositions.
BIOGRAPHY
Hilarion Alfeyev was born on July 24, 1966, in Moscow.
From 1972 to 1982 he studied violin, piano, and composition at the Moscow Gnessins School and from 1983 to 1986 at the Moscow State Conservatory.
In January 1987 he entered the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, Lithuania, where he was tonsured as a monk on June 19, ordained adeacon on June 21 and ordained a priest on August 19 of the same year. Until 1991 he served as a parish priest in Lithuania, including two years as dean of Annunciation Cathedral in Kaunas.
In 1989 he graduated by correspondence from the Moscow Theological Seminary and in 1991 from the Moscow Theological Academy, with the degree of Master of Theology.
From 1991 to 1993 he taught Homiletics, Dogmatic Theology, New Testament Studies and Byzantine Greek at the Moscow Theological Academy, St. Tikhon's Orthodox Theological Institute (Moscow, Russia), and St. John the Theologian's Orthodox University.
From 1993 to 1995 he studied at Oxford University (UK) under the supervision of Bishop Kallistos Ware. In 1995 he completed his doctoral thesis on St Symeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
From 1995 to 2001 Hilarion Alfeyev served as Secretary for Inter-Christian Affairs of the Department for External Church Relations of theMoscow Patriarchate. He also taught part-time at Smolensk and Kaluga Theological Seminaries (Russia), at St Vladimir's and St Herman'sTheological Seminaries (USA) and at Cambridge University (UK).
On December 27, 2001, he was elected bishop and on January 14, 2002, consecrated by His Holiness Alexy II, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia, and 10 other hierarchs. He served as an Assistant Bishop of the Diocese of Sourozh in Great Britain until his nomination, on July 17, 2002, as Head Representative of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Union in Brussels, Belgium.
On May 7, 2003, he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria, administrator of the Diocese of Budapest and Hungary, in addition to his position in Brussels, which he continues to hold.
Bishop Hilarion is author of more than 500 publications, including four volumes in English: St Symeon the New Theologian and Orthodox Tradition (Oxford University Press, 2000), The Spiritual World of Isaac the Syrian (Cistercian Publications, Kalamazoo, MI, 2000), The Mystery of Faith: Introduction into the Teaching and Spirituality of the Orthodox Church (Darton, Longman and Todd, 2002), and Orthodox Witness Today (WCC Publications, 2006).
Apart from his doctoral degree in philosophy from Oxford, Bishop Hilarion also holds a doctorate in theology from St Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris, which was awarded to him in 1999. In February 2005 he was elected a Privat-Dozent of the University of Fribourg (Switzerland).
Bishop Hilarion is a member of the Executive and Central Committees of the World Council of Churches, of the Presidium of 'Faith and Order' Commission, as well as of numerous bilateral theological dialogues. In 1998 he headed the five-member Moscow Patriarchate's delegation to the eighth WCC Assembly in Harare, and in February 2006 he headed the Moscow Patriarchate's 21-member delegation to the ninth assembly in Porto-Alegre.
Bishop Hilarion is a permanent member of the Joint International Commissions for the Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Churchand the Roman Catholic Church, between the Orthodox Church and the Anglican Church, between the Orthodox Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.
On March 31, 2009 he was appointed the Bishop of Volokolamsk, the Vicar to the Patriarch of Moscow, the chairman of the Department of the External Church Relations (the position previously held by Patr. Kirill himself), and a permanent member of the Holy Synod ex officio.
On Pascha Monday, 2009, he was raised to the rank of archbishop by Patriarch Kirill during the Divine Liturgy in Dormition Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.
In November 2009, Abp. Hilarion was named to the Board of Trustees of St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, New York.
On February 1, 2010, he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan by Patr. Kirill.
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