‘Vaccination is the Free Choice of Every Person’ – Metropolitan Hilarion (Kapral)

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OCP News Service – 21/09/21

Washington DC- USA: Metropolitan Hilarion of Eastern America and New York, the first hierarch of the Russian Church Abroad and Bishop Nicholas of Manhattan discussed celebrating the 100th anniversary of ROCOR in Serbia, where it was founded. During the discussion, they spoke on the present crisis in the Orthodox Christian world as well as on the COVID-19 vaccine.

Regarding the Covid-19 vaccine, Metropolitan Hilarion stated that “Vaccination is not a new thing, it has existed for a long time, so people should not fear it. For instance, I was vaccinated as were many others. But some are very alarmed by this. In this case, the Church makes no recommendations: we do not advise people to be vaccinated, nor to reject vaccination. This is the free choice of every person”.

Regarding the current situation in the Orthodox world and the possibility of convening a Pan-Orthodox council, Metropolitan Hilarion stated that “Of course that’s a good idea, but the difficulty is the position of the Greek Orthodox Church under the authority of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. They have their own conception of what Orthodox unity means. They think that we should also subject ourselves to them, and that is a big problem for the Local Churches. I would say that the Constantinople Patriarchate meddles in the affairs of others. They are trying to create a sort of “Orthodox papacy,” so that everyone submits to the Ecumenical Patriarch. Bishop Nicholas stated that “Constantinople considers itself the leader of all jurisdictions. But Orthodoxy is first and foremost conciliarity, which must be preserved”.

Read the full text of the discussion here

Excerpts from the discussion are taken from the website of the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.

Source:
OCP News Service