The Moscow Patriarchate intends to strengthen the position of Orthodoxy in China, according to Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations (DECR).
"We're holding a rather difficult dialogue to normalize the position of the Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church. There have been periods of flourishing and decay in its history, while today much has been destroyed, but something as still survived," said Metropolitan Hilarion, as he visited the Khabarovsk Theological Seminary.
Metropolitan Hilarion said that the Russian Church has worked with Chinese leaders to open churches that had been closed and to fill already opened churches "with the words of prayer so that our compatriots and Chinese citizens can freely live their religious life."
"The Far East is a special territory – it is Russia's eastern lookout post on the border with the other great state. You should know your neighbour well – his culture, people and language," the hierarch told seminarians, expressing hope that they will be enlighteners of those Chinese who strive to learn more about the Orthodox faith when staying in Russia.
Metropolitan Ignaty of Khabarovsk and the Amur Region told Metropolitan Hilarion that a new branch has been set up in the seminary to train specialists on the Chinese language and culture, and asked for help in this undertaking. Metropolitan Hilarion also met with the head of the Khabarovsk Territory Vyacheslav Shport, who reminded him that when Patriarch Kirill was a metropolitan he participated in the church life of the city, for instance, in taking the decision where to build the Transfiguration Cathedral. The Governor conveyed an official invitation to the Primate to visit the region.
Metropolitan Hilarion has now left Khbarovsk for Beijing.