Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, and trustee of the Seminary, has been appointed to the prestigious position of Chairman of the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission of the Russian Orthodox Church. This decision was made by the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church during the first day of its winter session, October 5, 2011.
The Synodal Theological Commission was established by a decision of the Holy Synod on December 28, 1993; it was renamed the Synodal Biblical and Theological Commission in 2009. The Commission is a permanent working advisory and analytical body of the Holy Synod, responsible for the following tasks:
- to carry out instructions of the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, the Holy Synod, and other church institutions in considering particular theological and doctrinal issues;
- to make theological analyses of topical problems in the life of the Russian Orthodox Church; and
- to coordinate the academic theological work carried out by Synodal departments, dioceses, and other church structures.
Metropolitan Hilarion has worked as member of the Commission since 1996. He holds academic degrees in theology and philosophy from several universities in Russia and other countries, including a Ph.D. from the University of Oxford and a Th.D. from St. Sergius Orthodox Theological Institute in Paris. He has authored more than 700 publications, including monographs on patristics, dogmatic theology, and church history, and has translated patristic works from Greek and Syrian. In 2005, Metropolitan Hilarion was awarded the St. Macarius Prize for his work The Holy Mystery of the Church. An Introduction to the History and Problems of Onomatodoxic Polemics. With St. Vladimir's Seminary Press he has published Christ the Conqueror of Hell: The Descent into Hades from an Orthodox Perspective, and Orthodox Christianity: The History and Canonical Structure of the Orthodox Church.
Our seminary community congratulates His Eminence on his new appointment and wishes him God's strength and wisdom.
Read the fuller story on the Website of the Moscow Patriarchate here.
