Bishop Hilarion demurs

This is quite a surprising event, but after reading his reasoning, His Grace makes quite a bit of sense. The lines "dividing" the OCA from ROCOR would be blurred and the uneven acceptance of the OCA's autocephaly would not be aided by this elevation. Lots to report on as the financial fallout and organizational changes will be faced at the upcoming council.

Moscow, November 7, (Interfax) - Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Church in European International Organizations, addressed the OCA's All-American Council asking not to be nominated as a candidate for the position of the OCA primate.

"I must declare clearly that I will not accept to be nominated as a candidate for this position," Bishop Hilarion states in his open letter published by the OCA official website.

In recent weeks OCA priests conducted several open campaigns for electing Bishop Hilarion as the OCA primate. Bishop Hilarion himself received letters and phone calls asking for permission to nominate him for the position, and he feels grateful "for this unexpected outpouring of love and appreciation" and trust of so many Orthodox Americans.

At the same time, Bishop Hilarion declares several reasons for his decision not to accept his election. First of all, according to him, "the OCA must be headed by an American."

"If a Russian bishop is elected to be its primate, it might be interpreted as an implicit denial of its autocephalous status," Bishop Hilarion believes.
Secondly, according to Bishop Hilarion, it would be extremely "difficult for a Russian bishop to act freely" at this position, because the opposition to him will be formed before he arrives, "simply on the basis of his being Russian and not American." "He will be regarded as a "hand of Moscow" and his actions will be constantly and deliberately misinterpreted," Bishop Hilarion writes.

Finally, Bishop Hilarion notices that, when discussing this topic with him, His Holiness Patriarch Alexy of Moscow expressed his clear wish that he continue his service to the Russian Church as one of its bishops.

The hierarch states: "I received the Orthodox faith through the Russian Orthodox Church. She is my spiritual mother, whom I love deeply and wholeheartedly. At the age of twenty I received monastic tonsure and since then have been fully obedient to my Church, to its Patriarch and the Holy Synod. My life is in the hands of His Holiness and I will never accept any proposal concerning my service without his prior consent."

Bishop Hilarion also notes that he believed that the discussion around his name would die out, but it had intensified as the All-American Council was approaching, and the Bishop considered it important to make this statement "so that its participants should not waste their precious time" discussing his candidacy.

The All-American Council, which will elect the new primate of the OCA to succeed the retire Metropolitan Herman, will open on Monday in Pittsburg.