Metropolitan Hilarion: The meeting of the patriarch and dad, if it occurs, is on neutral territory

The Russian Orthodox Church once again stated that it was too early to talk about the specific dates of the meeting of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Cyril and the Pope Benedict XVI . This was said by the chairman of the department of external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate (MPC MP) Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk.

“This prospect is real, but, as we said before, we are not so much interested in the fact of this meeting as its content. It makes sense only if it means a real and radical improvement of our relations,” the Izvestia newspaper said, the Interfax -religion portal said.

According to him, if such a meeting occurs, then it will probably take place "on neutral territory."

The meeting of the patriarch and dad needs to carefully prepare “not only and not so much from the point of view of the protocol as from the point of view of finding a common position on the issues that we are shared today,” the head of the MP Air Force emphasized, adding that the situation in Western Ukraine remains the main obstacle to the meeting.

“In this region, peace and harmony between Orthodox and Greek Catholics have not yet been reached. This topic has been raised many times, but we still do not see a change in the situation,” said Metropolitan Hilarion.

He expressed the hope that there would be a positive dynamics in resolving this issue in connection with the election of the new head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church of the Archbishop Svyatoslav (Shevchuk).

“I hope to meet him in the foreseeable future. Archbishop Svyatoslav had already met with the Primate of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate Metropolitan, Kiev Vladimir (Sabodan) and expressed his readiness for dialogue with the Orthodox Church,” said Metropolitan Ilarion.