"The next synod may not survive"

After the investigation of the New Evrope about Hilarion, journalists expect him to be deprived of the dignity, and the diocese is in defense of the metropolitan

A week ago, Novyevropa published material on how Metropolitan Hilarion received a Hungarian passport, took possession of a foreign estate and, possibly, harassed his cell. Some during this time came in support of Hilarion, while others already suggest that he could be deprived of a dignity.

Novyevropa talks about the main consequences of the publication.

Briefly - about the investigation. What became known from him?

On July 5, the New Gazeta Europe published a material in which 18-year-old Kelenik Georgy Suzuki said that he was harassed by Metropolitan Ilarion Alfeev.

Since 2009, Hilarion worked as chairman of the department of external relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, he was even considered a potential successor to Patriarch Kirill. In June 2022, he was dismissed and appointed manager of the Budapest-Hungarian diocese, Metropolitan Budapest and Hungarian. After that, Alfeev suggested Suzuki to become his assistant, in October 2022, the young man moved to Budapest.

Suzuki told Novy-Europe that a few weeks later Hilarion invited him to move to his apartment to help housekeeping. Then the Metropolitan took the cell to the cottage in France, where Suzuki fell ill. According to the young man, during the next attack of the heat Hilarion, George section to panties and lay down in the bed to warm. After returning to Hungary, the Metropolitan regularly came to the young man in the evenings, and then often slept with him, but it did not reach the sexual act directly.

According to Suzuki, he was under constant psychological pressure, and in September 2023, when he tried to express dissatisfaction, he began to receive a threat from Hilarion. Since then, George regularly recorded conversations with the metropolitan. He later shared his records from the New Evrop.

In January 2024, Suzuki told Hilarion that he was going to take a blood test in Budapest, and he flew to Japan. Before leaving, he stole 30 thousand euros and watches from the Metropolitan. In Hungary, a criminal case was opened against Suzuki.

Hilarion himself, in a conversation with the New Evrop, called the accusations groundless and promised to file a lawsuit against the slander. He also claims that the mother of Suzuki Veronica blackmail him and demanded 384 thousand euros.

How priests protect Hilarion

The Budapest and Hungarian dioceses of the Moscow Patriarchate rejected the accusations against Hilarion.

“All these actions, except that they are illegal and immoral, are also behind a certain line, for which it is considered indecent to cross in a civilized society. The accusations of sexual harassment, made by the Suzuki, are so incoherent and unconvincing that it is difficult to believe in them, ” said Archpriest Nikolai Kim, spokeswoman for the Budapest and Hungarian diocese.

He stated that the conversations were recorded “illegally”, and emphasized that their authenticity can be proved only through an “examination within the court”.

All clergy of the Hungarian diocese signed an open letter in support of their lord. In the appeal of more than 15 priests, archpriests and deacons “encouraged by their Christian conscience” they spoke about the “purity of life and high moral appearance” by Hilarion and asked all reasonable and good people not to succumb to lies and provocations.

The priests accused the “new-Europe” of the “custom character” of the publication, but did not give any evidence in favor of their version. They only suggested that the material allegedly “not accidentally appeared” on the day the Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban to Moscow was arrived. These two events have nothing to do with each other.

Four days after the publication of Novo-Europe, RIA Novosti published an interview with Hilarion. In it, he told his version of events, and also stated that a consequence is conducted in relation to Suzuki not only on the fact of the theft, but also in connection with the use of a fake document, obtaining unauthorized access to personal data, illegal distribution of personal data, as well as storage of children's pornography. He also claims that an investigation is underway against the mother of Suzuki.

“Who is a criminal and who are victims in this story? <...> Six months after the theft and flight, it suddenly turns out that the criminal was a victim? Why did he not immediately declare to the police if he was undergoing harassment? Why wait six months? And why was it to steal things and money from a bishop's apartment? " - Metropolitan publicly asked questions.

Suzuki-Leaks

Hungarian neighbors of Hilarion confirmed to reporters that large parties and barbecue were satisfied in his mansion, women came there, and there was an “Asian boy who went to the steep Maserati”. He, as one of the eyewitnesses said, has not been seen for a long time.

Deacon Andrei Kuraev, after the publication of the investigation, said that a special “gay-agency” blossomed in the Russian Orthodox Church with reliance on the apocryphal gospels. According to him, "pederasty or homosexuality is considered commendable, and the connection with the woman as a lower being is perhaps the greatest sin."

“In Larik, this was barely noticeable when he translated into Russian dubious places from the life of Simeon of the reverent,” Kuraev said .

In general, the deacon hinted at the scandal around Halarion, associated with sexualized violence, long before the investigation.

Anatoly Stepanov, editor of the Russian People's Line Orthodox Farlery, believes that the 57-year-old Metropolitan Hilarion is not worth excluding “reckoning in peace”. The author of the telegram channel “Orthodoxy and zombies” about the church life of Ksenia Luchenko, citing aware sources, said that “Patriarch Kirill is furious”. She said that she “listened to the audio recordings“ Suzuki-LEAKS ”and suggests that the next Synod Metropolitan Hilarion may not survive in the last dignity.