One week before officially assuming office, the incoming Secretary General of the world Evangelical Alliance, Bishop Thomas Schirrmacher, paid his first inaugural visit to global churches to the Russian Orthodox Church by zooming with Metropolitan Hilarion Alfejew representing the Russian Orthodox Patriarch, who was ill. The Metropolitan was accompanied by his senior staff responsible for the relationship of the ROC with other global churches. Schirrmacher was accompanied by the Ambassador of WEA to the ROC, Vitaly Vlasenko. Schirrmacher and Alfejew have met many times over the years in Moscow, Washington, Baku, and several times in Rome.
Hilarion Alfejew (* 1966) is the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of the city of Volokolamsk. He is head of the Foreign Office of the Patriarchate of Moscow and is a permanent member of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Moscow. From 2003 to 2009 Alfejew was Bishop of Vienna and Austria. In 1987 Alfeev was ordained a priest, in 1989 he graduated from the Theological Seminary in Moscow and in 1991 from the Moscow Theological Academy. In 1995, Alfejew received his doctorate in philosophy from Oxford University. In 2005 he completed his habilitation at the University of Freiburg and received the Venia Legendi. In 2010 he was raised to the rank of Metropolitan. The Metropolitan is a member of the Central Committee and the Executive Committee of the World Council of Churches and serves on the presidium of the Faith and Order Commission.
See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hilarion_(Alfeyev)
