At the same time, the Russian Orthodox Church remained open to contacts with the North American confessions which have stayed faithful to the traditions of our dialogue and which are firmly committed to biblical morality, in particular, with the Anglican Church in North America, as it has separated itself from the Episcopal Church because the Episcopal Church consecrated a practicing homosexual.

"The theme of morality may become one of the most important in our cooperation. In today's pluralistic world, the processes of liberalization have swept over some Christian communities. Many churches have diverted from biblical teaching too far in this respect, even if this attitude is not endorsed by the majority of these communities' members.

"The Russian Orthodox Church consistently states that for her any double standards with regard to Christian ethics or any experiments with the ethical component of our faith are unacceptable.

"The so-called 'liberal theology' clearly conflicts with the apostolic heritage. First of all, it concerns the introduction of the practice of prayer for so-called 'same-sex couples', even if such a prayer is not formally equated with the celebration of marriage, which in the Church's view can be concluded only between a man and a woman.

"Liberal Christians have often maintained that society needs to preserve stability. However, what stability can be preserved by 'blessing' a sin? The Church has always been called to proclaim the truth of Christ and condemn sin, even in defiance of the demands of the society and 'the powers that be'.

The bishop asked, "Did Christ try to adapt His message to the standards of this world? Did He promise the apostles stability and comfort? Did he promise them that their preaching would be a success? Let us listen to what He says to the apostles, when he sends them out to preach: 'I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved'." (Mt. 10:16-22)

The Russian Prelate ripped today's liberal Christians who seek to adapt the Church to the standards of this world, to make it tolerant, not towards people, not towards sinners, but towards sin. "Sin is elevated to the dignity of a norm and to this end even the words of Jesus and His apostles are rewritten and re-interpreted."

Bishop Hilarion said the Church should not refuse to help sinners. "Christians are obliged to pray for all sinners and to wish them salvation. The Church should treat any individual with pastoral responsibility regardless of his or her sexual orientation. But the Church cannot bless a vice. She cannot reform the norm of faith as sealed in the holy Gospel and the letters of the apostles."

ABORTION

Hilarion blasted the legalization of abortion and said a consolidated Christian witness was needed to oppose what he called the killing of babies in the mother's womb.

"Today, we see an increasing number of pretexts offered to justify the killing of babies. The motivation varies, but it all lies on the practical plane and considers the needs of potential parents alone, ignoring the right of a child to be born.

"To struggle with this evil, churches should testify for all to hear that abortion is killing, that a human life has value since the moment of its conception to the moment of its natural death." Hilarion said it is necessary to maintain more active cooperation with legislatures to avoid the adoption of such laws. "It is extremely important to carry out educational work by explaining to young couples elementary notions of the responsibility of spouses for their marital union."

Hilarion said the problem lay in the context of a broader problem of the correlation between human rights and a person's responsibility for his or her actions before his neighbors and the whole of society.

"Today a special accent is placed on the rights and freedoms of the individual, without taking into account the interests of society. Priority is given to various minorities, which often behave very aggressively and defiantly towards the absolute majority."

The Russian theologian said numerous gay parades have swept over European cities. "We are dealing not merely with the propaganda of non-traditional sexual orientation. We are rather dealing with its proud demonstration, its showing off and imposition on society. The states that seek to enter the European Union are required today to hold gay parades as a permit for obtaining the status of candidate. What kind of society do we live in? What kind of society will we leave to our posterity?

"Today we, Christians of various confessions, should unite around the very simple common human values which are subjected to mockery and profanation against the background of wild manifestation of all kinds of 'non-traditional' models of behavior: to defend marriage as union of a man and a woman, to defend the right of a child to be born, to defend the right of the aged to die a natural death rather than from a lethal injection administered by a doctor, to defend the right of doctors to refuse to administer abortion or euthanasia for moral considerations."

Hilarion said the sphere of morality is a wide field for common action for Christian confessions which remain committed to the teaching of Christ expressed in Holy Scripture. "Our common pastoral task is to advocate the Christian identity of man.

"I am aware of the long and intensive discussion held on these issues in the Protestant milieu in the United States. A considerable number of American Christians and quite a number of churches firmly adhere to biblical morality. The Moscow Patriarchate is prepared to broadly cooperate with these communities."

MIDDLE EAST GENOCIDE

The bishop ripped the consequences of the so-called 'Arab Spring', which, he said, has led to the real genocide of Christians in the Middle East and North Africa.

"Today, there are almost no Christians left in Libya. The Christian community in Iraq has decreased in number many times. A terrible tragedy is suffered by our brothers in faith in Syria. The Coptic community in Egypt has decreased in number. The very survival of Christianity is threatened in quite a number of countries in the Middle East -- the cradle of Christianity.

END