Archbishop Hilarion Kapral of Sydney, the new primate of the ROCOR
New York, 12 May 2008 (Interfax):
Archbishop Hilarion (Kapral) of Sydney, Australia, and New Zealand was elected the new primate of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (ROCOR), Archpriest Nikolai Balashov, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations told Interfax-Religion. The election took place during a session of the ROCOR’s Archbishop’s Council in New York. Archbishop Hilarion became acting Chairman of the ROCOR Holy Synod after the death of ROCOR primate Metropolitan Laurus of New York and Eastern America, and was seen as his likeliest successor. Under the new order, his candidacy requires the approval of Patriarch Aleksei II of Moscow and all Russia.
Archbishop Hilarion (Igor Kapral) was born on 6 January 1948, in Canada. In 1972, he graduated from Holy Trinity Seminary in Jordanville. In December 1974, he was tonsured as a Riassofor monk with the name of Hilarion. In December 1975, he was ordained to the deaconate. In 1976, he became a hierodeacon. The following year, he graduated from Syracuse University with a master’s degree in Slavic Studies and Russian Literature and was ordained to the priesthood. In December 1984, at the age of 36, Father Hilarion was appointed bishop of Manhattan. In June 1996, he was transferred to the diocese of Australia and New Zealand and raised to the rank of archbishop. In 2006, he was elected first deputy chairman of ROCOR’s Synod.
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=24403 (in Russian)
Editor’s Note:
This was posted by Interfax at 21.17 MDT (13.17 EDT). It is 13.45 EDT now, and it is not up on the ROCOR website. In short, a Russian source thousands of miles away had a prepared statement ready, whilst the local sources did not. It is sad that we must get our information from a source far removed from New York. This, perhaps, indicates that there is a bit of work needed to be done on the efficiency of the administration. God willing, the new metropolitan can do so.
As of 6:00 pm, May 12, it was up on the ROCOR website. I would suppose that Father Peter Perekrestov, who (I think) maintains the website, might have had a slight delay in being able to get to his computer to put it up. But it’s there now.
Actually, the news was up on the ROCOR website by early afternoon. It must be understood, that the election of the First Hierarch will now be immediately communicated with Russia. Further, the Russian press were right there, in wait at the Synod, and Archbishop Kyrill and Bishop Peter, right after the voting was complete, came out and officially declared Metropolitan Hilarion as the new Primate. Outside of the ROCOR website, North American news services were not present. The individuals responsible for putting up all this information are understandably very busy; this news was posted in a timely manner. This day marks the end of a painful time of mourning; lets us not sully it with such comments.
Andrew!
I disagree with you! The website, apparently, is run by a priest who is a rector of a parish. This is a bad move by the bishops in today’s world (the bishops are not always right, and it is our task as laity to point this up, if necessary). If a man is a priest, his FIRST priority is pastoring, obviously. The website should be run by one of the laity with a journlistic bent assisted by a friendly geek.
This is not the editor’s first faux pas. The site is slow in getting up news, and in the case of the Unity Service in New York, it did not get out the news or publish images at all. With modern technology, we could have such things out in MINUTES, let alone hours. I would say all the above to Vladyki Hilarion, it is nothing to be ashamed of, for it is the simple truth.
In some areas, the roles of the laity and clergy have become confused. Fr Vsevolod Chaplin recently spoke against laity usurping some roles of the clergy. He is right. Conversely, there are some things that the laity should be doing, but, clergy have taken them over. Let the clergy be pastors, and let the laity take care of the “secular” needs of the Church. We need a vigorous discussion on this, and this is another thing that Fr Vsevolod called for as well.
I was told that Fr Peter Perekrestov is in chage of the website. He is a busy pastor, so, the editing of the website should be put in the hands of one of the laity (this is no criticism of Fr Peter, he simply lacks the time to do a competent job). Let our priests “priest”, let our bishops “bishop”, and let the laity take care of the other stuff. We all shall be better off if we do so.
Vara
Dear Meg and Varvara,
Christ is risen!
I was the editor and webmaster of the official site of the Russian Church Abroad from 2002-2003. Since 2003 the editors of the site have been Archpriests Alexander Lebedev and Serafim Gan.
I am currently webmaster of the Western American Diocese site: http://www.wadiocese.com.
Sincerely,
Archpriest Peter Perekrestov
Father!
I hope you understand that my argument is not personal in any way. You (or the other two clergy mentioned) are too busy with your legitimate pastoral duties to do this work justice. I believe I have the right to say so. It is the only way that we move forward, as Fr Vsevolod Chaplin noted recently.
Vara