Metropolitan Hilarion calls for an Alliance between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in Europe

MOSCOW, MARCH 1, 2011 thanks to Zenit.org.

Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev is emphasizing the need to ally with Catholics and Protestants to support common Christian values.

The chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department of External Church Relations noted that "today there is a bad need for a 'strategic alliance' between Orthodox believers and Catholics, members of the ancient eastern Churches, traditional Protestants, that is to say all those who defend true Christian values -- the family, children's upbringing, indissolubility of marriage, the value of human life from inception until death," Interfax reported Monday.

He noted that these values are being "totally reviewed, and we must oppose this. "Otherwise," the Orthodox leader said, "both Russia and the Christian civilization in general will over [not so much] time lose their 'salt,' lose their image and remain just a subject of study for historians and archeologists." 

As a solution to these problems, he underlined an initiative by Patriarch Kirill that aims to fight abortion, support families with many children, help orphans and pass new legislation to protect families and youth.