Hilarion Alfeyev

Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev was born on July 24, 1966, in Moscow. He attended a music school and the Moscow Music Academy. From 1984 to 1986, he fulfilled his military service in the Russian army. In 1987, he became a monk and was ordained as a Hierodeacon and Hieromonk. From 1987 to 1991, he studied at the Theological Seminary and the Theological Academy of Moscow, where he was appointed as a professor upon completing his studies in 1991. From 1993 to 1995, he pursued postgraduate studies at the University of Oxford, where he earned his doctorate with a dissertation on "St. Symeon the New Theologian and the Orthodox Tradition." Upon returning to Moscow in 1995, he was appointed assistant to Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk in the Department of External Church Relations of the Russian Church. In 1999, he became a Doctor of the Orthodox Theological Institute of St. Sergius in Paris, submitting a dissertation on "The Life and Teachings of St. Gregory the Theologian." On December 27, 2001, he was elected Bishop by the Patriarchal Synod of the Russian Church and was consecrated on January 14, 2002, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. On July 17, 2002, he assumed the role of representative of the Moscow Patriarchate in Brussels, and on May 7, 2003, he was appointed Bishop of Vienna and Austria. On March 31, 2009, by decision of the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and the Holy Synod, Bishop Hilarion was relieved from the administration of the diocese of Vienna, Austria, and Hungary and was appointed Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and a permanent member of the Holy Synod with the title of Bishop of Volokolamsk. On April 9, 2009, he was appointed Rector of the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Joy of All Who Sorrow" on Bolshaya Ordynka Street in Moscow. On April 20, 2009, at the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin, he was elevated to the rank of Archbishop by the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill. On February 1, 2010, at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, he was elevated to Metropolitan by the Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill. He speaks five languages—Russian, English, Greek, French, and German. He translates the works of the Church Fathers from Greek and ancient Syriac into Russian. Additionally, he has composed various symphonic music works, which have been performed worldwide.