Vienna, Jan. 29, 2008 (CWNews.com) - The Russian Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Vienna has criticized "politically correct" Christianity, and denounced anti-Christian bias in Europe, in a pair of provocative public addresses during the past week.
On January 22, in a talk to the Ecumenical Council of Churches in Austria, the Russian prelate said that some Christian leaders, in their rush to be seen as acceptable to the modern world, are leading their people on "a direct route to spiritual collapse."
"Christianity that has renounced itself will not be able to oppose challenges of the modern world," Archbishop Hilarion argued. To maintain their strength, he said, Christian bodies must cling to the Gospel rather than seeking accommodation with the secular world.
Three days later, in a meeting of Orthodox leaders with José Manuel Barroso, the president of the European Commission, the Russian archbishop made a similar point from a different perspective, insisting that European governments must recognize and respect their Christian cultural roots. If Christian moral principles are ignored, he argued, the basis for a common European culture will be lost.
Archbishop Hilarion warned that in practice, Christianity is under siege in today's Europe. "We often hear about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, and very little is said about Christianophobia," he said.