Many priests of the Russian Orthodox Church in Western countries no longer want to live and serve abroad because of the increased influence on their children there in order to instill non-traditional values in them. This was announced by the Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) Metropolitan Anthony of Volokolamsk of the Moscow Patriarchate at the presentation of the book "Genealogy of Secular Discourse" by MGIMO Associate Professor Vasily Shchipkov.
"Now we are faced with a situation that has never happened before, just the other day I discussed it with His Holiness Patriarch [Kirill]. Priests come, those who already serve abroad, and ask them to complete their business trips, because their children go to local schools, study according to local, European, in particular, programs, and there from the first grade they begin to explain to them what they can choose - they are boys or girls, they begin to implement the whole this modern gender perspective. And our priests are not ready to continue living there, they do not want to spoil the lives of their children, they do not want children to live in this environment," said the head of the DECR.
He acknowledged that many compatriots in the West are faced with a new reality, which "sometimes does not leave a person with any choice." According to Metropolitan Anthony, dioceses and parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church now operate in 90 countries.
Earlier, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, speaking at the VIII World Congress of Compatriots, said that the churches of the Russian Orthodox Church abroad, despite the ongoing Russophobic propaganda, are filled with believers, almost 2 thousand clergy serve in them.