University of Freiburg suspends Metropolitan of Volokolamsk from teaching

The University of Freiburg suspended the Metropolitan of Volokolamsk from the position of Assistant Professor for his resounding silence over the war Russian President Putin is waging against Ukraine.

In a statement, the Dean of the Faculty of Theology, Mariano Delgado, called on Metropolitan Hilarion to use his ecclesiastical and political influence “to publicly and unequivocally condemn Russia’s illegal military invasion of Ukraine” and to call on President Putin to “withdraw Russian troops immediately”.

The Dean said that Metropolitan Hilarion responded by letter that he and the Russian Church “have been involved in the humanitarian field, especially since 2014 in relation to the conflict in Ukraine, and are doing everything in their power to help people in need and to end the conflict.”

However, “as this does not correspond to what the School expects from the Metropolitan at this time, it considers it appropriate to suspend the title of Professor,” the Quaestor noted in his statement.