Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk./ mospat.ru

ishtartv.com - interfax-religion.com

30 January 2017

Moscow, January 30, Interfax - The cessation of the genocide of Christians in the Middle East depends on changes in the U.S. policies under new President Donald Trump, the Moscow Patriarchate said.

"If Trump now says that America should defend its borders, not other [countries' borders], it's a totally conscious and well thought-out message. If America stops introducing its policies in the Middle East like a bull in a china shop, then I hope that the genocide of Christians and other religious and ethnic minorities, which has continued in the Middle East for over ten years, will end," Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion, the head of the Synodal Department for External Church Relations, said in an interview with Rossiya-24 (VGTRK) television.

The situation in the Middle East is largely a consequence of America's policies, he said.

The hierarch also commented on the fact that the text of an Orthodox liturgy lies on the desk of White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus and Donald Trump during his inauguration took his oath on two Bibles: Abraham Lincoln's and his own, which he has had since he was a child.

"This shows that these people take religious very serious, it's not a formality to them. It's not an accident, either, that President Trump has invited religious leaders to his inauguration," he said.

The metropolitan said he believes that the Trump inauguration ceremony "was a religious ceremony."

"I hope the president of the newly elected president of America will take place under the sign of such hope for God's help," he said.