Évêque Hilarion Alfeyev

This article, based on a paper delivered in 2005 in Brussels, examines the patrological contribution of Archbishop Basil (Krivocheine) to twentieth-century Orthodox theology. Belonging to the genre of commemorative study, it traces the major scholarly works of this hierarch, who was formed on Mount Athos, where he had access to then-unpublished manuscripts. The article shows that Krivocheine was one of the first researchers to seriously study Saint Gregory Palamas and Saint Symeon the New Theologian, figures who were little known even in Orthodox circles at the time. His contribution is twofold: he established the critical edition of Symeon's Catecheses in the Sources chrétiennes series and contributed to Lampe's Greek patristic lexicon, thereby initiating a patrological renewal that transcended confessional boundaries and had a lasting influence on Byzantine and Orthodox studies in Western Europe.

This article by Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev addresses the doctrine of Christ's descent into Hades, considered as a central element of Christian soteriology and theodicy. Belonging to the field of dogmatic synthesis, the study draws on a broad corpus of Eastern patristic sources — from Clement of Alexandria to John of Damascus — and sets it against the Western tradition, from Augustine to Thomas Aquinas. The main argument is that the Eastern tradition perceives the descent into hell as an event of universal and cosmic scope, offering salvation to all of humanity, including sinners and virtuous pagans, while the Western tradition progressively narrows its significance through juridical categories. The article makes a twofold contribution: it highlights the structural divergences between East and West on this dogma, and demonstrates its relevance for contemporary Orthodox theodicy and eschatology.

This article by Archimandrite Hilarion Alfeyev offers a historical and analytical study of atheism in Russia over a period of approximately one hundred years, from pre-revolutionary Russia to the post-Soviet period. Drawing on the testimonies of Russian thinkers and clergy — Berdyaev, Bulgakov, Shavelsky, Fedchenkov — as well as personal observations, the author shows that the Revolution of 1917 was not a historical accident, but the culmination of a prior religious disintegration, largely fostered by the fusion of the Church and the tsarist State. He then analyzes Soviet atheism as a pseudo-religion of substitution, before examining the ambiguities of the post-communist Orthodox revival. The principal theological contribution lies in the warning addressed to the contemporary Russian Orthodox Church: only a Church independent of the State, capable of genuinely transfiguring souls through the Gospel, will be able to durably overcome the atheist legacy.

This article by Father Hilarion Alfeyev, a Russian theologian and monk, examines the question of the relationship between the patristic heritage and the demands of contemporary Orthodox theology. Belonging to both theological study and scholarly inquiry, it advocates a creative reading of the Church Fathers, distinct from a repetitive conservatism that would reduce Tradition to a frozen past. The author analyzes the concept of *consensus patrum*, highlights the contextual diversity of patristic traditions — Greek, Latin, Syriac, and Eastern — and proposes a contextual method for interpreting sources. He argues for a "neo-patristic synthesis" capable of responding to the challenges of the twenty-first century. The main contribution of the article is to provide rigorous methodological foundations for renewing Orthodox patrological scholarship, by integrating non-Byzantine traditions and articulating mystical experience with ecclesial doctrine.