The stories of expensive cars are not connected with the service to Church, – Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev)

The stories about expensive cars of the clergy widely discussed on the Internet and the media have nothing to do with the true ministry to the Church, which consists in restoring families and giving people joy and meaning of life, the head of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said on July 8.

"Unfortunately, very often people pay attention to some external small things and glare and forget the most important thing that the Church gives millions of people the meaning of life, joy and happiness, that it is capable of restoring destroyed families.

The Church performs miracles in this world. If more attention was paid to this, then, I think, it would be better for everyone: it would be calmer for the Church to carry out its ministry in the society, and the society would not be shaken by such statements and accusations," Metropolitan Hilarion said in the program "The Church and the world" on the TV channel "Russia-24".

According to Metropolitan Hilarion, most priests, especially those who work in rural areas, move around either by cheapest cars or by public transport. "In case when anything in the behavior or appearance of a cleric causes temptation in people, he must give it up and sacrifice his own comfort," the DECR head believes.

He also noted that the main criterion in assessing the activities of a priest or bishop should be his service to God and people.

Earlier, Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia urged priests not to drive expensive cars, even if they are gifts. The Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church noted that when at churches there are "cavalcades of expensive limousines – this, of course, causes people to react".