Met. Hilarion supports proposal to restrict shopping on Sundays

Moscow, May 10, 2017

Photo: ria.ru

The head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) stated on Russia-24’s television program “The Church and the World” that he supports the Federation Council’s initiative to restrict shopping on Sundays, reports RIA-Novosti.

Earlier it became known that the Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, had completed preparations of a bill amending the law “On Trade,” according to which supermarkets would no long be open 24-hours, but would close at 9 PM on weekdays, 4 PM on Saturdays, and would not operate at all on Sundays.

According to the metropolitan, shopping deprives Russians of too much time. “Maybe one of the reasons so many of our families fall apart is that people have absolutely not enough time to just be with one another,” he said.

Moreover, he noted, employees of major retail stores are deprived of having a full weekend, including their time to go to Church. “The question here is about those people who work in these organizations. They do not have the chance to go to church on Sundays, and are deprived of the chance to be with their families on Sundays. And this around-the-clock conveyer, working all week without a break, turns people into robots,” His Eminence declared.