Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev agrees with Met. Ephraim of HOCNA?

[Maria]

There was a post in paradosis which claims that Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev agrees with the heretical doctrine of Awake Sleeper as propagated by Met. Ephraim of HOCNA in Brookline, MA.

This is what garanrosa posted at paradosis:

• As I researched points in this from Fr. Ambrois:
  http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/11/1/5.aspx
  I found that Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev's paper is in
  agreement with traditional Orthodox ikons of
  the Descent Into Hades (Resurection), Dr. A. Kilomiros's
  paper: River Of Fire. and Awake Sleeper by the Metropolitan
  of Boston, USA. It is good to see an article of traditional
  Orthodoxy on Orthodox Tradition Yahoo Group.
  Thank you Fr. Ambrois.

See the Bishop's article in the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate's website: http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/11/1/5.aspx

Someone else posted a speech given by this Bishop in which the Bishop seems to endorse the Name-Worshipping heresy. Why has not this World Orthodox Bishop joined HOCNA? Indeed, why has HOCNA not gone back to their roots and joined the ROCOR-MP now that they have defrocked Panteleimon?

[Maria]

Here are some quotes from the above MP link: http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/11/1/5.aspx

According to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, all the dead, whether believers or non-believers, appear before God. Therefore, even for those who did not believe during their lifetime, there is hope that they will recognize God as their Saviour and Redeemer if their previous life on earth led them to this recognition.

Notice the qualifying words bolded for emphasis by me. We can hope and pray, just like St. Xenia of St. Petersburg hoped and prayed that her husband would be saved. Ultimately, through her prayers, prostrations, and penance, her husband was saved as in a vision she witnessed his soul being released from hell and entering heaven.

The Bishop expands on this idea that some may be saved from hell, agreeing with St. Xenia:

• On the one hand, it is impossible for one to actively repent in hell; it is impossible to rectify the evil deeds one committed by appropriate good works. However, it may be possible for one to repent through a ‘change of heart’, a review of one’s values. One of the testimonies to this is the rich man of the Gospel we have already mentioned. He realized the gravity of his situation as soon as found himself in hell. Indeed, if in his lifetime he was focused on earthly pursuits and forgot God, once in hell he realized that his only hope for salvation was God[76] . Besides, according to the teaching of the Orthodox Church, the fate of a person after death can be changed through the prayer of the Church. Thus, existence after death has its own dynamics. On the basis of what has been said above, we may say that after death the development of the human person does not cease, for existence after death is not a transfer from a dynamic into a static being, but rather continuation on a new level of that road which a person followed in his lifetime.

[Maria]

This concluding paragraph written by the Bishop is vague leading one to believe that the Bishop does not want to offend the universalists who believe that in the end all will be saved. Again, bolding is my emphasis.

• We do not know if every one followed Christ when He rose from hell. Nor do we know if every one will follow Him to the eschatological Heavenly Kingdom when He will become ‘all in all’. But we do know that since the descent of Christ into Hades the way to resurrection has been opened for ‘all flesh’, salvation has been granted to every human being, and the gates of paradise have been opened for all those who wish to enter through them. This is the faith of the Early Church inherited from the first generation of Christians and cherished by Orthodox Tradition. This is the never-extinguished hope of all those who believe in Christ Who once and for all conquered death, destroyed hell and granted resurrection to the entire human race.

salvation has been granted to every human being, and the gates of paradise have been opened for all those who wish to enter through them.

Does this not give false hope as do many Hallmark sympathy cards?

Christ did remind us that not all who say "Lord" will enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
Thus, not all will be saved, as some will be banished to Hell.