RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Ukrainian Catholic issue casts shadow over celebrated summit meeting in Cuba

ROMAN POPE AND PATRIARCH KIRILL TO MEET IN CUBA ON 12 FEBRUARY

by Nataliia Shmakova

RIA Novosti, 5 February 2016

 

Roman Pope Francis and Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill will meet on 12 February in Cuba, a joint statement of the Vatican and the Moscow patriarchate says.

 

The meeting will occur in an airport in Cuba where the pontiff will make a stop on the way to Mexico.

 

The joint statement notes that this will be an "historic visit."

 

The report about the meeting of the patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus with the Roman pope was received favorably by Catholics of Russia and also by representatives of various organizations, including the Belorussian Orthodox Church. "We received this news with joy. We will pray that it (the meeting—ed.) comes off successfully and fruitfully and that issues that will be faced will be resolved," a representative of the Belorussian Orthodox Church told the news agency.

 

The head of the Russian Red Cross, Raisa Lukuttsova, called the upcoming meeting significant.

 

Of course, this meeting will be significant. It is evident that it is crucial and will be very important even considering that our Russian Orthodox Church, of course, gives priority to works of peace, humanitarianism, and compassion," Lukuttsova told RIA Novosti.

 

The Russian Peace Fund also viewed the news of a meeting between Kirill and Francis positively. "It is difficult to overestimate the significance of this meeting. It can become epochal. The primate of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman pope have not met for a long time," Slutskii said in a conversation with the news agency.

 

However the RPTs emphasized that definite disagreements with the Vatican over the Greek Catholics remain and that they hinder complete normalization of relations between the two churches.

 

"All these years, the Unia has remained the chief problem in relations between the two churches and the main impediment for holding a meeting of their primates. The crushing of three dioceses of the Moscow patriarchate in western Ukraine by Uniates at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the transfer of the center of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from Lvov to Kiev, the persistent desire of this church to acquire for itself the status of a patriarchate, the spreading of the mission of the UGKTs to the traditional Orthodox lands of eastern and southern Ukraine, the support of Uniates by the schismatics—all these factors only exacerbate the problem," Metropolitan Ilarion said on Friday.

 

A number of events are planned within the framework of the visit [to Latin America—tr.]. One of the first items in the schedule is a visit to Cuba, where besides the meeting with Pope Francis, a meeting with Raul and Fidel Castro is planned, the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Illarion, said.

 

The visit by Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill to Latin America will last from 11 to 22 February 2016. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 February 2016)

 

RPTs: DISAGREEMENTS WITH VATICAN OVER GREEK CATHOLICS REMAIN

by Aleksei Mikheev

RIA Novosti, 5 February 2016

 

The meeting of Patriarch Kirill and Roman Pope Francis will happen, although agreements of the RPTs and the Vatican on the situation with Greek Catholics in Ukraine, that have prevented a meeting in the past, remain, the head of the Department of External Church Relations (OVTsS) of the Moscow patriarchate, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, said Friday at a press conference in Moscow.

 

 In an interview with RIA Novosti on 30 December 2014, the chairman of the synod's Information Department of the Moscow patriarchate, Vladimir Legoida, declared that a meeting of Patriarch Kirill and Roman Pope Francis could be held after, in particular, there was a resolution of questions connected with the actions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGKTs). Uniates, whose adherents reside mainly in the west of Ukraine, maintain Orthodox ritual but acknowledge the Roman pope as their head.

 

"All these years, the Unia has remained the chief problem in relations between the two churches and the main impediment for holding a meeting of their primates. The crushing of three dioceses of the Moscow patriarchate in western Ukraine by Uniates at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, the transfer of the center of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church from Lvov to Kiev, the persistent desire of this church to acquire for itself the status of a patriarchate, the spreading of the mission of the UGKTs to the traditional Orthodox lands of eastern and southern Ukraine, the support of Uniates by the schismatics—all these factors only exacerbate the problem," Metropolitan Ilarion said on Friday.

 

He added that the situation worsened yet more as the result of "recent events in Ukraine," in which representatives of the UGKTs took "the most immediate part," speaking out with "anti-Russian and Rusophobic slogans." "In this way, unfortunately, the problem of the Unia at the present time has not been removed and the Unia remains an unhealed, bleeding wound, preventing full normalization of relations between the two churches," Metropolitan Ilarion emphasized.

 

Nevertheless, the head of OVTsS noted, the situation that has developed nowadays in the Near East, northern and central Africa, and in several other regions, where extremists are carrying out "genuine genocide of the Christian population," requires urgent measures and closer cooperation among Christian churches. "In the current tragic situation, it is necessary to set aside internal disagreements and to join forces for the salvation of Christianity in those regions where it is being subjected to the most fierce persecution," the bishop concluded.

 

In October 1596, a portion of the bishops of the Kievan Orthodox metropolia, led by Metropolitan Mikhail (a member of the Constantinople patriarchate), at a council in Brest adopted the decision for recognizing the supreme jurisdiction of the Roman pope. The conditions of the Unia (literally translated from the Latin—"union") provide for the recognition of the authority of the pope and Catholic dogmas, while the believers and clergy retained the Byzantine rite.

 

In the period subsequent to the Unia, the Greek Catholic (Uniate) church took root in the western provinces of Ukraine, which joined the central European states (Rzeczpospolita, Austria-Hungary, Poland), and became the traditional religion for the majority of residents of these regions, while Orthodoxy was preserved in the center and east of Ukraine. (tr. by PDS, posted 5 February 2016)

 

HEADS OF RPTs AND VATICAN AGREED ON HISTORIC MEETING

by Sergei Piatakov

RIA Novosti, 5 February 2016

 

Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill and Roman Pope Francis will meet in Cuba on 12 February. Information about the first in history meeting of primates of the Christian churches, which, as anticipated, "will turn a new page in relations between the churches," was published simultaneously on Friday in the Vatican and Moscow.

 

The unprecedented conversations of the two religious leaders will occur against the background of another historic event, the first visit of a primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to countries of Latin America, devoted to the 45th anniversary of the consecration of the first church of the Moscow patriarchate in Havana. Patriarch Kirill will visit Cuba, Brazil, and Paraguay on 11-22 February.

 

Back in the 1990s a meeting was planned between Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Alexis II and Pope John Paul II, but it did not occur, since there was no success in agreeing on questions that were substantially important for the position of the RPTs. The parties continued to plan a meeting, pointing out that it is important and possible. At the same time, the head of the Department of External Church Relations of the RPTs, Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Ilarion, emphasized that for the heads of the churches it was important not simply to meet and shake hands in front of cameras, but to resolve real issues.

 

The RPTs has noted that Patriarch Kirill originally did not want for the meeting to occur in Europe since "it is with Europe that the difficult history of division and conflicts among Christians is connected." In such a case, a meeting on neutral territory would be preferable, and Cuba, as one of the countries of the New World, "satisfies this criterion."

 

"The meeting of primates of the Russian Orthodox and Catholic churches, which has been in preparation for a long time, will become a first in history and will signify an important step in the relations between the two churches. The Moscow patriarchate and the Holy See desire that this event also be a sign of hope for all people of good will, and that they inspire all Christians to fervent prayer that with God's blessing the upcoming meeting will bring good fruits," the joint communiqué says.

 

The patriarch will arrive in Cuba on an official visit and the pontiff will make a stop there on the way to Mexico. The meeting will include a personal conversation in the Jose Marti International Airport in Havana and will conclude with the signing of a joint declaration.

 

Metropolitan Ilarion said that the central theme of the conversations of Patriarch Kirill and the Roman pope will be persecution of Christians. "Despite the remaining impediments of an ecclesiastical nature, the decision was made for the urgent conducting of a meeting of His Holiness Kirill and Roman Pope Francis. The topic of persecutions of Christians will be central in this meeting," Metropolitan Ilarion said.

 

He also said that at the meeting, topics of bilateral relations and international politics will be touched upon.

 

The first reaction to the news about the agreement between the RPTs and the Vatican from Russian religious leaders, politicians, and experts was exclusively positive.

 

"It is the meeting of the pope with the primate of the Russian Orthodox Church, as the largest, that will be an important milestone not only in Orthodox-Catholic dialogue; it is an important milestone primarily in that it shows that Christians can act together on various critical issues which are roiling the modern world," the general secretary of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of Russia, priest Igor Kovalevsky, told RIA Novosti.

 

In turn, the head of the State Duma Committee on Religious Organizations and Public Associations, Yaroslav Nilov, declared that this meeting is dictated by life itself and by the development of inter-church relations, calling it, inter alia, an important political event. Nilov expressed the opinion that conversations between Patriarch Kirill and Pope Francis will make a weighty contribution to joint resistance to that "manifestation of radicalism and extremism with a definite religious subtext which issue in terrorist acts."

 

In the opinion of the mufti of Moscow, Albir Krganov, a member of the Public Chamber of the RF, the planned meeting of two Christian leaders within the circumstances of current global threats to all religions is very important for the whole world. And Igor Morozov, a member of the Federation Council's Committee on International Affairs, suggested that the upcoming event is provoked by the activation in the Near East of the Islamic State (a terrorist organization that is banned in Russia), which "has adopted as its goal the extermination of Christians in this region." (tr. by PDS, posted 5 February 2016)

 

 


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