RUSSIA RELIGION NEWS


Moscow patriarchate spurns pope's advances

RPTs MAKES NEW ACCUSATIONS AGAINST GREEK CATHOLICS

RISU, 5 December 2014

 

Patriarch Kirill values the position of Roman Pope Francis on many problems, but their meeting is prevented by the actions of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, which supports one of the sides in the conflict in Ukraine, Deacon Alexander Volkov, the press secretary of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church [RPTs], declared, according to a report from Religiia v Ukraine, citing Portal-credo.ru and RIA Novosti of 2 December.

 

Late in November, Roman Pope Francis expressed his wish to meet with Patriarch Kirill. "Patriarch of Moscow and all-Rus Kirill and I want to hold a meeting and we are both preparing for it. We are moving in this direction responsibly and with good will and with the intention to remove all impediments," he said on board an airplane flying from Istanbul to Rome.

 

"In and of itself the topic of a meeting is on the agenda of the relations of the two churches. His Holiness Patriarch Kirill greatly appreciates the balanced and genuinely Christian position of Pope Francis on various problems of modern society. And in this sense our churches are strategic partners in the work of testimony to the world about Christian values," Deacon Alexander Volkov commented on these words of the Roman pope. He said the two churches are united in alarm over the fate of Christians of the Middle East and the pontiff's view on the situation in contemporary Ukraine coincides to a great extent with the position of RPTs.

 

"As Patriarch Kirill has often said regarding this from various tribunes, the only ministry that the church should perform in this conflict (in Ukraine) is peacemaking, excluding any political preferences. But unfortunately, in this sense we are forced to conclude that the position of the Ukrainian Greek Catholics is an inhibiting factor. I am talking about support for one political side in the conflict and support of schismatics in Ukraine," the press secretary of the head of RPTs explained.

 

He expressed the hope that the "voice of the Russian church will be heard, and the involvement of UGKTs in the political conflict and the fanning of the crisis in Ukraine will abate." "In the first place, this is what will create propitious conditions for maintaining meaningful dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches, including the subject of a possible meeting of the patriarch and pope," the news agency's interlocutor concluded.

 

The UGKTs, like other confessions of Ukraine that are represented on the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organizations, supports the Ukrainian side in the attempt to liberate the territory of the country from Russian and pro-Russian armed groups, who have taken control of a part of the Donbass. The Moscow patriarchate officially does not support either side in this conflict, distancing itself even from the pro-Ukrainian position of UPTsMP. At the same time, Patriarch Kirill implicitly supports the side of the president of Russia, declaring after the annexation of Crimea and publication of proof of the involvement of the Russian federation in armed support of separatists of the Donbass that "neither a military danger nor other dangers come from Russia," and after the introduction of international sanctions that "Russia has never been frightened by external enemies and we have always defeated them." (tr. by PDS, posted 8 December 2014)


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