MOSCOW PATRIARCH THINKS MEETING WITH THE POPE A REMOTE POSSIBILITY
Reuters - Wed Aug 29. The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Alexiy II leads a service at Tatiana Day
in Moscow January 25, 2007. Alexiy II told an Italian paper that a first meeting with Pope Benedict would only make
sense if the Vatican gave up any missionary ambition to spread Catholicism in his country. (A.Natruskin/Reuters)
Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli of Il Giornale was in Moscow recently and Alexei II repeated the same sentiments in an interview, although he talked about other things, as well. Here is a translation:
Interview with Alexei II
By Andrea Tornielli
Benedict XVI's Motu Proprio that liberalizes the use of the traditional Mass rite is "a fact we greet positively', says Alexei II, Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias.
The spiritual leader of the largest and most powerful church in the Orthodox world just finished celebrating the solemn liturgy for the feast of Mary's Dormition [Assumption in the Catholic world] in the
Cathedral of the same name inside the Kremlin, the city's oldest cathedral which the Communist regime had made a museum but did not tear down.
It was a very evocative liturgy, with much stupendous chanting. Seated in the first row were the four bishops of the Friuli region (northwastern Italy), who had come to invite the patriarch to Aquileia.
The Patriarch earlier received them fraternally, gave each one a pectoral cross, and received a reproduction on an Aquileia fresco and a relic of St. Justus, martyr.
He then agreed to answer some questions from
Il Giornale. He expressed appreciation for the restoration of the traditional Mass and confirmed that, despite criticism of the Motu Proprio from certain progressivist circles, Benedict XVI's decision was something that promotes ecumenism with the Oriental churches.
The Pope published a document which restores the possibilities for using the old Roman missal for the eucharistic celebration. How do you judge that decision?
The recovery and appreciation of the ancient liturgical tradition is a fact that we greet positively.
We set great store by tradition. Without faithful custody of liturgical tradition, the Russian Orthodox Church would never have been able to resist during the epoch of persecutions in the 1920s and 1930s. At that time, we had so many new martyrs, in numbers matching those of the early Christian martyrs.
Holiness, how do you judge relationships between Rome and Moscow at this time?
I think Pope Benedict XVI has said many times that he is committed to favoring dialog and collaboration with the Orthodox churches. That is positive.
[This takes the prize for the least enthusiastic statement ever made on this issue!]
For years, there has been talk about a possible encounter between you and the Pope. Do you think it is possible? And when?
A meeting between the Pope and the Patriarch of Moscow should be very well prepared and should absolutely not be reduced to a photo opportunity and appearing together on television. It should be a meeting that truly serves to consolidate relationships between the two Churches.
You make it sound like a remote hypothesis. Why?
Because unfortunately, today, some bishops and Catholic missionaries still consider Russia as a mission land. But Russia, Holy Russia, is already illuminated by a faith that has lasted several centuries, which thank God, has been conserved and transmitted through the Orthodox Church. It is not mission territory for the Catholic Church.
This is the first point that must be clarified and cleared before any meeting with the Pope. The other problem is Uniatism.
And why are the Uniates - who maintain the Eastern rite and tradition but have entered into full Communion with Rome - a problem?
Uniatism concerns us deeply, because we see this tendency even in regions where it was never present, for example, in eastern Ukraine, in Byelorussia, in Kazakhstan, and even in Russia itself.
When these problems are faced and resolved, then the meeting between the Pope and the patriarch of Moscow can take place. Only then can it have some genuine significance.
Il Giornale, 29 agosto 2007
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In other words, forget or ignore any optimistic reports or speculation about such a meeting! Alexei will always have his pet obsessions - proselytism and Uniatism - to trot out as a pretext. Every time he talks about these two issues, he presents them in a worse light than before.
One had thought the question of proselytism had been resolved. He first raised this in the time of John Paul II because the Orthodox resented all the Polish missionaries sent to Russia [it's the age-old Pole-Russian enmity]. The Polish priests and John Paul have gone, and now he's citing 'bishops and Catholic missionaries'. But what exactly does he mean by proselytism? He can always claim that the simplest homily by a Catholic priest or a catechism lesson for Catholics is 'proselytizing'. What are Catholics supposed to do? Not preach the Catholic faith because they happen to be in Russia?
As for Uniatism, he's now claiming that the 'threat' has spread to other nations of the former Soviet Union, not just the Ukraine. He fails to mention that his Patriarchate's problem with the Ukrainian Uniates is that the Ukrainian government has allowed them to keep their traditional Church properties, and Moscow claims those properties belong to the Orthodox Church. It's a bitter pill enough for Moscow that the Uniates have chosen to enter full communion with Rome, but for them to 'take away' Church property as well is adding insult to injury!
Alexei, of course, has other 'points of pride' to dispute. One being the status of Bartholomew I in the Orthodox world as 'first among equals'. Alexei does not think that is right because Bartholomew's little flock in Constantinople is literally a token compared to the huge Russian Orthodox membership.
And more importantly, the primacy of Peter, howsoever the Orthodox will eventually agree to define it. If the Roman Church is ready to maintain it among other Christian churches as a primacy of honor, why does the Orthodox establishment fear the Pope would interfere in their episcopal jurisdictions and functions?
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 30/08/2007 02:55]