Pope Francis has sent a protocol greeting to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, assuring him of prayers on his patron’s feast day and stressing the value of human life and wisdom, as the Vatican insists on maintaining cordial relations amid the war in Ukraine.
ORTHODOX SPIRITUAL LEADER SAYS RUSSIAN CHURCH HAS ‘DISAPPOINTED US’ OVER UKRAINE
The Russian Orthodox Church has let Christian Orthodox fathers down by supporting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of some 260 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, said in an interview.
Moscow calls its three-month-old invasion a “special military operation” to rid Ukraine of fascists, an assertion Kyiv and its Western allies say is a baseless pretext for an unprovoked war.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual head of some 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, leads the Easter Service at the Patriarchal Church of St George in Istanbul, Turkey, on 24th April. PICTURE: Reuters/Murad Sezer/File photo
The head of the Russian Orthodox Church Patriarch Kirill has supported Moscow’s action and his stance has splintered the worldwide Orthodox Church. The World Council of Churches has asked Patriarch Kirill to “intervene and mediate” to help stop the war.
In an interview aired on Greek state TV ERT on Tuesday evening, Patriarch Bartholomew said he expected Patriarch Kirill to stand up against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine and resign, if needed, in an act of opposition.
“It would not be possible for all churches not to condemn violence, war. The Russian church disappointed us. I did not want the Church of Russia and Brother Patriarch Kirill to be this tragic exception. I do not know how he can justify himself in his conscience,” he said.
“I expected Brother Kirill to stand up to this crucial, historic moment. If needed, to sacrifice his throne, to tell Putin, ‘Mr President, I can not agree with you, I resign’,” he said.
The Istanbul-based Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Russian Orthodox Church clashed four years ago over Ukraine’s decision to establish an independent or “autocephalous” Church.
About 100 million Orthodox Christians are in Russia. Ukraine has about 30 million Orthodox believers.
– RENEE MALTEZOU, Athens, Greece/Reuters
The website of the Moscow Patriarchate published the brief greetings Francis sent Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to mark Tuesday’s feast day for St Cyril, a saint important to both Catholics and Orthodox Christians, especially in Slavic nations.
“These days I pray to our Heavenly Father that the Holy Spirit will renew and strengthen us in the gospel ministry, especially in our efforts to protect the value and dignity of every human life,” Francis wrote.
He also called for God’s “gift of wisdom.”
The moderate tone was evidence of the Vatican’s attempt to maintain relations with Kirill, a policy that has come under increasing criticism from the head of the Polish bishops’ conference. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki returned from a visit to Ukraine this week and called for the Vatican to change its “naïve and utopian” policy, saying it won’t work in the long run.
In an interview with the Polish Catholic news agency KAI, Gadecki said it was a “noble“ goal to strike a dialogue with Moscow. “But that is not accompanied by sufficiently serious thought on the Vatican’s part,” he was quoted as saying.
Kirill has justified the invasion on spiritual and ideological grounds, calling it a “metaphysical” battle with the West. He has blessed soldiers going into battle and invoked the idea that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
Francis’ three-sentence note to the Orthodox leader made no mention of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine or even a generic appeal for peace. That said, it was a protocol greeting marking a religious observance; Francis has, in his public remarks, frequently denounced the war and loss of life.
Gadecki, of the Polish bishops’ conference, acknowledged the tradition of Vatican diplomacy is to not call out aggressors and to seek at all costs to maintain an open channel of dialogue in hopes of nudging a peaceful resolution.
In the case of Ukraine, the Vatican has also been keen to not antagonise the Russian Orthodox Church, after it worked for decades to improve relations that culminated in an historic meeting between Francis and Kirill in Havana in 2016.
“But today, in the situation of war…it is most important that the Holy See supported Ukraine on all levels and was not directed by utopian thoughts,” Gadecki was quoted as saying.
Francis mentioned the war at the end of his weekly general audience Wednesday. Speaking to Polish pilgrims, he called for prayers for peace in Ukraine and for God “to teach us to show solidarity for those who are affected by the tragedy of war” and to find reconciliation among nations.
