The Russian Orthodox Church. Department for External Church Relations
Recent years have been marked by a development in the cooperation
between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the
sphere of social problems, noted His Holiness Patriarch Kirill in his
presentation at the Episcopal Council taking place in Moscow.
“A high degree of mutual understanding was shown during the course of my meeting with Pope Francis on the 12th
February 2016 in Havana,” said His Holiness, noting that in Russia and
throughout the world this event had a broad positive resonance. The
Patriarch expressed his belief that the meeting on Cuba would become an
important step on the way to resolving the more relevant issues of the
modern-day world by the joint efforts of the two largest Churches of the
Christian world.
His Holiness the Patriarch reminded his listeners that the main
reason for organizing the meeting on Cuba was the tragic situation in
which Christians in the Middle East and North Africa had found
themselves. The Episcopal Council in February 2016 resolved “to do all
that is possible that the genocide directed at Christians by extremists,
who sacrilegiously justify their evil deeds with religious slogans, be
halted,” and called upon 2016 to be the year of special efforts
undertaken in this direction.”
“The meeting in Havana became a concrete and genuine step towards
carrying out this decision,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill testified.
“The joint declaration which Pope Francis and I signed at the end of our
meeting contains a call to the world community to do all that is
possible for an end to violence in the Middle East, which is impossible
to achieve without the coordinated action of all forces opposed to
extremism.” The First Hierarch of the Russian Church especially noted
that soon after this joint appeal the tragedy in the Syria began to be
called a genocide in the West. For example, similar declarations were
made by the State Department and the US Congress.
“The time has come to think seriously on how to solve the problems
which Syria will encounter after peace has been restored in the country.
A most important issue is the creation of conditions for a life of
security for Christians and the return of refugees. Destroyed church
have to be restored, as well as the infrastructure and living
accommodation,” His Holiness the Patriarch reminded listeners, noting
that the Russian Orthodox Church was taking all measures to help this
process.
He spoke of how a concrete step in developing the Orthodox-Catholic
interaction in this field was the visit by a group of representatives of
the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church to Lebanon
and Syria in April of 2016. “The consultations held during the visit
with the representatives of the local religious confessions ought to
serve as the basis for developing further joint projects aimed at
supporting our brothers and sisters who are enduring hardships,” His
Holiness testified.
In heeding the call which was expressed at the meeting in Havana, in
2017 Orthodox and Catholics organized a number of joint events in
defense of Christians of the Middle East. Thus, in January of 2017 in
Paris there was the V European Orthodox –Catholic Forum dedicated to the
problem of the threat of terrorism directly linked to the situation in
the Middle East and which concerns everyone today without exception. In
its final document the forum’s participants spoke of the need for close
cooperation between Orthodox and Catholics when confronted by the
hitherto unforeseen challenges which the modern-day world is
experiencing, expressed their solidarity with the suffering Christians
of the Middle east, Africa and Asia and condemned all forms of
discrimination on religious grounds.
An important event was the World Summit in Defense of Persecuted
Christians in May of this year in the US capital Washington and which
brought together 600 delegates from 136 countries. The summit was
organized thanks to the joint initiative of the Russian Orthodox Church
and the Evangelical Association of Billy Graham. Representatives of the
Local Orthodox Churches, the Roman Catholic Church, various Protestant
denominations, as well as the ancient Oriental Churches, were invited to
participate in it. A most active part in the summit was taken by the
Archbishop of Washington Cardinal Donald Wuerl and representatives of
the Papal Council on Christian Unity.
In March of 2017 the Commission for International Cooperation under
the Presidential Council for the Interaction with the Religious
Organizations of Russia adopted a resolution on the setting up of a
special working group to coordinate the activities of Russian religious
communities in the cause of rendering aid to the population of Syria.
The Christian and Muslim communities of Russia, including the Russian
Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church, will combine their
efforts in collecting things essential for the suffering population of
Syria.
An important place in the joint declaration signed by Patriarch
Kirill of Moscow and All Russia and Pope Francis is occupied by the call
to active peace-making and public solidarity in Ukraine. “Both the
hierarchy of the Orthodox Church and the Holy See have repeatedly
stressed that the only means of resolving the conflict in Ukraine is by
implementing the Minsk accords,” His Holiness Patriarch Kirill reminded
listeners. “An important prerequisite for achieving inter-confessional
peace in Ukraine was the declaration on the topic that the Unia is not
the means of attaining unity between the Churches and that proselytism
is unacceptable in any form in Orthodox-Catholic relations. For the
first time in history the Unia was evaluated in this manner not only by
the Orthodox side, but also on the part of the head of the Roman
Catholic Church.”
The Patriarch also mentioned with gratitude the support towards the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church on behalf of the Papal See, expressed in the
condemnation of the laws no.4128 and no.4511 which are discriminatory in
relation to the largest Christian community in the Ukraine and the
drafts of which have already been discussed by the Supreme Rada.
Finally, a positive result of the meeting in Havana was the
unprecedented event of the bringing from Bari to Moscow and St.
Petersburg in May and June of 2017 a part of the relics of St. Nicholas
the Wonderworker. “It is only thanks to the agreement reached at the
Havana meeting that it was possible to bring to Russia the relics of St.
Nicholas the Wonderworker, which have never left Bari for 930 years,”
the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church noted, reminding
listeners that throughout the two months that the venerable relics were
in Moscow and St. Petersburg millions of believers from Russia,
Belorussia, Moldova and other countries were able to venerate them