On September 3, 2019, His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All
Russia, met with the Catholicos of the East and Metropolitan of
Malankara, His Holiness Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, at the
patriarchal and synodal residence in the St. Daniel Monastery in Moscow.
Among
those who accompanied the high guest were Metropolitan Zachariah Mar
Nikolovos, head of the Malankara Church department for external church
relations; Metropolitan Yuhanon Mar Diascoros, secretary of the
Malankara Church Holy Synod; Rev. Abraham Thomas, secretary of the
Malankara Church department for external church relations; and Rev.
Aswin Zefrin Fernandis, head of the Malankara Catholicos’s protocol
service; Rev. Jiss Jonson, personal secretary to His Holiness the
Catholicos; Mr. Jacob Mathew, member of the Malankara Church Council;
Mr. Kevin George Koshi, head of the communication service of the
Malankara Church department for external church relations; and Dr
Cherian Eapen, a representative of the Malankara diaspora in Russia.
Taking
part in the meeting from the Russian Orthodox Church were Metropolitan
Hilarion, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church
relations (DECR); Bishop Dionisy of Voskresensk, deputy chancellor of
the Moscow Patriarchate; Archimandrite Philaret (Bulekov), DECR
vice-chairman; Hieromonk Stephan Igumnov, DECR secretary for
inter-Christian relations; and R. Akhtamkhanov, DECR secretariat for
inter-Christian relations.
Patriarch Kirill warmly welcome
Catholicos Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, noting that His Holiness had
already been in Moscow in 1988, when he was the youngest bishop of the
Malankara Church. He came for the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus’.
‘That event was really a turning point in the life of our Church’,
Patriarch Kirill said, ‘With that celebration the era of persecution and
oppression by the Soviet power came to an end and new opportunities
opened up for us to engage ourselves in the enlightenment of our people
and to bear the message of Christ in the vast lands of the then Soviet
Union’. The Russian Church has very much changed, in particular in that
30 thousand churches have been restored and built since that time. ‘That
is to say, the restoration of church life took place in the territory
of the then Soviet Union and was continued in such states as Russia,
Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Azerbaijan, and the republics of Central
Asia and the Baltics’.
His Holiness also noted that people in
Russia regarded India with special interest from of old. ‘There were
reckless people who went to India by foot and then came back to Russia
to tell their countrymen stories about the fairy-tale countries they had
visited. Of course, for many it was a revelation that in India there
was a very strong Christian community and that this community did not
emerge as a result of some western mission but existed since the very
beginning of Christianity, since the apostolic times. This community was
founded by St. Thomas. So there have always been mutual interest and
mutual desire to have closer relations’, he said.
In 1851, he
added, Indian Christians attempted to establish relations with the
Russian Orthodox Church, but the wars waged at that time prevented this
initiative from developing.
In 1931, His Holiness said, our
compatriot, Hieromonk Andronik (Yeldinsky) came to Kerala in India and
stayed there for eighteen years. We know that his names has been
preserved in the memory of your Church together with the chapel he
built. He also noted that in the years of persecution endured by the
Russian Orthodox Church in the 20th century, much was done
despite all the difficulties to develop relations between the Moscow
Patriarchate and the Malankara Church. ‘In 1961 in New Delhi, there was
the 3d General Assembly of the World Council of Churches, and a
delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church – led by our outstanding
hierarch and my spiritual father Metropolitan Nikodim of Leningrad and
Novgorod – came to India and managed to establish very good relations
with your Church. His Eminence Nikodim proposed that the Russian
Orthodox Church’s educational institutions offer training to
representatives of the Malankara Church. We know that this initiative
was implemented, perhaps not on a big scale though’, His Holiness
recalled.
Patriarch Kirill also reminded his guests that in 1965,
Patriarch Alexy II of eternal memory, who was the Archbishop of Tallinn
and Estonia at that time, visited the Malankara Church for the Kottayam
Seminary’s 150th anniversary.
‘I participated in such
contacts as well, His Holiness continued, ‘In 1976 – at that time I was
rector of Leningrad Theological Academy – we received as our guest your
predecessor of eternal memory, Catholicos Baselios Mar Thoma Mathews I.
It was the first visit of a Catholicos to our Church. And in 1977, my
predecessor Patriarch Pimen of blessed memory visited India and met with
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and President F. Ahmed of India. It was
another very important event in our bilateral relations. In my capacity
of head of the Department for External Church Relations, I visited India
in 2006 and came to Delhi, Chennai and Kerala’.
Patriarch Kirill
described the work of Dr. Cherian Eapen, representative of the Malankara
diaspore in Moscow, as an important factor that helps to develop the
bilateral relations as he translated Loving Kindness into
Malayalam, one of the languages used in India, and called the
translation a historic event. His Holiness thanked Dr. Eapen, who was
present at the meeting, for his tremendous work.
Catholicos
Baselios Mar Thoma Paulose II, on his part, thanked Patriarch Kirill for
the hospitality, stressing that ‘forty years have elapsed and now we as
Primates of our Churches can at last resume the exchange of visits.
Your Holiness, your love and insight have helped to make it possible.
Once again, thank you for it’.
The high guest recalled his latest
visit to the Russian Orthodox Church in 1988, when he, as a member of
the delegation of the Malankara Church, attended the celebrations of the
Millennium of the Baptism Rus’.
His Holiness the Catholicos also
underscored the contribution made by Metropolitans Nikodim and Paulos
Mar Gregory (Vergeze) in the inter-church relations, ‘which paved a way
to official visits of the Primates of the two Churches’.
The
Malankara side asked the Primate of the Russian Orthodox Church to
develop cooperation in the academic sphere and help train icon-painters
and church choristers for the Church of India and to share its
experience of Russian monasticism. It was proposed to make reciprocal
pilgrimages, to organize summer institutes and to promote the
participation of scholars in carious academic conferences. To fulfil
these tasks His Holiness the Catholicos proposed setting up a joint
working group for coordinating the bilateral relations.
Patriarch
Kirill thanked the Primate of the Malankara Church for the constructive
proposals he made for the bilateral relations. He also made a proposal
for developing cooperation in social service, as the work of social
institutions is an important signal for the modern society. He spoke, in
particular, about the work of the St. Alexis of Moscow Hospital and
invited the delegation to visit it. He also referred to the active work
of parishes in social, youth and education spheres, stressing that
through such work people are attracted to the Church and become their
active member.
His Holiness supported the proposal made by His
Holiness the Catholicos to set up a working group for coordinating the
bilateral relations.
In conclusion of the talk, the sides exchanged tokens of the meeting.
DECR Communication Service