BY ERASMUS
THE ANGLICAN Communion is not the only worldwide Christian fraternity to
have organised a tense, top-level meeting this month. Only a couple of weeks
after the Communion preserved its shaky unity by ostracising its liberal American brethren,
the leaders of the Orthodox Christian church convened in all their robed
solemnity, and at rather short notice, in Geneva.
At stake is whether or not an even grander Orthodox meeting (the most
important for centuries, in some people’s view) can proceed as planned this
summer. The key players in this drama are Bartholomew I, the Istanbul-based
Ecumenical Patriarch who is considered “first among equals” in the Orthodox
hierarchy and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Since Ottoman and Tsarist times,
these two centres of power have often competed for influence over the eastern
Christian world.
The very fact that Moscow agreed in principle to this summer’s “Great and
Holy Synod” marks something of a diplomatic success for Patriarch Bartholomew,
as does Patriarch Kirill’s presence at the current session in Geneva. (He could
have sent an underling.) But many things are up in the air, including the
location of the summer gathering: originally scheduled to take place in Istanbul,
it might be relocated (perhaps to Geneva again) because of the dire state of
Russo-Turkish relations.
On arrival in the Swiss city, Patriarch Kirill made a carefully
calibrated address that seemingly spelled
out Moscow’s conditions for continued participation. The most important concern
Ukraine. In that country the two biggest Orthodox institutions are the globally
recognised Ukrainian Orthodox Church, ultimately under the Moscow Patriarchate,
and the 25-year-old Kiev Patriarchate which strongly supports Ukrainian
independence and the government’s battle against Russophile rebels in east.
These two bodies have identical services; the main difference is that they pray
for, and obey, different bishops. Many a confused believer could hardly tell
the difference.
To outsiders, it’s remarkable that thousands of local parishes across
Ukraine, including some of the country’s grandest places of worship, have
managed to remain at least loosely under Moscow’s ecclesiastical jurisdiction,
even as war raged between the Ukrainian army and rebels who enjoyed support in
high Muscovite places. As part of a survival strategy, the head of the UOC,
Metropolitan Onufry, quietly excused his parishes from praying publicly for the
Moscow Patriarch if they were located in areas where anti-Russian sentiment was
running high.
But Patriarch Kirill protested in Geneva that 30 churches had been
“violently” realigned from his authority to the Kiev hierarchy, and that at
least ten other churches were “under threat of seizure by sectarians and [Ukrainian]
nationalists, who then present what is happening as the supposedly voluntary
transfer of a body of believers to the so-called Kiev Patriarchate.”
The
Russian prelate complained that certain bishops, claiming to be acting under
Patriarch Bartholomew’s authority, had visited Ukraine and expressed their
support for the Kiev hierarchy, hence creating “temptations” among the
believers and clergy of Ukraine. Patriarch Kirill welcomed the fact that many
of the world’s Orthodox churches had come out in clear support of Moscow’s
position. His subliminal message was something like: don’t even think about
offering succour or recognition to the Kiev hierarchy, or all further
inter-Orthodox cooperation will be cancelled until further notice.
Religion-watchers saw the Russian Patriarch's warning as directed, above
all, at Patriarch Bartholomew. There are many Ukrainians, in the homeland and
the diaspora who dream of their country having a united Orthodox church which
would look politically to Kiev and ecclesiastically to the ancient see of
Constantinople, in other words to Patriarch Bartholomew.
During a visit to
Ukraine in 2008, Patriarch Bartholomew held a delicate balance, accepting the
legality of the Moscow Patriarchate's authority in that part of the world but
also giving heart to the Ukrainian yearning for a united, independent church.
Patriarch Kirill was making it clear that if this happens, there could be a
massive split within global Orthodoxy.
Amid all these squabbles, there is something mysterious about any gathering
of mitred, bearded prelates from different corners of the world. The services
over which these gentlemen habitually preside are immensely intricate pieces of
choreography; there is a great variety of languages and singing styles from booming
Slavic to ululating Arabic. Yet they and their respective entourages can come
together and worship, as they did this morning, in a Swiss city, the cradle of
Protestantism as it happens, as though they had been concelebrating (to use the
technical term) every day of their lives.
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