Russia

Far From Unity

For weeks observers waited for a historic breakthrough in relations between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church. But by the time an ecumenical conference convened in Austria, new developments had illustrated the many obstacles still remaining on the road to Christian unity.

Arthur DiNunzio

Early in May the rumor mill began to churn out its product. Reporters whispered that a meeting would soon take place between Pope John Paul II and the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II. This was to be a historic moment: the first face-to-face meeting ever to take place between the Roman Pontiff and the spiritual leader of the world's largest Orthodox denomination.

Interest in the proposed meeting was whetted by the fact that relations between Rome and Moscow have not been particularly cordial in recent years. The collapse of Communism had led to a resurgence of activity among the Eastern-rite Catholic churches of the countries that once composed the Soviet bloc, and the Orthodox have complained bitterly that Catholics are trying to inveigle both their property and their flocks. Last year similar plans for a summit meeting--purportedly to take place at an ancient monastery in Pannonhalma, Hungary, during the Pope's trip to that country--were scuttled because of opposition within the Russian synod. So the prospect of a new meeting suggested a breakthrough in ecumenical relations.

As the days passed, the rumors took more definite shape. First Austrian, then German, and finally Polish journalists added details to the story: The meeting would take place on June 21, in Vienna, as Patriarch Alexei arrived to take part in a major ecumenical conference in Graz, Austria. Although the Vatican press office maintained a discrete silence on the reports, Cardinal Edward Cassidy (the head of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity) confirmed that Church officials were "working hard" to prepare for such a meeting, and later Cardinal Achille Silvestrini (head of the Congregation for Eastern Churches) said the summit was "highly probable." When a priest who regularly acts as an "advance man" for papal trips was spotted visiting a Cistercian Abbey near Vienna, it seemed obvious that all the pieces were in place.

Then suddenly everything fell apart. On June 11 the Moscow Patriarchate released a terse statement:

Although the Vatican still had not given any official indication that a meeting had been planned, the disappointment in Rome was palpable. Nor did the climate improve on the following Sunday, when Russian television stations broadcast an interview with Patriarch Alexei, in which the Russian leader blamed the Holy See for the cancellation of the meeting. The patriarch explained that the Vatican had "deleted" key portions of a joint statement which had been proposed as the formal basis for the meeting. Vatican officials--invariably speaking off the record--replied that the joint statement had never been finalized, and that Orthodox negotiators abandoned the talks when it became apparent Rome would not agree to a pair of Moscow's demands.

In his broadcast interview Patriarch Alexei made it clear which issues had caused the breakdown in discussions. First, he insisted that the joint statement must address the problem of "proselytism" by religions which (such as Catholicism) which are not historically connected with Russia's spiritual heritage. Second, he wanted a clear reference to the tensions between Eastern-rite Catholics and their Orthodox counterparts in Ukraine, where tensions have been compounded by rival claims to church property confiscated by the Soviet regime. These sensitive issues "should have been affirmed at the level of the head of the churches, but at the last moment they were excluded," Alexei said; "so we didn't think this meeting was possible at the present time."

When he arrived in Vienna to take part in the week-long Second European Ecumenical Conference, Patriarch Alexei loosed another volley at the Catholic presence in Russia. "There can be no place for proselytism in the relations between the churches," he announced. (The 68-year-old patriarch also caused a few more headlines when he collapsed after a three-hour service in Vienna's Orthodox cathedral, but he soon recovered and was pronounced fit to continue his activities.)

Pope John Paul had never been expected to participate in the Graz ecumenical conference. Bartholomew I of Constantinople, the head of the Greek Orthodox Church, had backed away from his own plans to attend, on the grounds that the meeting--and Alexei's prominent role there--failed to recognize his role as the Ecumenical Patriarch and thus the acknowledged "first among equals" of the world's Orthodox leaders. At first this appeared to be merely a dispute between the two leading powers in the Orthodox world. But then it became clear that Patriarch Bartholomew was unhappy with Rome, as well. For the first time in years, without explanation, he failed to send representatives to participate in the Roman celebration of the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The Graz meeting drew nearly 10,000 delegates, from all over Europe, to discuss the prospects for ecumenical unity. (The first such conference had been held in Basle, Switzerland, in 1989.) It soon became clear that the protests raised by Patriarch Alexei against the Catholic Church would become an important theme of the meeting. Catholicos Karekin I, the head of the Armenian Apostolic Church, who had enjoyed an unusual warm encounter with Pope John Paul at the Vatican last year, voiced his support for the patriarch's argument that "uniate" churches--the Eastern-rite churches which are in full communion with Rome--are trying to steal members away from the Orthodox flocks. The Romanian Orthodox Metropolitan Daniel Ciobotca concurred, saying: "These uniate communities are not a model for ecumenical relations; they are an obstacle."

As it happened, the Eastern Catholics churches which were being denounced in Graz as "obstacles" to unity had already planned a conference of their own, to explore their proper role in ecumenical affairs. Under the direction of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches, 80 leaders of Europe's Eastern-rite Catholic churches met in Hungary late in June, and heard Cardinal Silvestrini relay the Pope's insistence that their communions should be viewed not as "museum pieces" but as "part of the living Church," along with his request that they work toward "the relief of tensions and

misunderstandings, in mutual respect with the Orthodox."

The week-long meeting brought together bishops representing 8 million Catholics in Ukraine, Romania, Hungary, Belarus, Poland, Slovakia, and Bulgaria. In every case, these churches have been harshly criticized by the Orthodox leaders of their respective countries--especially since the fall of the Soviet empire, which allowed Catholic leaders to operate more openly and to petition for the return of church property which had been confiscated (and often handed over to Orthodox bishops) by Communist rulers. Tensions have been particularly acute in Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Catholic Church was outlawed during the years of Communist rule, and where the renascent Church now represents the largest single contingent of Catholics among the Eastern rites in Europe.

Archbishop Szilard Keresztes of the Hungarian Catholic Church summed up the feelings of the Eastern Catholic bishops:

As they struggled to understand the latest setbacks on the ecumenical front, the Eastern-rite bishops asked for an explanation of the canceled meeting between Pope John Paul and Patriarch Alexei. Msgr. Jean-Claude Perisset, the secretary to the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, supplied the response.

Msgr. Perisset reported that the original idea for a summit meeting had been broached in 1989. Almost immediately, he continued, disagreements arose over the activities of some Catholic priests in Russia, who were accused of proselytism. But the Vatican official insisted that this was only a pretext. The real source of discord, he said, concerned the notion of religious liberty.

In the eyes of the Moscow Patriarch, the Orthodox Church is the single historical faith of Russia, and no other religious faith can claim an equal place. If a former atheist converts to Christianity, for instance, the patriarch contends that the convert should enter "his" Orthodox communion, simply because Russia is Orthodox territory. That position has recently found expression in a strict new law, recently approved by the Russian parliament with the heavy backing of the Moscow Patriarchate, which restricts the rights of "minority" religions--including Roman Catholicism--inside Russia. As long as Patriarch Alexei and his Orthodox allies hold to this view, it is difficult to imagine how the Vatican could stop their complaints about "proselytism" without completely abandoning the Eastern Catholic churches.

Still hope is alive. Early in July the Vatican announced the receipt of a letter for Patriarch Alexei, in which the Russian leader suggested yet another effort to plan a meeting between himself and Pope John Paul. "No date or place has been mentioned," admitted papal spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls. "But the letter expresses--and this is important--the hope that this meeting can take place."

Arthur DiNunzio is an American free-lance writer temporarily stationed in Vienna.