The Shepherd, February 2009
NEWS SECTION
PATRIARCH KYRILL I OF MOSCOW
AS WIDELY EXPECTED, on 27th January, n.s., His Eminence Metropolitan Kyrill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected to be Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia at the Local Council of the Russian Orthodox Church, held in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Moscow.
A commentator, Paul Goble (Window on Eurasia, Vienna, 27/1/09), has succinctly stated: “The new patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church will pursue a nationalist and authoritarian approach within his faith and his country while seeking a rapprochement with the Vatican and some other churches abroad, each course a reflection of his desire to increase the power of the Moscow Patriarchate at home and abroad.… His combination of authoritarianism at home and ecumenism abroad is intended to guarantee that he will enjoy the support not only of conservatives within the Church but more importantly of the Russian government and that, at the same time, he will escape criticism in the West because of his apparent openness to expanded ties with the Vatican.” In fact, already the Vatican has responded very warmly to his election.
Born in Leningrad in 1946, the new Patriarch, whose civil name is Vladimir Gundyaev, came from a family of churchmen. He studied at the Leningrad Theological Seminary and subsequently that city’s Theological Academy. Before graduating, he became a monk and took the name Kyrill. He then worked as the representative of the Moscow Patriarchate at the World Council of Churches in Geneva (1970-74), rector of the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy (1974-84), and in a series of increasingly important administrative posts within the Church (1984-89). In November 1989, he became head of the Patriarchate’s Department of External Relations, a position he has retained until now. It is reported that, like his predecessor, Kyrill has a long history of working with the KGB. Goble explains: “For churchmen of his generation, it could not be otherwise, but he has appeared more comfortable with that than some of the others.” He also adds that the Patriarch-Elect has “been actively involved since 1990 in the Church’s extensive economic activities. Indeed, he has been known in some circles as the ‘tobacco metropolitan’ for his role in promoting the sale of cigarettes from which the Church has profited. As a result, his opponents in the Church and religious rights activists often have accused him of being corrupt. And… in boosting himself and his supporters within the church, Kirill has not been shy about using ‘administrative resources,’ including those of the security agencies, against anyone who opposes him or even has different ideas.… The government-controlled media backed him all the way, giving him time and space far greater than any of the other possible candidates, and web sites, like Portal-Credo.ru, which have opposed him, were blocked during the meeting of the Moscow conclave."
The new Patriarch is nonetheless a very talented man and it remains to be seen how the Patriarchate will develop during his primacy, though it is very apparent that the “Soviet Era” in Church History is not yet at an end. One area of particular concern for those of us who are “ROCOR Refugees,” and yet naturally have an abiding affection for the Church we were forced to leave by its abandonment of its earlier confession, is how the ROCA-MP will fare under the primacy of Patriarch Kyrill. Some years ago, the present compiler of this magazine heard an interview with Metropolitan Kyrill, in which the latter spoke most eloquently and beautifully about the Church, but when he told this to his Bishop, the latter brushed it aside, commenting that “Anyone can speak beautifully once. I would not stay in the same room with that man!” Now, it appears, he has laid aside those scruples. And when he was trying to persuade us to accept the rapprochement between the MP and ROCA, His Eminence Archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Britain, on several occasions commented that there was need for expedition because the then present Patriarch (Aleksii II) was likely to be more sympathetic to ROCA than his likely successor, Kyrill. Now, Kyrill is indeed Patriarch, and we shall have to see whether the Archbishop’s gloomy prognosis was indeed justified.
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