The Shepherd, May 2009
A SAD BUT NECESSARY CAUTION
SOME of our people (in SiR UK) have recently been approached by ROCA-MP parishioners, who apparently intend to petition their Synod for the removal of Archbishop Mark as the administrator of their churches in this country. It seems that these people believe that, if they can give the impression that the SiR communities in this country might return to the Synod of Metropolitan Hilarion, it would add weight to their proposals. Please, politely but firmly, leave such people on no doubt that we wish to take no part in any such campaign. We did not leave the then ROCA, and place ourselves under the omophorion of Metropolitan Cyprian, because of any personal difficulties with Archbishop Mark or because of any perceived mal-administration on his part. We left solely because we could not in all conscience, and as a matter of confession of faith, accept the impending premature rapprochement between ROCA and the Moscow Patriarchate. That remains our position.
NEWS SECTION
VATICAN - MOSCOW RELATIONS WARMING
TWO RECENT NEWS ITEMS indicate that relations between the Vatican and the Moscow Patriarchate are warming since the election earlier this year of His Holiness Patriarch Kyrill I. On 24th April, Interfax reported that Head of the Catholic Archdiocese in Moscow, Archbishop Paolo Pezzi, has urged priests not to compete with Orthodox pastors, but to look for new ways to develop inter-confessional dialogue. He was speaking at the diocesan conference in the Moscow Region. At the same conference, the Secretary for inter-Christian relations of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, Archpriest Igor Vyzhanov, expressed hope that today “when there are more facts of cooperation of the Churches in international organizations in New York & Strasbourg, such cooperation will be developed in Moscow as well.”
The Vatican Magazine published a long article on 30th April, headed, “Will Kirill and Benedict Meet?” referring respectively to the Patriarch of Moscow and the Pope. The article speaks of the clergymen whom the Patriarch has promoted to positions of influence within his Church during in his first 100 days, & indicates that these appointments are welcomed by RC observers eager for a rapprochement between their communion & the Orthodox Church. The article which obviously rejoices in the election of a man who has already three times met the Pope, although not in his present position as Patriarch, states: “Arguably, today Kirill is one of the 10 or 20 most influential men in Russia, one of the key countries in the world, and his relative youth means that he will likely be an important factor in national decisions for years to come. Kirill now heads of a Church with more than 100 million adherents — larger than the Anglican Church — including millions of Russian Orthodox living abroad, which gives the Russian Orthodox Church a ‘global’ aspect.” It appears the Vatican writer feels this is a man that they can deal with.
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