Yet another Bergoglio-led ecumenical
prayer for peace in the Middle East
But orthodox participation underscores how this pope has been
glossing over the raging intra-Orthodox conflict in the Ukraine
July 5, 2018
Pope Francis has invited to Bari, on Saturday July 7, the heads of the Churches of the Middle East - Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant - for a day of prayer for peace in that region.
But there is another conflict in the East that is looming over this assembly. It is the conflict that has Ukraine as its epicenter and is dramatically dividing the Orthodox world, with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople on one side and on the other the Patriarch Kirill of Moscow “and all Rus".
Bartholomew will be in Bari. But not Kirill, who will instead be represented by his head of external relations, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk. Who a few days ago sternly rejected yet again the idea of creating an autonomous Orthodox Church in Ukraine, going so far as to say that “blood will flow” if this is legitimized and therefore removed from the jurisdiction of the patriarchate of Moscow.
And legitimized by whom? By none other than the Patriarch of Constantinople, who would have the discretion to do this in that he is traditionally “primus inter pares” among all the heads of Orthodoxy.
Settimo Cielo provided one month ago, after Metropolitan Hilarion’s visit to the Vatican, the essential facts of the dispute, which in spite of being primarily internal to Orthodoxy also involves the Catholic Church to a significant extent, especially after Pope Francis lined up solidly on the side of the Russian Orthodox Church:
> In Ukraine, Between Orthodox and Catholic, Francis Sides With Moscow
Currently in Ukraine there are three Orthodox communities. The only one canonically recognized by the whole of Orthodoxy, with Metropolitan Onufry, is the one subject to the patriarchate of Moscow. But in addition there is an independent patriarchate headed by a former high-ranking official of the Russian Church, Filaret. And finally there is another Ukrainian Orthodox Church that has proclaimed itself as such, with Metropolitan Methodius.
For some time there has been a very strong push in Ukraine to rejoin these three great trunks in a single autocephalous Ukrainian Orthodox Church, under Moscow but as one of the many autocephalous Orthodox Churches, which includes the Russian Orthodox Church, but of which Bartholomew is 'primus inter pares'..
On the political terrain, the government of Kiev is also very involved in supporting this new autonomous Orthodox Church. And so is the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, 4 million faithful strong whose Major Archbishop, Sviatoslav Shevchuk, was received in audience by Pope Francis two days ago.
But both of these external expressions of support are have simply sharpened the hostility of the patriarchate of Moscow against the entire operation.
[Remember that, unlike Pope Francis, who has taken the side of the Russians, Archbishop Shemchuk has openly condemned Russia's aggression against the Ukraine in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.]
As for the Greek Catholics, Hilarion has gone so far as to accuse them of wanting to absorb the new entity, turning it from Orthodox to Catholic, thus bringing it under Rome. [An absurd notion, to begin with. As if Shemchuk did not already have his hands full with the Church he now heads and Ukraine's political conflicts!]
And Francis practically agreed with the powerful Russian metropolitan, when he received him at the Vatican last May 30, at which time
Bergoglio aimed a tough reprimand at the Ukrainian Catholics who, he said, “interfere in the internal affairs of the Russian Orthodox Church.”
Both Bartholomew and Hilarion are canvassing the Orthodox world inch by inch, to survey the positions of the various Churches and bring them over to their side. On July 7, the two will see each other in Bari and two days later the Patriarch of Constantinople will be in Moscow for what could be the decisive head-to-head with Kirill.
Bartholomew has not yet shown his cards, even if it is clear that he and his closest colleagues - chief among them Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum, one of the greatest living theologians - want to see the birth of a unified and autonomous Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
ThePpatriarchate of Moscow, however, has made no mystery of its intentions. It has already stated and restated in the harshest of terms its “no” to the operation. And the reasons for this are understandable.
The Ukrainian Church subject to the jurisdiction of Moscow numbers a good 40 percent of the parishes of the entire Russian patriarchate, about 12,000 out of 30,000. Losing them would be a tragedy for Moscow.
And if to these 12,000 parishes are added thousands more belonging to the other two Ukrainian Churches now in existence, the new unified Ukrainian Orthodox Church would become the second most populous Orthodox Church in the world, able to rival the Patriarchate of Moscow, until now the undisputed Orthodox leader in terms of membership.
A reliable recent survey showed that the creation of a unified and autonomous Orthodox Church enjoys the approval of 31.3 percent of the population of Ukraine,, while those against are 19.8 percent, the indifferent are 34.7 percent, and those not answering are 14.2 percent. With variations from area to area, the greatest proportion of those in favor, 58 percent, are in western Ukraine, and the most against, 28.2 percent, are in the east.
Even among the 85 bishops of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church subject to the patriarchate of Moscow, the temptation to strike out on their own is making inroads. Their official position, unanimously adopted last June 25, is that autocephaly is not among their current objectives. But right afterward, in Athens, on another official visit to the Orthodox of Greece, Bishop Victor clarified that
“the Ukrainian Orthodox Church does not categorically set itself against the idea of autocephaly.”
Autocephaly would revert the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to its original status, according to the historical reconstruction made by Metropolitan Ioannis of Pergamum, who says that the transfer of the metropolis of Kiev from the jurisdiction of Constantinople to that of Moscow in 1685, was simply a provisory and revocable measure.
No need to add that the Patriarchate of Moscow reacted with fury to Ioannis's historical footnote, declaring it false.
In addition to peace in the Middle East, it would be well that Pope Francis and his two Orthodox guests in Bari pray as well for 'peace' in the Orthodox world.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 07/07/2018 22:43]