Another enterprise story from ASCA!
Moscow anxious to sign accord
with Rome similar to
the Manhattan Declaration
ROME, Dec. 12 (Translated from ASCA) - The Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow is 'ready' to sign with the Catholic Church a common statement "for the defense of the Christian tradition" - from the defense of life from conception to natural death, to full support of teh traditional family, from the promotion of the presence of religion in the public sphere, to safeguarding Christian values in Europe - similar to the contents and intentions of the Manhattan Declaration signed by Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant leaders in the United States last month to oppose "unjust laws' by the State.
This was affirmed to ASCA by the #2 official in the Department of External Ecclesial Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate. Hieromonk Philipp Ryabykh.
[His chief is Archbishop Hilarion, in effect, the patriarchate's foreign minister, in the job that Patriarch Kirill held for years before he was elected to succeed the late Alexei II earlier this year.]
While Ryabykh underscored the 'ever growing' accord between the Catholic Church and the Russian orthodox Church, he also reiterated the Russian view that it is "too soon' to speak of a meeting between the Patriarch of Moscow and Pope Benedict XVI.
"We appreciate the meeting that the Pope had with President Medvedev, but problems persist with the Greek Catholic Church in the Ukraine which continues to seek expansion and to proselytize among the Orthodox."
He said the meeting between the two Church leaders could only take place after such problems are resolved, "and this is still very difficult".
The possiblity of such a meeting, he said, "is on the agenda, but it is not fixed nor in preparation".
Meanwhile, Ryabykh said that the Patriarchate is 'anxious' to sign a common agreement with the Catholic Church in defense of Christian tradition "since both Churches are ready" for it.
He said that the occasion for launching such a common agreement could be "the plenary assembly, which takes place Feb. 1 in Moscow, of the Inter-Christian Consultative Committee of the nations of the former Soviet Union and of Eastern Europe".
"This is an ecumenical pan-Christian council," he pointed out. "In such a context, we hope to be able to present a declaration in defense of Christian tradition similar to the Manhattan Declaration".
The "defense of Christian values and tradition" and the battle against secularism are issues on which the Vatican and Moscow have shown great convergence for some time.
The Catholic and Orthodox Churches will start a common dialog with European institutions in implementation of Art. 17 of the Treaty of Lisbon
[which governs the supranational administration of the European Union] that went into effect earlier this month.
But that collaboration could go farther: the Manhattan Declaration, launched in the midst of the Christian battle plan against federal funding for abortion that may yet be part of the sweeping health care reforms pushed by President Obama, aims at what it calls 'unjust laws'.
"We will not agree," it says, " to any edict that will oblige us or any institutions we lead to carry out or agree to abortions, embryonic research, assisted suicides, euthanasia or any other act that violates the principle of the profound, intrinsic and equal dignity of every member of the human family."
"Moreover, let it be known that we will not be reduced to silence or acquiescence or the violation of our consciences by any power on earth, whether cultural or political, independent of the consequences to ourselves".
Ryabykh explained the reason for the letter recently sent by Archbishop Hilarion to the president of the German Lutheran Church, Margot Kassman. Hilarion announced the 'impossibility' on the part of the Orthodox, to continue the dialog between their two churches 'in the same form', after her election as the first woman president of Germany's evangelical Christians, and in the light of divergences in the ethical field "that have been aggravated dramatically".
The letter has led the German Lutherans, in response, to cancel the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the start of theological dialog between the two churches.
For Ryabykh, this decision is the inevitable consequence of the 'decline' of ecumenism as it has been practised in recent decades: "For decades, attempts by Christians to reach a common theological position have failed, and today, even on ethical issues, there are tensions and disagreements which were not there before".
"The new divisions are on issues like abortion, euthanasia and gay marriages," he said, "which clearly do not allow all Christians to work together".
That is why, he said, an initiative like the Manhattan Declaration, agreed to by Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants, is 'a good sign' in a world where there is no structure of dialog among the three main branches of the Christian tradition "with the specific aim of defending the Christian tradition in the modern world and in various societies at the international level".
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/12/2009 01:03]