Patriarch Kirill speaks on Chernobyl, plans visit to Japan

Kiev, April 27 (Interfax) - Human sins were the reason why the disaster happened at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, said Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.

"The sin that has infiltrated human nature and pushes people to commit mistakes for the sake of achieving sinful goals. A horrible error was the cause of the Chernobyl disaster," the Patriarch told the believers assembled for the liturgy at the Kiev Monastery of the Caves on Wednesday.

"God could have stopped the hand of the operator who made the horrible error while operating the reactor. God let it happen. And many people, by their death, might have contributed to the atonement for sins," he said.

The Chernobyl disaster occurred not without "the finger of God, because the cleanup in the aftermath of the disaster became a great act of moral courage for thousands of people," he said.

A disaster such as Chernobyl shows that "when a man acquires an enormous strength through his mind, infiltration into science and technology creation, he must simultaneously increase his great moral responsibility for people around him, for the peace of God and nature," the Patriarch said. I am reminded of two quotes. One from Confucius - The Master said: “Study without thought is vain: thought without study is dangerous.” The other from 1 Corinthians 1:25 - "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." Our technological towers of Babel seem to outstrip our moral compasses. From bioethics, to energy production, to modern warfare, we seem to be willing to fashion things 'because we can' without thought to the moral merits of the endeavors. 

And also...

Moscow, April 28 (Interfax) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia is planning to visit Japan in 2012, in particular, to check progress in the Orthodox churches' reconstruction process.

"I am planning to visit Japan next year, in particular, the Sendai diocese destroyed by the disaster, to express solidarity with Japanese brothers and sisters, to pray with them and think of what could be done to facilitate swift recovery from the disaster," the Patriarch said at an Easter reception organized by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday.

The next year will see the 100th anniversary since the day of St. Nicholas of Japan, "the Russian priest who brought the Orthodox religion to Japan and then led the Japanese Church," he recalled.

The Japanese people managed to "withstand the disaster at the Fukushima plant with courage and in an organized fashion," he said.

The Japanese quakes affected the Autonomous Japanese Orthodox Church (a self-governed Church of the Moscow Patriarchate), particularly the diocese of Sendai, he said. None of the clergy was killed, but some members of the congregation were, also several churches have been damaged.

The Russian Church has raised a substantial amount of money to rebuild Orthodox Churches, and hopefully, "the reconstruction work will begin in the near future," the Patriarch added.