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Moscow, September 27 (Interfax) - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has expressed his respect towards Pope Benedict XVI.Russian delegation visits Rome
"I am rejoicing at the opportunity to meet with you as the high representative of the Catholic Church and the Holy See in order to express my respect and fraternal love to His Holiness. I would like you to express these feelings on my behalf," the Patriarch said at a meeting with Pope's Personal Representative Cardinal Jozef Tomko in Moscow.
For his part, the Cardinal spoke of the spiritual revival in Russia.
"We see how cathedrals are being revived, this is a sign of the revival occurring within the believers. You, Your Holiness, are both the sign and the leader of this renewal and revival of the faith here," he said.
The Cardinal delivered to the Patriarch the Pope's cordial and fraternal greetings.
Tomko has arrived in Russia to attend the festivities on the occasion of the centenary anniversary of the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary in Moscow.
(mospat.ru) - In the evening of September 27, 2011, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the Moscow Patriarchate’s department for external church relations, arrived in Rome for an official visit, with the blessing of His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia.Papal legate in Moscow
At Ciampino airport he was met by Fr. Antony (Sevryuk), rector of the church of St. Catherine in Rome and secretary of the administration of the Moscow Patriarchate parishes in Italy, Mr. N. Sadchikov, Russian ambassador to the Vatican, and Fr. Milan Zust of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
The DECR chairman is expected to meet with Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, Secretary of State, Cardinal Kurt Koch, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Jianfranco Ravasi, president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Cardinal Angelo Scola, Archbishop of Milan. The visit will be concluded with participation in a concert of Russian church music held as part of the Year of Russian Culture and Language in Italy. The concert will be held in the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie and expected to be attended by Ms. S. Medvedeva.
Metropolitan Hilarion is accompanied by Archpriest Dmitry Sizonenko, DECR secretary for inter-Christian relations, Fr. Ioann (Guaita) of the DECR, Fr. Ioann (Kopeikin), assistant to the DECR chairman, and Mr. L. Sevastyanov, executive director of the St. Gregory the Theologian Charity.
(mospat.ru) - On September 26, 2011, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia received Cardinal Jozef Tomko, Pope Benedict XVI’s legate to the celebrations marking the centenary of the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Patriarch Kirill (right) and Cardinal Jozef Tomko (left)
Cardinal Tomko was accompanied by Archbishop Ivan Jurkovic, apostolic nuncio to Russia, Mgr Visvaldas Kulbokas, first secretary of the Holy See Representation in Russia, and Fr. Viktor Jakubov (Slovakia), assistant Cardinal Tomko.
Patriarch Kirill warmly welcomed the high guest who came to Moscow for the celebrations held by the Catholic community in Moscow. Having mentioned that from 1985 to 2001 Cardinal Tomko was prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, His Holiness stressed that missionary service was one of the priority tasks for the Russian Church today and introduced the guest to the system of theological education and training for priesthood in Russia. He also noted that the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church encountered today the same challenges of the secular world and this gave the reason for developing cooperation between the two Churches.
In his turn, Cardinal Jozef Tomko thanked Patriarch Kirill for the warm welcome and conveyed to him greetings from Pope Benedict XVI. He made special mentioned of the fact that Patriarch Kirill enjoyed a great spiritual authority in the West where very many lend an attentive ear to his words. He also expressed hope for further development of dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church.
In conclusion of the meeting, which was held in a warm and friendly atmosphere, the sides exchanged presents.
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It's nice that we are talking 'to' each other instead of 'at' each other. That said, ecumenical feel good greetings have done nothing to resolve the serious differences which separate Rome from the Church. Somebody wake me when Rome drops the Filioque and the decrees of Vatican I. Until then I will confine myself to wishing Benedict XVI well and many years as he tries to put his own house in order after almost 50 years of catastrophic innovations and "reforms."
ReplyDeleteOne of the first rules of counseling... get the two sides talking. :)
ReplyDeleteYup, until the Greeks abandon Palamite hesychasm and return to the purity of the Apostolic faith, we will just have to wish Kyril well.
ReplyDeleteI wish more Romans were that direct. It would save a lot of time, not to mention air fare.
ReplyDeleteWow...
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty insulting to byzantine catholics.
Carlos, to whom is your comment addressed? Andrew or John?
ReplyDeleteAndrew, I thank God for Hesychism, a.k.a., the teaching that it is not only possible, but essential for salvation, to have a genuine experiential relationship with the personal, incomprehensible, living God (the Uncreated Light), who Himself purifies our hearts and revives us from death and corruption by entering into and filling the very core of our being with His Presence by the energies of His Holy Spirit) for this is the very Truth of the gospel revealed in Jesus Christ. It seems to me, hesychism is doing through love and prayer in the depths of the heart what we also do bodily when we worthily receive the very Body and Blood of Christ in the Eucharist. Correct my wording, John, if I've missed or misrepresented something. Of course, the Roman Church has also tried to rationally and scholastically define exactly what happens in the transformation of the blessed Bread and Wine of the Eucharist (as if that truly explains the ineffable reality of this Mystery), so perhaps my parallel drawn here will not be as useful or obvious as I think it should be.
Does anyone know how many times official representatives of the Pope have visited Patriarch Kirill?
ReplyDeleteAnd how many times official representatives of the Patriarch have visited Pope Benedict XVI?
My point was that theology also develops in the Eastern Churches, a particular example which is widespread would be hesychasm. As John ventured to mention the filioque, which can be considered part of development of doctrine and can be traced back to the teachings of the common fathers and saints of both East and West, which was the basis of the Eastern acceptance of the decrees concerning the filioque at the Ecumenical Council of Florence (before Mark wrecked it and Grand Duke Lucas Notaras had his preference for the Ottoman's turban in the city)*, I in turn mentioned hesychasm.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, moving on, compared to the great antiquity and the common witness of the saints of East and West to the filioque, hesychasm was and is an innovation from Athos. So, if we keep on talking about returning to the status quo ante and abandoning the dogmatically defined papal infallibility and the filioque, among the orthodox, it would be akin to asking for an abandonment of hesychasm and uncreated light and the distinction between God's essence and energies, etc.
To be realistic, the Western Church needs to accept all of this as theologoumenon, for although it's not ratified by any council, as long as it's not inherently heretical and by long standing custom in the Eastern Churches, it can be accepted as a teaching.
The filioque is not in the same league, having been ratified by Florence. Although the Eastern Catholic Churches need not use it when the sing the Creed, the essence of the belief, of the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father through the Son, is dogmatic truth.
*The historian Steven Runciman recounts that during the siege of Constantinople Mehmet promised his men "the women and boys of the city." Upon its conquest, he ordered the 14 year old son of the Grand Duke Lucas Notaras be brought to him for his personal pleasure. When the father refused to deliver his son to such a fate he had them both decapitated on the spot. (Runciman, The Fall of Constantinople 1453. Cambridge University Press, 1965).
"The filioque is not in the same league, having been ratified by Florence."
ReplyDeleteWhat do you mean Andrew? The Council of Florence was rejected by the Orthodox Church.
Of all the Ecumenical councils since the schism, Florence has the greatest claim to ecumenicity, having been attended and partially convoked by the Eastern Emperor, with the personal attendance of the Patriarch of Constantinople and representatives of the other patriarchs.
ReplyDeleteMore importantly, it was during this Council that debates and close scrutiny was made on the Greek and Latin positions on the filioque and vigorous debates were held for the first time, looking at the disagreements in a sustained way, and examining the writings of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church on the question of the procession of the Holy Spirit. It was under these circumstances that the Greeks signed the decree of Union. Any way forward, must take into account the Decree of Florence and its preceding debates which have sifted thru the evidence and firmly decided on the question.
The Catholic Church cannot deny the defined doctrine of the procession of the Holy Spirit, from the Father thru the Son.
I think clarity is needed here. If the Orthodox want to specifically deny this, then no union is possible because to deny this would be heresy for the Holy Spirit really does proceed from the Father alone as a principle, preserving the monarchy of the Father, but the spiration is thru the Son.
*participants at Florence: On the Gospel side of the altar rose the (unoccupied) throne of the Western Emperor (Sigismund of Luxemburg), who had died only a month previously; on the Epistle side was placed the throne of the Greek Emperor. Besides the emperor and his brother Demetrius, there were present, on the part of the Greeks, Joasaph, the Patriarch of Constantinople; Antonius, the Metropolitan of Heraclea; Gregory Hamma, the Protosyncellus of Constantinople (the last two representing the Patriarch of Alexandria); Marcus Eugenicus of Ephesus; Isidore of Kiev (representing the Patriarch of Antioch); Dionysius, Bishop of Sardes (representing the Patriarch of Jerusalem); Bessarion, Archbishop of Nicaea; Balsamon, the chief chartophylax; Syropulos, the chief ecclesiarch, and the Bishops of Monembasia, Lacedaemon, and Anchielo. In the discussions the Latins were represented principally by Cardinal Giuliano Cesarini and Cardinal Niccolò Albergati. Andrew, Archbishop of Rhodes; the Bishop of Forlì; the Dominican John of Turrecremata; and Giovanni di Ragusa, provincial of Lombardy.
Andrew, your posts are a tangible reminder of how the theological approach in the West looks at things according to outward appearances, looking for outward evidences having to do with established worldly and clerical authorities, etc., that a Council of Bishops is properly "Ecumenical" and so forth, while the Eastern approach is to come at discernment based on the Holy Spirit's common conviction in the deep heart of the whole Church of what is truth and articulate and act accordingly. This explains how a minority, with St. Athanasius a rather lonely voice crying in the wilderness, came out on top as genuinely orthodox on the Arian question, and from an Orthodox perspective it also explains why the Eastern Bishops (and laity) rejected Florence.
ReplyDeleteOf course, you perhaps also realize that from an Eastern Orthodox perspective, Hesychism was not a "development" in the sense that it introduced anything new to the Church's theology or experience of God. It was merely continuing to articulate and describe in fresh terms what has always been the experience of those in the Church.
I believe Andrew is enjoying a lot staying in fog and has absolutely no idea about means that reality he mentioned to be as 'the innovation from Athos'.He heard somewhere the word 'hesychasm' and thinks he knows what it means. We must recommend him to clarify his notions by extended readings; and if he doesn't like Palama, he can read Romanides. As for Florence, Andrew dear, you must definitely ask someone who really knows about the meaning of "ecumenical council". Until you fully clarify these notions for yourself, it is not possible to express a valuable opinion. Searching a little in the history of the Church will help you understand more about these notions.
ReplyDeleteAnd, not to forget, take a look in a dictionary at the word "development". After you'll read the definition, you will surely understand that, concerning dogmas, you cannot use this word as you like or when you like it. Not even, for example, for that new franciscan INNOVATION called "Immaculate Conception", (that appeared in...the XIXth century??? Come on, Andrew!!!).
What do you think the Roman Catholic Church makes of the fact that Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokhalamsk has publicly expressed his approval of the actions of the notorious L'viv Sobor of 1946 which forced Greek Catholics in Ukraine into the Moscow Patriarchate?
ReplyDelete