Patriarch Kirill says he won't meet the pope. Blames UGCC

[Filii_Dei]

I believe it’s time to triple the prayers.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

I believe it’s time to triple the prayers.

I’ll join you in trebling the prayers for unity and peacful resolution of this complicated matter!

That said, I can understand some of the sentiments on all sides. The art of resolution will require all to consider the viewpoints of all other parties involved respectfully and in imitation of Christ.

I do not pretend to understand all of what is alluded to here. However, as a Ruthenian Catholic with ancestors and cousins in this region and in the Ukraine, we are always tangentially involved and effected. I’m trying to keep up with this out of genuine filial interest and Christian concern.

Somehow, in reading this, I am reminded of the history of Christianity among the Slavic peoples. If memory serves, it was Prince Vladimir, grand prince of Kiev and ruler of Kievan Rus, who was instrumental in bringing Christianity to the region. I can see how that bit of history might influence the thinking on both sides of the Orthodox aisle …

 

[Diak]

From our Patriarch +Sviatoslav’s homily last summer on the commemoration of the Baptism of Rus’ to the UGCC faithful gathered:
“With these liturgical acts we want to above all thank God for ‘the great gift of baptism’ (as Blessed John Paul II stated), that our ancestors a thousand years ago were given and pay tribute to many generations of our compatriots, who throughout the Christian history of our people saved in their hearts the holy faith and passed it down to us, their descendants… by renewing our baptismal vows, we want to express to our Creator and Savior that we want to publicly acknowledge our faith, defend it, and live it in our personal, family, professional, and public lives. It should be a solemn manifestation of our fidelity to the union with God, which we entered through baptism…we should persistently seek ways of reconciliation and union with our brothers in faith…through our fervent prayer, sincere openness to dialogue, willingness to forgiveness and reconciliation we have to fulfill Christ’s commandment ‘That all of them may be one”.

May this prayer be on all of our lips.

 

[ByzCathCantor]

May this prayer be on all of our lips.

Yes, indeed! Amen!

 

[Marhitych]

The current Russian Orthodox Church is not true Russain Orthodoxy, but the result of 70 years control by the KGB. It’s hostile to the true nature of Russian Orthodoxy, and hostile to, in general, everything Christian, including the UGCC.

It is very different from the pre-Revolutionary Russian Orthodox Church that existed, and in essence is actually destroying Russian Orthodoxy. However, far from all members of it are bad. The leadership is totally corrupted, yet many members of it are honest and many priests are honest.

Today, the true spirit of Russian Orthodoxy is represnted by the “Old Believers” and by the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile. Both groups are constantly attacked by the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow as being fascists or something like that, but anyone who is looking for the true spirit of Orthodoxy should definetely look them up, especially the Old Believers.

 

[Nine_Two]

The current Russian Orthodox Church is not true Russain Orthodoxy, but the result of 70 years control by the KGB. It’s hostile to the true nature of Russian Orthodoxy, and hostile to, in general, everything Christian, including the UGCC.

It is very different from the pre-Revolutionary Russian Orthodox Church that existed, and in essence is actually destroying Russian Orthodoxy. However, far from all members of it are bad. The leadership is totally corrupted, yet many members of it are honest and many priests are honest.

Today, the true spirit of Russian Orthodoxy is represnted by the “Old Believers” and by the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile. Both groups are constantly attacked by the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow as being fascists or something like that, but anyone who is looking for the true spirit of Orthodoxy should definetely look them up, especially the Old Believers.

Yeah, people interested in the Orthodox Church should definitely look into a group of Christians that doesn’t believe in apostolic succession and doesn’t even have priests. Good call.

If the time spent under the Soviet Regime makes the ROC illegitimate, what does the time the Papacy spent under the French Regime, or the Fascist Italian regime, make it?

I would say more, but it is Lent, and I’m not scheduled to get myself another infraction for another few weeks.

 

[Marhitych]

If the time spent under the Soviet Regime makes the ROC illegitimate, what does the time the Papacy spent under the French Regime, or the Fascist Italian regime, make it?

I understand what you mean, but this is different, it would be the same if at the beginning of the Fascist Italian regime, they executed most of the Roman Catholic Church officials and the rest of them moved abroad, and then two seperate Churches developed for almost 100 years…

 

[CDB1718]

Patriarch Sviatoslav responds.

risu.org.ua/en/index/all_news/confessional/interchurch_relations/47154/

“Very often, they talk about the obstacle for meeting with the pope, which, according to Patriarch Kirill, is the Uniates in the west of Ukraine. And this has been repeated for nearly 20 years, almost each year at various forums… **But the real obstacle, to some extent, is the inability to admit one’s mistakes, particularly of the fact that the Russian Orthodox Church was used by Stalin’s regime for the forced liquidation of the UGCC. **All the discussions about the Lviv pseudo-synod are at a complete standstill,” he stated.