T
Timidity
Guest
From the Russian News & Information Agency
redictably, recent media reports that the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican were going to sit down at the negotiating table to resolve their long-standing differences were greeted by the public with a yawn. Although most people decided that the talks had little chance of success and so forgot the news as soon as they had heard it, this attempt at reconciliation should be taken seriously.
Although the talks have little chance of success, they at least represent an improvement; until recently, such an ecumenical dialogue would have been unthinkable. The hierarchs of both Churches have been prompted to move toward reunification by numerous factors: the increasing threat of radical Islam, the decline in moral values among the faithful, and the attempt by European politicians to banish Christianity from public life. A prime example of the latter is the European Union’s reluctance to mention the Christian roots of European civilization in the EU Constitution.
The Russian Orthodox Church has problems of its own. It has been weakened by decades of repression, and its followers are a people whose moral character was corrupted by Soviet rule. Unlike the EU, however, Russia’s secular authorities are doing their best to work with the Church to overcome the Soviet legacy, but there are many issues that still have not been resolved. Moreover, church and state have not yet divided up their respective spheres of influence after a long period of official atheism.
It is fairly obvious that none of these contradictions can be overcome unless Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have the courage to move away from their traditional religious canons in search of a compromise. It may seem like a paradox, but the conservatism of Pope Benedict XVI, who succeeded the late John Paul II in 2005, makes success more likely because the more conservative the Vatican’s position, the closer it matches that of the Russian Orthodox Church.
redictably, recent media reports that the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican were going to sit down at the negotiating table to resolve their long-standing differences were greeted by the public with a yawn. Although most people decided that the talks had little chance of success and so forgot the news as soon as they had heard it, this attempt at reconciliation should be taken seriously.Although the talks have little chance of success, they at least represent an improvement; until recently, such an ecumenical dialogue would have been unthinkable. The hierarchs of both Churches have been prompted to move toward reunification by numerous factors: the increasing threat of radical Islam, the decline in moral values among the faithful, and the attempt by European politicians to banish Christianity from public life. A prime example of the latter is the European Union’s reluctance to mention the Christian roots of European civilization in the EU Constitution.
The Russian Orthodox Church has problems of its own. It has been weakened by decades of repression, and its followers are a people whose moral character was corrupted by Soviet rule. Unlike the EU, however, Russia’s secular authorities are doing their best to work with the Church to overcome the Soviet legacy, but there are many issues that still have not been resolved. Moreover, church and state have not yet divided up their respective spheres of influence after a long period of official atheism.
It is fairly obvious that none of these contradictions can be overcome unless Catholic and Orthodox Christian leaders have the courage to move away from their traditional religious canons in search of a compromise. It may seem like a paradox, but the conservatism of Pope Benedict XVI, who succeeded the late John Paul II in 2005, makes success more likely because the more conservative the Vatican’s position, the closer it matches that of the Russian Orthodox Church.