Tale of Two Islands, Cuba and Crete

Some Background on the Up-coming Great Council of the Orthodox ChurchesThe pontificate of Pope Francis has created an atmosphere of genuine inclusivity and spontaneous affection that recalls, for the seniors among us, John XXIII’s jovial demeanor and openness. It was his successor, Paul VI, whose historic meeting with Patriarch Athenogoras of Constantinople, the senior-most primate of the Eastern Orthodox Church, took place in Jerusalem in 1965. This event, half a century before instant media coverage, nonetheless implanted the ideal of ecumenical rapprochement and understanding throughout the Christian world. This movement flourished in succeeding decades only to be muffled, ironically, with the fall of the Soviet bloc governments. Those Orthodox Churches formerly behind the Iron Curtain no longer needed international attention (in the World Council of Churches, for example) that kept the full weight of state atheism at bay. Sadly, many of these Churches turned inward, some with xenophobic insularity.

Now in this new millennium, we are worlds away from the 60’s. Our attention has been caught by another historic embrace, in Havana, between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. Their meeting produced a long document of understanding. On face value it is an edifying proclamation full of hope. The primate of the Orthodox Church in America, Metropolitan Tikhon, wrote in a recent pastoral letter concerning the event that, “with God's blessing, may [it] be a milestone in the rediscovery of the shared spiritual tradition of Orthodox and Catholic Christians during the first millennium of Christianity. But it should, above all, be a source of inspiration for each of us in our own journey to remain faithful to Jesus Christ, through a life of prayer, of humility and of love.”

The joint document decries the plight of Syrian refugees and the sharp spike in the persecutions of Christians by ISIS and other extremist factions. Previously, Patriarch Kirill’s approach to the Syrian refugee problem has been equivocal, at best. The patriarch has been an advocate of Russkii Mir, a pan-slavic proposition that thinly masks the assertion of Russian hegemony in both political and ecclesiastical spheres. Vladimir Putin’s calculated military aggression in Ukraine is still unresolved after generating two million internally displaced refugees. Putin’s involvement in Syria including his military action on behalf of the Assad regime has faced little if any challenge from the Russian Church. One can only hope this recent agreement between the two primates signals some genuine Gospel-based way forward.

However, the Kievan-born Orthodox scholar Dr. Paul Gavrilyuk (Aquinas Chair at the University of St Thomas) offers a more sober assessment: Patriarch Kirill has a low stake in fostering Orthodox-Catholic relations and a high stake in advancing his geopolitical vision of the Russkii Mir. According to this vision, the Russian Orthodox believers represent an alternative civilization to the godless and decaying west.  Nevertheless, he observes that meeting with the head of an estimated 1.25 billion Roman Catholics around the world implies the admission by the patriarch that the west is not uniformly godless, as the ideology of the Russkii Mir proclaims.

The Cuba encounter comes on the heels of the proclamation of June 19 as the opening of the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Churches on Crete. In this time of polarity and tension it is no surprise that its convocation has attendant controversies and political maneuvering. Orthodoxy suffers from fragmentation: 14 [or 15] self-governing or “Autocephalous” Churches with two power centers, Constantinople, and Moscow. In history New-Rome, surnamed Constantinople was an imperial foundation of the 4th century. Moscow began as a grand duchy only in the 14th century and did not become the seat of the Russian patriarch until the end of the16th century, and only after a contentious rejection of its dependence on the see of Constantinople. Moscow later came to regard itself as the “3rd Rome” from a mixture of geopolitics and ecclesiastical messianism foreshadowing today's climate.

Patriarch Bartholomew is (and must be) a citizen of Turkey where the Syrian refugee crisis is acute. His efforts to convoke a synod of all the Orthodox Churches, like his efforts to further good relations with the Vatican, span decades. He and the recent popes have had regular meetings alternately in Rome and Istanbul. Organizing a council faced one obstacle after another, demanding perseverance and skill. Orthodoxy has no Vatican, and Bartholomew, while styled Ecumenical Patriarch, remains first-among-equals. No other autocephalous church owes him obedience, so getting all primates to sit around a table is like herding cats.

There has been a succession of preparatory meetings and an agenda is agreed. Papers have been published; advisors have weighed in and everyone is imploring the Holy Spirit to keep the entire project from jumping the tracks.

Yet serious challenges remain. The latest terrorist attack in Ankara, preceded by Turkey’s downing of a Russian fighter plane, led the Russian Church to insist on a new venue for the council. Hastily it was moved from Istanbul to Crete. There have also been last minute compromises on the manner of representation and voting. One primate expressed hope that the 20th Century Vatican Council might be an inspiration. Most participants and observers, however, have far more modest expectations. Probably the last word on this truly byzantine conclave and its possible outcome can be surmised from this year’s prestigious Schmemann lecture at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Crestwood, N.Y. given by the theologian, and Archdeacon to the Ecumenical Patriarch, John Chryssavgis: Our Church can play a major role in the world, but for this to happen, all of the Church’s indispensable structures, especially its bishops, especially its councils, must be humbly placed at the service of God, the Gospel and the Body of Christ. Then centers of primacy will no longer be centralized powers, but sanctuaries of communion. What a refreshing example that would prove for a Church that is called and claims to be in the world yet not of the world.


Brother Stavros
 

Preparatory Synaxis for the hoped-for Great Council, meeting in Geneva Switzerland last year

Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill of Moscow

Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew