THE P RTAL
July 2015
Page 9
“The monks see themselves as the defenders of pure
Orthodoxy and they are very critical of the different
meetings and the agreed statements that are coming
out from the Orthodox/Catholic contacts. There are
bound to be circles in the different Churches, not
only the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but in the churches
council of union
of Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece, in which
“The last such council between Catholics and there will be those who will be extremely suspicious of
Orthodox was the one I mentioned just now, in meetings of this kind.
Florence from 1438 to 1439. An agreement was signed
“There is a second point. Within Orthodoxy,
that the overwhelming majority of the Orthodox
is
tension
between
Constantinople
subscribed to, but subsequently this was rejected in there
the Orthodox East, so that council, important though and Moscow. Constantinople, by long standing
it was historically, was a failure. But let us pray that tradition, has the position of first among equals within
there may be another council of union which will be the Orthodox world and the recent Patriarchs have
taken an active role in acting as the mouth-piece for
more successful.
Orthodoxy.
“What we must do, is to prepare for such a council.
“The Patriarch is often called ‘leader’ of the Orthodox
We should not just treat it as something that will
happen out of the blue. Yes, we do believe in the power Church in the Western press, but that is not a term
and grace of God, but He expects us, on our own side, in technical Canon Law. Moscow on the other side is
to contribute our human efforts, Therefore there is a the largest Orthodox Church and there are people in
need for councils not only to be received but also to Moscow who say, ‘since the fall of the Byzantine Empire
and then of the Ottoman Empire, Constantinople has
be prepared.”
lost most of its flock and its seniority has now become
widely differing views
something theoretical. We of the Russian church are
Ronald commented that there have been criticisms the largest and we should be endowed with leadership
over Patriarch Bartholomew’s meeting with Pope in the Orthodox world.’
Francis, not least of which came from the Moscow
“Now Moscow does not dispute that in the Canonical
Patriarchy. He said. “I don’t want to put you on the
spot, but I just want to give you the opportunity to structure of the Orthodox Church the Ecumenical
Patriarch is first, but sometimes in Russia it is felt that
comment if you want to.”
he takes too active a role in representing worldwide
His Eminence responded, “There are at least two Orthodoxy.
factors to be taken into account here. First, within
“There is a tendency in the Church of Russia to
the Orthodox Church there are widely differing
views about Ecumenical contacts and work for Unity. say that this meeting between the Patriarch of
We hav