Statement of the Communication service of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate

STATEMENT OF THE COMMUNICATION SERVICE OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR EXTERNAL CHURCH RELATIONS OF THE MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE

The Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate has received letters from Cardinal Kasper, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and Archbishop Kondrusiewicz, head of the Russian Catholics. These letters were sent in response to the materials directed to them by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, DECR Chairman, in which a detailed account of the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on proselytism and relations between the Orthodox and the Catholics was given.

The received answers again confirm invariability of the course taken by the Catholic Church in relation to the Orthodox population of Russia and other CIS countries. The Catholic hierarchs insist on the right of their Church ‘to preach the Gospel to all people’. From the experience of the last years we know that by this they mean missionary work aiming to convert into Catholicism as many people as possible, including those who belong to Orthodoxy both by Baptism and national and cultural tradition. This position is unacceptable for the Russian Orthodox Church.

In the documents sent to the Catholic side it was stated clearly how the Russian Orthodox Church understood proselytism. Catholic hierarchs’ answer gives an impression that their interpretation of the examples of the Catholic proselytic activities shows a principal difference in the opinions of the two Churches concerning the same facts. All these facts not only complicate dialogue with the Vatican and its church structures in Russia and other countries of the Commonwealth, but also make it doomed to failure beforehand.

An even more serious damage to relations between the two Churches has been caused by the recent Vatican’s decisions to establish new dioceses in historically Orthodox regions of Ukraine. No lesser concern is aroused by the plans of the leadership of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church to move from Lvov to Kiev and establish their Patriarchate there.

Thus, actions of the Catholic Church inspite of various statements eloquently show her intention to spread her influence to the East. Such policy of the Roman Catholic Church can result in nothing but distrust and alienation.