Aquileia and Moscow

We were "welcomed with great kindness and courtesy, and shared a deep experience of brotherhood": that was the unanimous comment of the bishops of the Churches of the region of Friuli Venezia-Giulia in Italy (Archbishops Pietro Brollo of Udine and Dino De Antoni of Gorizia, and Bishops Eugenio Ravignani of Trieste and Ovidio Poletto of Concordia Pordenone), after having twice met the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias in recent days. The four Italian bishops were guests in Moscow at the invitation of Metropolitan Kirill, on the occasion of the celebrations marking the Orthodox feast of the Dormition of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary: a significant event in the run-up to the Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu. TWO MEETINGS AS "FRIENDS". At the first of their two meetings with the Patriarch of Moscow, the small Italian delegation arrived at the cathedral of Christ the Saviour – which contains two mosaics created by the famous School of Mosaic in Spilimbergo and donated to the cathedral by the archdiocese of Udine two years ago – and allowed to ascend to the entrance of the iconostasis. Alexei II then received the four bishops, who expressed to him their desire that he in turn should pay a visit to the basilica of Aquileia. "Ever since its origins, the Church of Aquileia has kept open its doors to dialogue with many different nationalities and cultures, from Noricum to Pannonia, from the Lombards to the populations of Slav languages – said Archbishop PIETRO BROLLO, also on behalf of his fellow-bishops -. In the name of our common faith, founded on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and on the witness of the saints, apostles and martyrs, we wish to continue this brotherly meeting and exchange between the Churches". ALEXEI II underlined the importance of these exchanges: "We must join together in tackling the de-christianization of our world today. We must defend the family and life. We must help youth in this society in which God is being sidelined". The Patriarch of Moscow also emphasized the importance of prayer for the achievement of unity. To the invitation made to him, the Patriarch replied: "If God be willing, we shall make this visit to Aquileia", explaining that he would listen to the opinion of the Holy Synod of the Russian Church on the matter. A MOVING GESTURE. The second meeting with Alexei II took place during the Orthodox celebration: after the consecration, once the doors of the ancient and magnificent iconostasis had been closed, and the celebrants took communion from each other, the Italian bishops were allowed to enter the space of the celebrants for a further meeting with the Patriarch. "It was a moving gesture, and of great deference to us – observes Archbishop DINO DE ANTONI of Gorizia – because it enabled us to enter into the Eucharist". At the end of the rite, standing at the doorway of the ancient church of the Kremlin, Alexei II wished once again to welcome and embrace the four visiting bishops. The dialogue between Friuli and Russia is nothing new. "At the meeting of the Churches of the Three Venetias at Aquileia in 1990 – recalled Bishop OVIDIO POLETTO – one of the fundamental points on the agenda was that of the commitment to dialogue with and opening to the Churches of Eastern Europe". Bishop EUGENIO RAVIGNANI in turn observed that a fundamental stage in this dialogue had already taken place in 1984: that was on the occasion of the meeting of the Churches of Europe at Riva del Garda: "Alexei II, Metropolitan at the time, also took part in it – recalled the bishop of Trieste – and today wished to remind us of this meeting which ended with a prayer in Trento Cathedral and the gesture of kissing the Crucifix of the Council that took place there". The three ecumenical meetings of the archdiocese of Udine at the abbey of Rosazzo should also be recalled. In Italy, the Churches of the North-East, and in particular those of Friuli Venezia-Giulia, have long practiced an ecumenism of small gestures. Also for this reason, said Monsignor Poletto, Alexei told us: "We have always been well received by the Churches of North-Eastern Italy". Fact File: the Patriarchate of Aquileia Founded as a Roman colony in 181 BC in a territory influenced by various peoples and cultures, Aquileia played a new moral and cultural role with the advent of Christianity which had been brought thither – according to popular tradition – by St. Mark, and whose further development was founded on the witness of a long series of martyrs (Ermacora and Fortunatus, Ilarius and Tazianus, Crysogonus). The bishops of Aquileia grew in importance in the following centuries and made a strong contribution to the development of Western Christianity from a doctrinal point of view (the Council of 381, involving all the Churches of the West, was famous and decisive in defeating the Arian heresy). The Patriarchate of Aquileia, a politico-religious entity that existed from 568 to 1751, administered a huge territory with present-day Friuli at its centre. It was in fact the largest diocese and metropolitanate of the Church throughout the European Middle Ages: some twenty dioceses in Italy and a further ten or so beyond the Alps were under its jurisdiction. Until 811 its ecclesiastical jurisdiction stretched as far as the river Danube to the North, lake Balaton (Hungary) to the East, Como to the West, and Istria to the south, down to 1751, the year of its extinction due to the pressure of the Hapsburgs; it was then broken up according to the political frontiers of the time.