” “Time and charity are needed

“The image, as in a dream, of an undivided Church”. That is the memory that the metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Kirill , will take back with him to Russia at the end of his journey to Umbria (Italy) where he was received in the archbishop’s residence in Perugia by all the bishops of the Region on 2 October, and where the University conferred on him an honorary doctorate in political science. And if ecumenical dialogue is encountering a difficult moment in Russia, Kirill said he was optimistic. Speaking to the Umbrian episcopate, he said: “It’s possible today to reassemble the fragments of a broken vase even if they are found in different rooms… Understanding this requires an effort, but it is an effort that needs to be made for the good of Christians”. On the future of ecumenical dialogue in Russia we asked for an opinion from the archbishop of Moscow, Tadeus Kondrusiewicz . “I am – he said – an incurable optimist. I think everything will sort itself out because we are condemned to dialogue”. Russia and the future of Europe. The affirmation of a world order of many poles and many outlooks”, and the rejection “of the imposition on any nation of a single and universal model of civilization”: that is the position of the Patriarchate of Moscow on the future of Europe – also in view of its enlargement to “countries that belong to the Orthodox tradition”. That position was clarified by the metropolitan of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, Kirill, in the thesis he dedicated to the question and recently expounded to the College of doctors of the University of Perugia. After the collapse of Communism – explained Kirill – the countries of Eastern Europe “remained disillusioned by their own forces, almost concluding that the genius of their peoples were no longer capable of formulating an original model of social organization. Therefore, without any reflection, they began to borrow recipes imported from abroad. At the same time, the whole Western world assumed an attitude of ‘master of life’ in its approach to the countries of Eastern Europe, though without bothering to understand the individual peculiarities of its own ‘pupils'”. It is just this “professorial tone of the West” that has caused irritation in the countries of the East. “It’s indispensable to understand – said metropolitan Kirill – that Eastern Europe does not want to blindly follow rules formulated by someone without its participation and without taking into account the peculiarities of the world of its inhabitants, only because these rules, in a given historical phase, assured the prosperity of a particular part of the earth’s inhabitants”. The scandal of disunity. The disunity of Christians “is a great scandal and a great challenge to which we must respond with the courage and spiritual strength of sitting round the same table and talking together”. The appeal is made by Tadeus Kondrusiewicz, archbishop of Moscow, who adds: “Just at a time when Europe is being united round a euro without a soul, we Christians cannot remain divided. We believe in the same God, in the same Gospel. We have a long history of Christianity that belongs to us all and we have shared, especially in the countries of Eastern Europe, the years of persecution and martyrdom. Our division is a great scandal towards a Europe that is seeking a soul”. The archbishop proposes that “dialogue be reactivated” by starting out from clarification of three “contentious” questions – proselytism, canonical territory and mission – with the aim of “achieving a common concept” which still today is a cause for misunderstandings and divisions. But, adds the archbishop, “time is needed. There’s a long history that cannot be forgotten. This dialogue must proceed with charity and in truth, bearing in mind the sensibility of a whole people”. The archbishop notes, among other things, that “people don’t understand the reason for this conflict between the churches”. “To this day – Kondrusiewicz confesses – we don’t know why our priests have been expelled”. The figures, besides, should allay any fear: “there are some 30,000 Orthodox priests [in Russia]: we are only 270, of whom 85% are foreigners who don’t have a good grasp of the language. These expulsions especially penalize the life of the parishes and communities. They are a punishment not only against priests and bishops, but also against ordinary people”. Maria Chiara Biagioni