Posted on 07/14/2014 11:05:14 AM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Metropolitan Hilarion, who acts as the Russian Orthodox Church's foreign minister, accused the Greek Catholic hierarchy in June of playing a "very destructive role".
Hilarion accused Greek Catholics and the independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church of trying to "divide" the Russian Orthodox Church, adding ominously: "This harks back to a time when Catholic and Orthodox considered themselves adversaries." ....
Even as the conflict has degenerated, the Vatican has made important overtures to Moscow including an invitation from Pope Francis to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill to hold the first ever meeting between a Catholic and a Russian Orthodox leader.
But the conflict in Ukraine has made the prospect of the meeting remote.
"At the beginning of February, the possibility of a meeting seemed to be plausible. The Ukraine crisis has made it impossible," Yves Hamant, a French expert on Russia and Orthodoxy, told AFP.
"Kirill saw himself as a bit of a pope of the Orthodox world. He found in (former pope) Benedict XVI an ideal partner for a strategic alliance against secularism," he said.
"For him, the loss of Ukraine is a tragedy," he said.
"It is a loss of status in Orthodoxy, the myth of a Russian world bringing together the Orthodox communities from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus," he said.
Catholic leaders meanwhile have voiced their frustration in the face of Russian criticism.
"It is not true that the Greek Catholic Church is responsible for the suffering of the Ukrainian people," a Catholic prelate in Rome told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"We can't do anything against lies and bad faith," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Our Putin and Orthodox church fans seem to be growing quieter.
Metropolitan Hilarion is a grave disappointment.
The title is misleading. The UKRAINIAN Orthodox have actually been on the same side as the Catholics in all of this. It’s the RUSSIANS who have had problems with it all because they want to use the Orthodox Church to control Ukraine and the Ukrainians (both Catholics and Orthodox) are not too hot on that idea.
http://www.religionnews.com/2014/03/14/ukrainian-crisis-may-split-russian-orthodox-church/
The Russian Orthodox are much more worried that the three Orthodox obediences in the Ukraine will become ONE (God willing!), and then break away from Moscow. Perhaps even reunite with the Greek Catholics. This is all unlikely, but they all have a common enemy - the Russians and now, possibly, the Russian Orthodox (because of the Russians’ own actions).
“Metropolitan Hilarion is a grave disappointment.”
Oh, come on. He’s just being Russian. He is what he is: brilliant, articulate. . . and Russian. This isn’t personally about him. He’s spouting the party line - which is what he always believed in in the first place. I still like him. I just know he’ll always be a Russian and Orthodox so this is the way it is.
He made a lot of ecumenical noise while Pope BXVI was still Pope. Now that Russia is squaring off against the Ukraine he has retreated into the stereotypical hysterical Russian myopia. Yes, I am disappointed. I had hoped he was different, not so easily swayed by the former KGB puppet masters that still pull the strings of the ROC.
The Russian Orthodox Church is still part of the evil coming out of Russia, nothing new.
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