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The Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church should accept each other not as rivals, but first and foremost as allies, working to protect the rights of Christians, said Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, head of the ROC’s Department for External Church Relations in a speech at an international meeting of Christians in Wurzburg, Germany. "The future of Christianity in the third millennium depends on the joint efforts of the Orthodox believers and Catholics,’’ Hilarion said. Bishop Hilarion later expanded on his statement: “The idea of a strategic alliance with the Catholics is an old idea of mine. It came...

Thursday, December 23, 2010 Russian Icon of the Mother of God of Fatima by David Clayton A reader sent to me an interesting article about the development of an icon of the Mother of God of Fatima, which I thought I would pass on to NLM readers. One inspiration for this image is one of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. In order to accommodate the sensibilities of the Orthodox icon painter, Mary is shown pointing to the word 'Heart'. You can read more about it here.

News Russian Orthodox patriarch praises Pope, rips Protestant compromises with secularism July 21, 2010 Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, praised Pope Benedict and blasted Protestant bodies that have accepted women’s ordination and caved in to the secular culture on homosexuality. Noting that the Pope is criticized by “liberal theologians and liberal mass media in the West,” Patriarch Kirill said that “on many public and moral issues his approach fully coincides with the approach of the Russian Orthodox Church. This gives us an opportunity to advocate Christian values together with the Catholic...

Russia’s Orthodox Church and Poland’s Roman Catholic Church have pledged to help their nations overcome a painful shared past and move towards reconciliation. The two churches, very influential in their own countries, agreed at a rare meeting of senior clergy to draw up a joint document that will express their Christian vision of how the two Slavic neighbours can come together. “The idea is to look at the history of our nations from our Churches’ point of view. During the history of our nations we have experienced glorious moments but also very painful ones,” Stanislaw Budzik, a Polish bishop, told...

STRASBOURG, France, JUNE 1, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The "crucifix trial" in the European Court of Human Rights has given rise to an unprecedented intervention of 10 member States as third parties. The European Centre for Law and Justice, which was also authorized to become a third party in the court hearing regarding the legitimacy of displaying crucifixes in Italian schools, reported today that ten other States will have this amicus curiae status in the "Lautsi vs. Italy" case. This case was referred to the Grand Chamber when the Italian government appealed a decision issued by the Second Section of the court...

Getting away from some of our more parochial considerations of late, I am very excited by the new developing relationship between Pope Benedict XVI and Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church. A capital article is Sandro Magister’s A Holy Alliance between Rome and Moscow is Born. This is no “touchy-feely” ecumenism but hope for a dying Europe. The great ally for the new evangelisation of Europe is the Russian Orthodox Church. I note several things in the article before you go and read it for yourselves. Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, said to the Pope: that the Catholic Church...

A Holy Alliance between Rome and Moscow Is Born The common objective: the "new evangelization" of Europe. A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church visits the Vatican, which publishes an anthology of the patriarch's writings. A meeting between Kirill and Benedict XVI keeps getting closer by Sandro Magister ROME, May 24, 2010 – Benedict XVI will soon create a new "pontifical council" expressly dedicated to the "new evangelization." Not for mission countries where the congregation "de propaganda fide" is already at work. But for the countries of ancient Christian tradition that are today in danger of losing the faith. Pope...

Pope Benedict XVI, seated next to Russian Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, attends a concert at the Vatican May 20. The concert was a gift from Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow. (CNS/Paul Haring) By Cindy WoodenCatholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The gentle notes of Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Vocalise" wafted through the Vatican audience hall and carried with them hopes for improved relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Russian Orthodox Church. After years of tense relations and painstaking theological dialogue, the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church are hoping music and art can create an atmosphere...

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- While a meeting between Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and Pope Benedict XVI has not been scheduled, the head of ecumenical relations for the Russian church hinted that the possibility of such a meeting is greater than ever. Metropolitian Hilarion of Volokolamsk, president of the Moscow Patriarchate's office for external relations, told reporters at the Vatican May 19 that a meeting "is a desire, it is a hope and we must work for it." He repeated the long-standing position of Russian Orthodox leaders that a pope-patriarch meeting could not be held as long as Catholic-Orthodox...

ROME, MAY 14, 2010 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican Publishing House is publishing a book by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and of All Russia. This gesture follows a similar move of the Moscow Patriarchate, which last December published a book with texts from Benedict XVI regarding European culture. Now, the Italian-language book with addresses by the Russian Orthodox patriarch, titled "Liberta e Responsabilita alla Ricerca dell'Armonia" (Liberty and Responsibility in the Search of Harmony) will be officially presented on Monday at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan The work brings together the most important addresses on human rights given...

www.catholicnewsagency.com Russian Orthodox archbishop to promote culture, spirituality at Vatican Vatican City, May 7, 2010 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A delegation from the Patriarchate of Moscow will be at the Vatican later this month to promote Russian culture and spirituality. Initiatives during the two day event include meetings, a symposium and a concert for Pope Benedict XVI.The “Days of Russian Culture and Spirituality in the Vatican” will be held from May 19 – 20.President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, presented the program at the Holy See on Friday together with a representative from the...

VATICAN CITY  (Zenit.org)  - The time is now for the Orthodox and Catholic Churches to take a step toward unity, and for Benedict XVI and the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow to meet, says the Patriarchal Exarch of All Belarus.Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Sluck said this Tuesday at the international conference held in Rome on "The Poor Are the Precious Treasure of the Church: Orthodox and Catholics Together on the Path of Charity." During the conference, which was promoted by the Sant'Egidio Community, participants reflected on the reception of the most frail in our societies, the testimony of the Fathers of...

With Benedict XVI, for the first time in history, the Orthodox have agreed to discuss the primacy of the bishop of Rome, according to the model of the first millennium, when the Church was undivided. Never before seen: the outline of the dialogueROME, January 25, 2010 – This evening, with vespers in the basilica of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, Benedict XVI is closing the week of prayer for Christian unity. There are some who say that ecumenism has entered a phase of retreat and chill. But as soon as one that looks to the East, the facts say the...

Moscow, March 20, Interfax - The Russian Orthodox Church supports the position of Pope Benedict XVI rejecting condoms including in order to prevent HIV infection. "It is incorrect to consider condoms as a panacea for AIDS," the deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin told a round table in Moscow on Friday, commenting on the international row concerned with the pope's statement in Africa. AIDS can be prevented not by contraceptives but by education and a righteous life, the priest said.

The Vatican and the Russian Orthodox are looking towards more ecumenical cooperation to reverse what they consider to be the tide of secularism in Europe: VATICAN LETTER Dec-11-2009Ecumenical allies? Orthodox, Catholics take aim at European secularismBy John ThavisCatholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY (CNS) — For years, the Vatican has suggested that a promising area of ecumenical cooperation was a joint struggle by Christian churches against the moral and social challenges posed by a predominantly secular society.Now the Russian Orthodox Church has come forward to propose a strategic alliance with the Catholic Church aimed, in effect, at saving Europe’s soul from “Western...

For the first time, the Russian Orthodox Church publishes a book with texts by a pope. The author is Benedict XVI. The topic is Europe. The objective is a holy alliance in defense of the Christian tradition ROME, December 11, 2009 – In a terse statement two days ago, Russia and the Church of Rome announced "the establishment of diplomatic relations between them, at the level of apostolic nunciature on the part of the Holy See, and of embassy on the part of the Russian Federation." Six days earlier, on December 3, Pope Benedict XVI had received in audience Dmitri...

Vatican City – The Vatican and Russia agreed Thursday to establish 'full diplomatic relations’. The announcement follows a meeting between Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican. Exceptionally, Medvedev had previously met Card Tarcisio Bertone, the Secretary of State, and Mgr Dominique Mamberti, Secretary for Relations with States. The Russian president was accompanied by a large delegation that included Foreign Minister Serghei Lavrov. The announcement concludes a long process that began with Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit on 1 December 1989 to Pope John Paul II. On that historic occasion, the two leaders decided to start relations between...

This is a hopeful sign! I'm not sure exactly what it portends, but it's cause for hope. Evidence of "possible cooperation" between the Vatican and the Russian Orthodox Church continues between Rome and Moscow. And the playing filed on which they meet remains the struggle for the affirmation of the Christian roots of Europe "threatened by secularism. The latest episode that gives hope for a real climate of greater proximity between the two Churches, is the presentation (today in Rome) of "Europe Spiritual Homeland", a bilingual volume in Italian and Russian collecting the speeches that Joseph Ratzinger - Benedict XVI...

Moscow, November 26, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia has supported Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's opposition to the idea of banning crucifixes from Italian public schools. "Italy and other European countries' Christian heritage must not be a subject of scrutiny at European rights agencies," Patriarch Kirill said in a letter to Berlusconi, posted on the Moscow Patriarchate's official website. Patriarch Kirill was commenting on a ruling, passed by the European Court of Human Rights on November 3, on a lawsuit, filed by an Italian mother, who claimed that crucifixes at public schools is a violation of...

Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, the Russian Orthodox Church’s top official for relations with other churches, has been busy this past week putting his revived church’s stamp on the world Christian scene. Over the weekend, he urged Catholics and Orthodox to join forces to defend their traditional version of Christianity. His comments, made during a visit to Paris to inaugurate his Church’s first seminary outside of Russia, come only days after positive remarks he made last week about how the Vatican and Moscow were slowly moving towards a meeting between Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill and Pope Benedict. Also last week, Hilarion indicated the...