Posted on 02/02/2009 7:50:36 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe
The new head of the Russian Orthodox Church was elected last week, and in an example of democracy with a Russian twist, all three candidates were allegedly former KGB agents.
The face off in Moscow saw Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, 62, KGB codename Mikhailov, take on Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk, 73, codename Ostrovskii and Metropolitan Kliment of Kaluga and Borovsk, 59, codename Topaz. Documents from the KGB revealed the agents’ identities in the 1990s and showed that the upper echelons of the church were riddled with informers.
More than 700 priests, monks and representatives of the laity gathered in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow to elect the new patriarch, the first patriarch selected since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Pope-friendly, seeks independence
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad emerged victorious from the vote. Despite his past, he is seen as something of a moderniser and especially keen to promote better links with the Roman Catholic Church. His relationship with the Kremlin is mixed; while supporting the strident Russian nationalism of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev, he is also thought to be keen to reassert the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church from the state.
The election was prompted by the death of Patriarch Aleksiy II at the end of last year. He had headed the church since 1990, the year before the Soviet Union broke up. Aleksiy’s reputation was tarnished in the eyes of some people when allegations surfaced that he had acted as a KGB agent under the codename Drozdov.
Despite his collaboration with the Soviet regime – later confirmed by a parliamentary committee during Russia’s brief flirtation with liberal democracy in the 1990s – Aleksiy II’s period in office saw a reinvigoration of belief in Russia and a surge in the number of churches.
The newly elected patriarch is now the leader of a church with – nominally at least – over 165 million members.
Yes wonderful news...a great spiritual man of the Lord Jesus.
Axios Axios!
http://orthodoxeurope.org/page/3/4.aspx
When they found out they couldn’t kill the Church, they began infiltrating it and kept at it until they took it over. A remarkable story and it hasn’t ended yet.
Of course, the former Patriarch, Alexy II, was branded a KGB agent based on some Lithuanian alleged intelligence document which was deemed “authetic” by a single British “expert.”
Axios!
I’m not saying this to pick on the Orthodox... God knows that the American Catholic Church is rife with heretics and flooded by priests who were excited by the prospect of “reforming” the church...
... but is there any issue with the validity of the holy orders of these men, if their intent when they received Holy Orders was to infiltrate?
I’m a little confused by the West’s notions of validity. I know that the sacrament is valid, in spite of any sins of the priests, but that for the sacrament to be valid, the priest does need to intend to stand “in alter Christi” (in the place of Christ). Is there a confidence that the sacrament has been efficiacious regardless of the intent of these men (conversion stories are full of promotions of such), and that the electors are now confident of their current sincerity?
they couldn’t kill the Church, they began infiltrating it and kept at it until they took it over.
More like they were taken over.
Absent any proof that their intent was to infiltrate, of course their Holy Orders are valid.
Yep, sounds like his is God's man after all!
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