Orthodox Christians wary of papal
visits
By JOHN L. ALLEN JR.
NCR Staff Rome
For a sense of what John Paul II will be up against when he
ventures into the heartland of Eastern Orthodoxy in coming months, St.
Basils in Rome offers an illustrative point of departure.
In the heart of the city just around the corner from the Via
Veneto, an ultra-chic shopping and dining district, is the Church of St. Basil.
Nestled among banks and insurance companies, its the sort of real estate
most religious organizations can only dream of affording.
Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexei II could have had St.
Basils for nothing. He turned it down, though hes eager for a base
in Rome, because it was offered as a gift from the pope. Instead, construction
began Jan. 13 on a new church on the grounds of the Russian ambassador to
Italy.
Pope John Paul II, eager for improved relations with Orthodoxy,
had badly wanted Alexei to take his gift. Negotiations went on for more than a
year. An icon commissioned by the pope was to be presented when St.
Basils was handed over.
In the end, however, a thousand years of bad blood between East
and West proved insuperable. In mid-December, Alexei notified the Vatican he
could not accept a handout from the figure that some within the worlds
228 million Orthodox believers still regard as an enemy of the faith.
Signs indicate this anti-papal resentment could be on display when
John Paul visits Greece May 4 and 5 and the Ukraine June 23-27, possibly
surprising Catholics with its tenacity and depth.
Angry Greek abbots, for example, have vowed resistance, referring
to the pope in an open letter as an arch-heretic and the
two-horned grotesque monster of Rome. In the Ukraine, trip planners from
the Vatican have faced blockades.
Such sentiments are unlikely to keep the pope away. Having played
a central role in the political reunification of Europe, John Paul II has made
spiritual reunification his new priority. Above all, this means closer ties
with the 15 Eastern Orthodox churches, where John Paul believes a degree of
spiritual depth and doctrinal loyalty often missing in the West has been
preserved.
Its unclear, however, over the din of resistance, how many
Orthodox may be willing to embrace the papal visit.
John Paul has had success with some of Orthodoxys autonomous
branches, which divide along national and linguistic lines. He was named
Man of the Year in Romania following his May 1999 trip there.
Armenia and Georgia have also given him warm receptions.
The Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, however, remain steadfast
in deep reservations about Rome.
In Greece, where 97 percent of the population is baptized into
Orthodoxy, the churchs Holy Synod voted not to oppose the papal visit,
stressing that it will be a personal trip following the footsteps
of St. Paul.
The vote has not softened opposition.
A mid-March letter signed by 169 abbots, representing
Greeces 1,750 Orthodox monks and nuns, warned of dynamic
expressions of opposition. The influential monks of Mount Athos joined in
voicing disapproval.
The church of Greece is trying to discourage protests,
Haris Konidaris, a spokesperson for Greek Orthodox Archbishop Christodoulos of
Athens, told NCR. He said he could guarantee that the abbots
who wrote the letter would not take part in demonstrations.
At the same time, Konidaris said, church leaders cannot control
the actions of more fanatic, fundamentalist believers.
John Paul arrives in Greece at a moment in which conservative
Orthodox factions are already feeling defensive. Thousands marched in Athens in
November to oppose eliminating religious affiliation from national identity
cards, a government move some regarded as an effort to reduce Orthodoxys
influence. More than 2 million people signed a petition opposing the plan, out
of a total population of 10.5 million.
Anyone who tampers with our religion will see his arm
wither was among the slogans.
In another frosty signal, Christodoulos has declined to join
political leaders planning to greet John Paul at the Athens airport.
In the Ukraine, approximately 1,000 Orthodox believers took part
in a cross-bearing procession in early March asking that the papal trip be
cancelled. A new group calling itself the Orthodox Path has sprung
up, picketing the Ukrainian parliament building in Kiev, with the same demand.
A Vatican advance team was met in the city of Sevastopol with blockades by
Orthodox protesters.
The main Orthodox body in the Ukraine is tied to Moscow, and
Alexei has expressed opposition to the trip.
Some Catholic observers say that the depth of feeling points to a
possibility of nasty demonstrations when the pope arrives.
The problem with some Orthodox is not that they dont
know what to believe, but they dont know how to behave, said Jesuit
Fr. Robert Taft, an expert on Orthodoxy who teaches at Romes Pontifical
Oriental Institute.
Taft told NCR there is a growing tide of fundamentalism
within Orthodoxy that does not shrink from vulgar rudeness in
dealing with perceived threats to Orthodoxys strongholds.
In that sense, Taft said, perhaps a show of bad manners when the
pope comes would be no bad thing. Maybe it would make these people wake
up and realize, Gee, we really are jerks, he said.
The rifts underlying those tensions run deep.
When discussing relations with Catholicism, many Orthodox begin
with 1204, when crusaders sacked Constantinople and desecrated Orthodox sites
of worship. That was 150 years after the two branches of Christianity parted
company in a bitter split. Konidaris told NCR that he believes John Paul
II should use his trip to Greece to ask forgiveness.
The pope has issued a mea culpa to the Jews, Konidaris
said. I believe the Orthodox world is waiting for something
similar.
Its not a request that sits well with Taft, who points out
that there had been a massacre of the Latins in Constantinople in 1182, and
that it was a Byzantine emperor who connived to send crusaders to the city in
order to snatch the throne.
Theologically, debate over the nature and limits of papal
authority seems the most serious hurdle. Despite overtures from John Paul about
reform, observers say many Orthodox are dubious.
What the Orthodox see is the unbelievable centralization in
the Catholic church in the last century or so. They see no progress at all, I
think, said Msgr. Frederick McManus of Boston, a veteran of
Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.
Another divisive question is the status of so-called
Uniate churches -- believers who employ Orthodox rites and
doctrines but profess loyalty to the pope. There are some 12 million of these
Eastern Catholics, with the largest group, 5.2 million, in the Ukraine.
Further, nasty property disputes have erupted over churches seized
from Eastern Catholics by the Soviets and turned over to the Orthodox. After
the fall of communism, Eastern Catholics began occupying the churches. What the
Eastern Catholics call justice, Moscow has decried as destruction
of Orthodoxy in the Western Ukraine.
More fundamentally, Orthodox leaders often see the very existence
of the Uniate churches as an affront.
The Uniates are the Trojan horse of the Catholic church, a
method of proselytism on Orthodox soil, Konidaris told NCR.
Either these people should accept being Latins, or they should become
Orthodox.
That is an unacceptable either/or for most Catholic officials.
While conceding that making separate deals with national churches, in effect
dividing the Orthodox communion, is not a viable path to reunion, the Catholic
side has nevertheless insisted that existing Eastern Catholics be recognized as
legitimate.
Orthodox complaints about proselytism do have some basis in
reality, McManus said. Catholic movements such as the Neocatechumenate and the
Blue Army, at times still motivated by a Cold War-era desire to convert
Russia, have reportedly been active in former Soviet territories. McManus
said Orthodox officials have complained that such groups are handing out
scapulars on the streets of Moscow. Such efforts, however, are probably no more
than marginal phenomena, he said.
Given all the difficulties, no one expects John Pauls vision
of new unity with the long-separated Orthodox to materialize anytime soon.
Im sure the pope doesnt believe that hes
going to be the one to recompose divided Christendom, Taft said.
But hes determined to go to his grave trying.
The e-mail address for John L. Allen Jr. is
jallen@natcath.org
National Catholic Reporter, April 13,
2001
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