Pope Francis meets Russian Patriarch Kirill in Cuba

It’s hard to believe the historic pace of rapprochement that has taken place between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church since the Second Vatican Council just 50 years ago. Last month a meeting took place that every pope since the Second Vatican Council longed to see, a face to face encounter with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their hope was realized as Pope Francis met with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Cuba.

This meeting was the first such encounter in the more than 1,000 years of division between the churches of East and West for a pope and a patriarch of Moscow. It is also noteworthy to mention that they met in Cuba. The island that was once the center of the tug and pull between the superpowers, now through this encounter, can be seen as the center of healing between the cultures and spirituality of East and West.

Orthodox Christians number some 225 million throughout the world. Russian Orthodox faithful are the largest segment, numbering some 160 million. Even though the Patriarch of Constantinople, the Ecumenical Patriarch, is the first among equals in the Orthodox hierarchy, the Russian Orthodox Patriarch wields great influence in the Orthodox world since he presides over the largest portion of Orthodoxy in the world.

Patriarch Kirill had to walk a fine line in his outreach to Roman Catholicism as many Russian Orthodox are wary of any semblance of bending the knee. Sergei Filatov, a religion expert at the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow observed, “There are plenty of people among Russia’s believers and clergy who are historically quite hostile to Catholicism, seeing it as a threat and part of the West that’s looking to conquer Russia.”

In the year 988 A.D., when the pagan Prince Vladimir of Kiev was baptized, the faith came to Russia through Constantinople. This eastern Christianity that came to be known as Byzantine Christianity was shared among three peoples, Ukrainians, Belarusians and Russians. In 1054 A.D. the churches of East and West separated after years of growing estrangement philosophically, linguistically, ecclesiologically and theologically.

It was after centuries of negative encounter with the Mongols and Turks that Orthodoxy experienced its greatest growth in the church of Moscow. In 1547 A.D., Ivan IV was crowned the first Czar of Russia and from that time the Czars became the protectors of Orthodoxy. In the ashes of Soviet Communism, the Orthodox Church in Russia sees itself once again linked closely with the Russian government.

It wasn’t until the Second Vatican Council, at which the Russian Orthodox had representatives, that breakthroughs in Catholic-Orthodox relations emerged. The meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras in 1964 began a dialogue between popes and patriarchs that has finally led to a meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the largest Orthodox Church in the world.

At their meeting in Cuba, Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill signed a 30-point declaration that calls for an end to the persecution of Christians in the Middle East and to the wars in the region. It contains statements of agreement as regards atheism, secularism, consumerism, migrants and refugees, the importance of marriage and the family, and condemnation of abortion and euthanasia. It also expresses their joint desire for the restoration of Christian unity.

When Pope Francis first saw Patriarch Kirill, he exclaimed “Finally!” He embraced him, they extended the kiss of peace (three times in the Orthodox tradition of the Trinity), and the pope added, “We are brothers.” In response Patriarch Kirill said, “Now things are easier.”

At the end of the meeting, there was an exchange of gifts. Pope Francis gave the Patriarch a chalice as well as a reliquary of the ninth century Saint Cyril. Patriarch Kirill gave the pope a copy of the icon of Our Lady of Kazan, an image of the Blessed Mother venerated by both Catholics and Russian Orthodox.

Experts in Catholic-Orthodox relations contend that the meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill is the most important breakthrough in relations with Orthodoxy since the Second Vatican Council and the meeting of the pope and patriarch in 1964. The importance of this meeting is not only important for Catholic-Orthodox relations but also for the entire ecumenical longing for unity!

Father Joseph D. Wallace is director, Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs, Diocese of Camden.