www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Russian joys over Benedict XVI

Picked this post up from Fr. Ambrose over at Catholic Answers. I had no idea that Patriarch Alexy II was an ethnic German.


NEW POPE - A VALUABLE PRESENT FOR RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH

20/04/2005 18:39

MOSCOW, April 20 (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) -

The Russian Orthodox Church representing the Orthodox wing of the Christendom has received a valuable present from the Vatican - the new Pope German Joseph Ratzinger or, as his new name goes, Benedict XVI, is the most conservative cardinal.

Under John Paul II, Ratzinger headed the most important ideological department of the Catholic Church - the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, or the former infamous Inquisition.

Hence, the positions of the two churches have certainly come closer, which was immediately confirmed by Professor of the Moscow Clergy Academy, Deacon Andrei Kurayev who said he "is very happy that Cardinal Ratzinger has been elected the Pope." According to Kurayev, "the new Pope is an honest man of principle, who is open to a creative dialogue with the Orthodox way of thinking. The Catholic Church has various different vectors, and if the new Pope had been a man who above all seeks a common language with the Lutherans rather than the
John the Baptist and Sergius of Radonezh Church, it would have impeded our further dialogue."

Besides, Kurayev said that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger "was the brain of the Vatican, at least in the past decade. Being the dean of the cardinal collegium and the head of the congregation of the faith, he mostly developed a system of references behind the Pope's policy. John Paul II was a quiet disguised conservative. In his statements, he expressed his commitment to the course of the Second Vatican Council, to updating the Catholic Church,
but always tried to hold back the reforms and preserve the traditions of the Rome Catholicism," Kurayev said. "His intellectual pillar was Cardinal Ratzinger."

Besides, observers also note that the two major Churches of the world, the Rome Catholic and the Russian Orthodox, are now headed by two ethnic Germans - Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) and Alexei Ridiger (Patriarch Alexy II), which will hopefully help the two Churches understand each other better.

All these deliberations, perhaps, have their reason. The main problem for the two "sisters" is that the more orthodox they become, the more difficult it gets for them to find a common language with modern world.

In an interview with the Italian Repubblica newspaper, Ratzinger
openly said: "Europe - the cradle and stronghold of Catholicism - is losing its Christian spirit. This is an ultimate challenge for the
Roman Church. The culture that has swept Europe absolutely and
radically contradicts the religious and moral traditions of the entire
human race as well as Christian values."

This is basically the manifesto of the new Pope. Benedict XVI comes out for human life and condemns abortions. In 1986, he censured homosexuality and homosexual marriages. In 2004, he branded "radical feminism" as an ideology, which undermines the fundamental family values and the God-given differences between man and woman. The new pontiff condemns divorces, marriages between homosexuals, cloning and so on.

The Russian Orthodox Church shares all these positions. So the
differences between the two Churches only boil down to internal church affairs, including economic, for example, disputes over churches in Ukraine, which have nothing to do with God.

2005 "RIAN Novosti"

Leave it to the Germans to bring some order to church and political affairs . . .

Alex (who had two German grandmothers)

I've always loved the Germans and their quest for perfection.

Brad - who owns 2 German cars.

I don't want to sound a negative note, especially in a time when I feel that the Holy Spirit is moving through great numbers of nations and individuals in a way that we have never seen, but...

I was in Moscow a decade ago & spent quite a bit of time with the Greek Catholic community headed by Father Andrej (I wrote an article on that community which is floating around on the internet as something like "Desire for reunification..."). Talking about John Paul II with Father Andrej & the potential for reconciliation between Catholics & Orthodox, the good father (ethnic Russian, descended from a long line of priests, himself ordained by the Moscow Church) pretty much ended that discussion on this note: "Well, he's Polish."

As someone who has embraced Pan-Slavism since childhood, I was interested to know Russian reaction towards Catholic Slavs. While it's not true for all intellectuals, I found a deep suspicion among the Russian masses about Poles, Catholics, and Catholic Slavs. Many Poles still remember the tsarist partitions of Poland & the Soviet invasion & domination, which happened not so long ago. But I was surprised to learn that probably a similar (or greater) percentage of Russians still remembers some Polish invasions of Russia that took place many centuries ago. Talk about the persistence of historical memory.

I am sad to say that I think the Russian distaste for John Paul II and generally for Polish Catholics (evidenced in recent years by the Russian government's harassment of Polish Catholic priests trying to minister to Russian descendants of Polish/Lithuanian/German deportees) reveals one of the most distasteful aspects of our Slavic character.

But as the Holy Spirit washes across the land (evidence: I saw Benny Hinn on TV last night broadcasting from Rome & telling his audience that Catholics & Protestants share the same essential beliefs - wow!) during these remarkable days since Holy Week 2005, we can only pray that such antagonisms will be part of the past and our new "German Shepherd" will lead Catholics & Orthodox to reconciliation!

As the Russians say, Daj Bog!

Stojgniev

Dear Stoygniev,

So it is clear that the more Germans we have as primates of the various Churches the better!

One Franciscan priest I heard said, "Even Martin Luther must be happy with Pope Gregory XVI - a fellow German after all!"

The Teutonic waters are flowing into the Tiber . . .

Alex

jw10631, who had two German greatgrandmothers.....

It comes as no surprise to me that many Russians have a disdain for Poles and other Catholic Slavs.
Being Polish, I am aware that the the feeling among many Poles toward Russia is mutual.
Historically speaking, Russia has not been a good neighbor. For what it's worth, it seems Slavs never want to forget. Serbia and Croatia, Poland and Russia, etc. While I think any meeting between Alexey and Pope Benedict is just wishful thinking, at least in the near future, perhaps it will happen.

Hello,

I don't mean to go off the subject for one second.

That's in regards to Benny Hinn, I also watched his show for like 15 minutes then after that I got a little disgusted.

He was saying that the Catholic Church is "hungry" for G-d and for the true Faith. What does that mean? It's like we don't have G-d and have true Faith? To me, being "hungry" means it's lacking something. I wasn't happy. He was saying, "Oh I rejoice that the Catholic Church is finally hungry for G-d" something to that.

Then goes on saying how Catholic and Protestants have similar beliefs. I want to note that the tone and usages of words, I take that he meant that the Catholics are similar to the Protestants ON THEIR OWN TERMS...THEOLOGY...FAITH. YUCK!

Then he bragged about how many Catholic countries he traveled to, and had this WEIRDO spiritual "revival thingy" where he touches people's heads and automatically CURED immediately with no progress or problems...he was saying that just about majority of the people in these Catholic countries go to his "revivals". I was thinking "Gosh, what were these Catholics THINKING when they went to this revival? What's WRONG with them!? Don't they know that Benny Hinn is A FAKE??? A FRAUD??? A LIAR??? Man, these Catholics must have allowed him to brainwash them with bunch of hoogly-booglies.

And most of all (BRACE YOURSELF!! I HOPE YOU'RE SITTING DOWN READING THIS) he said that HE TOOK HOLY COMMUNION when he was at the memorial Masses (for John Paul II)IN ST. PETER'S BASILICA!!! I was just about floored!! And showed videos of him in the Church (an amatur home video, prolly by one of his people).

Goodness Gracious!!!

YIKES!!

SPDundas
Deaf Byzantine

Stojgniev,

Your article Reunification is the Ultimate Desire of Many in Russia [stmichaelruscath.org] can be found on the website of St. Michael's RGC parish in NYC.

Many years,

Neil

I checked out that link. Fascinating!

I must chime in on Benny Hinn; not only is he a fake but he holds heretical views on the Trinity and the Atonement. Be very suspiscious of anyone who sets up his own ministry in his own name.
I mean can you imagine St Paul operating under "Paul of Tarsus Ministries" and roaming around without accountability?

If Pope Benedict really focuses unity with the Orthodox, he may be able to accomplish it. I believe that the Orthodox had a very strong showing at the Mass on Sunday. Also, despite his good intentions, Pope John Paul II was Polish and the Russians just could not accept him for whatever reason. The real question is what is unity? Just communion? Unlike the Eastern Catholics, the Orthodox will never join the College of Cardinals. The really difficult question is how to bring the Orthodox, all Orthodox, in. The only way that makes sense to me is for the Pope to accept the First Among Equals Role and then unity will be achieved.

Somewhere, I remember reading, or hearing about a quote from Benedict (then Joseph Card. Ratzinger), something to the effect that, 'for reunification with the Eastern Churches, it would be enough to recognize only the models of 'church' operating during the 1st thousand years of the unified Church'. Doctrines, or models of papal authority after that time, would not and should not be binding on the Orthodox East.

Is this my imagination, has anyone else heard this, does this quote exist somewhere?

Nick

Nick you are 100%.
Here is the quote by the then Cardinal Ratzinger.
I hope he still holds true to this.

"Rome must not require more from the East with respect to the doctrine of primacy than had been formulated and was lived in the first millennium. When the Patriarch Athenagoras, on July 25, 1967, on the occasion of the Pope's visit to Phanar, designated him as the successor of St. Peter, as the most esteemed among us, as one also presides in charity, this great Church leader was expressing the essential content of the doctrine of primacy as it was known in the first millennium. Rome need not ask for more. Reunion could take place in this context if, on the one hand, the East would cease to oppose as heretical the developments that took place in the West in the second millennium and would accept the Catholic Church as legitimate and orthodox in the form she had acquired in the course of that development, while, on the other hand, the West would recognize the Church of the East as orthodox and legitimate in the form she has always had.”

Ratzinger, Joseph: PRINCIPLES OF CATHOLIC THEOLOGY, Ignatius, 1988, page 199-200

Brad

Leave it to the Germans to have world domination again, but this time in the ecclesial realm.

Proud to be (almost) half German.

Brad, I like the Ratzinger ... err, Benedict quote just above. Like it alot.

Joe Thur

We can only hope! I'm sure we will see great things in the days ahead. The "new springtime" is going to begin to blosom.
Stephanos I