|
June 2, 2014, Monday —
Eternal Flame in Minsk
“The forum aims to consolidate
Christian powers of Europe, first of all, Catholic and Orthodox communities. It
will help find a way out from the deep moral and social-political crisis which
is growing worse because of the indifference to spiritual aspects of the human
nature and society.” —Russian Orthodox Archpriest
Fyodor Povnyi, Superior of the
All Saints Memorial Church in Minsk, Belarus, explaining the purpose of the
opening today in his church of the 4th Orthodox-Catholic
Forum
 (Here, two of the leading
participants in the June 2-5 Orthodox-Catholic Forum, which opened today in
Minsk, Belarus, just before the start of the meeting: Russian Orthodox
Metropolitan Hilarion Alfeyev (left) greets Hungarian Catholic Cardinal Peter
Erdo of Budapest. The gathering is supported in
part by a grant from the Urbi et Orbi Foundation, which seeks to improve
relations between Catholics and Orthodox through encounters, cultural exhanges,
including exhibits and concerts, and charitable projects, especially involving
children)
The sun burned
through the clouds
This morning, Minsk, a large, busy city
of more than 1 million on the vast plains between Poland and Russia, was
shrouded in thick clouds.
"The weather report says the
clouds will stay all week," a young woman at the hotel desk told me, checking
her computer. "It's a pity," she said, in English. "You will not be able to see
the sun at all during your visit to our city."
But within hours, by
mid-afternoon, as the priests and bishops gathering to attend the 4th
Orthodox-Catholic Forum were entering the Russian Orthodox Church of All Saints
to light candles from an eternal flame, lit there in memory of all the innocent
victims of war (and war has come often to these lands), the sun burned through
the forbidding grey clouds, and lit up brightly the church's golden dome with
its warm rays.
Inside the Church, the Forum
delegates lit candles from one another, after Archpriest Fyodor Povnyi, Superior
of the church, lit the first candle directly from the flame, in the church
crypt.
Those present come from Greece,
Cyprus, Georgia, Germany, France, Italy, Slovakia, Serbia, Russia, Hungary,
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sweden, Romania, Belgium, Ireland, Spain, Poland,
Belarus, and the United States -- some 20 countries.
The conference is entitled:
“Religion and Cultural Pluralism: Challenges for Christian Churches in
Europe.”
The conference members were
greeted by an aging Russian Orthodox Metropolitan of Minsk and Slutsk, Filaret,
the Patriarchal Exarch Emeritus of All Belarus and also Emeritus Metropolitan of
Minsk and Mogilev (he is now past 80), and by Archbishop Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz,
the Catholic archbishop of Minsk (formerly and for many years the bishop of the
Catholic church in Moscow, Russia).
The introductory talks included
greetings and expressions of hope for productive proceedings from Pope Francis
in Rome, from Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Constantinople,
and from Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill in Moscow. (The Orthodox Church in
Belarus is part of the Russian Orthodox Church.)
In his brief remarks, Russian
Orthodox Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk spoke with some emotion of his
profound sorrow over recent events in Ukraine. He repeated his
previously-expressed desire that members of the Greek Catholic and Orthodox
Churches of Ukraine refrain from taking partisan political positions and commit
themselves urgently to finding a way to end the violence in that country through
building a just peace.
Participants in the forum will
now meet for three days of discussions and choose the venue for the 2016 forum.
(The Orthodox-Catholic Forum is held every two years; previously it was held in
Italy, in Greece, and in Portugal.)
After the late-May pilgrimage
to the Holy Land by Pope Francis and his meeting there with Patriarch
Bartholomew, this European Catholic-Orthodox Forum takes on additional
importance.
"Certainly, the Ecumenical
Patriarchate has been one of those who prepared, supported and initiated this
series of meetings," Cardinal Peter Erdo of Budapest told Vatican Radio this
morning. "We are personally grateful to Patriarch Bartholomew and certainly the
Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, chairman of the Foreign Relations Section of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate and co-chair of the Assembly."
Regarding Ukraine, Erdo said
"the meeting of course is not a political meeting," but added: "As Christians,
we pray for peace."
|
