The absence of representatives from the Russian Orthodox Church was nevertheless conspicuous, and a sign of the persistent chill both in the internal relations of the great Churches of global Orthodoxy and in relations between Rome and Moscow.
The chill came after long-simmering tensions between the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople came to a boil in 2018, when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople granted self-governing status to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.
Why Moscow’s absence from Turkey events was conspicuous – and significant
Pope Leo XIV spoke to leaders of Christianity’s divided Churches and communities on Friday afternoon in Nicaea – modern-day Iznik, Turkey – telling them, “We must strongly reject the use of religion for justifying war, violence, or any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism.”
No one from the Patriarchate of Moscow was there to hear it.
That was because, “The Catholics have invited Catholics, and the Orthodox invite[d] Orthodox,” as the head of the Vatican’s ecumenical dicastery, Cardinal Kurt Koch, told Crux on Friday.
“I respect the decision of the Orthodox,” Koch said.
The absence of representatives from the Russian Orthodox Church was nevertheless conspicuous, and a sign of the persistent chill both in the internal relations of the great Churches of global Orthodoxy and in relations between Rome and Moscow.
The chill came after long-simmering tensions between the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople came to a boil in 2018, when Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople …