Paul Goble
Staunton, Oct. 3 – The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church is set to follow the Kremlin’s effort to isolate Russians from the West by circulating a proposal for a new church rule that would ban Russian Orthodox from any joint religious activity including prayer with Western Christians.
So far, the Patriarchate has only published the idea for discussion, but the Russian church’s slavish following of the Kremlin line almost certainly means that this ban will be approved and Russian believers will no longer be able even to pray together with Western Christians. (For the proposal, see mnenie.prichod.ru/opinions/46751/.)
Dissident churchman Andrey Kurayev says that such a move is absolutely “non-canonical,” but it is an example of the loyalty the patriarchate shows to Putin and a defense against charges, often made by some conservatives in the church that Patriarch Kirill has been too involved in ecumenical activities in the past (diak-kuraev.livejournal.com/4652920.html).
The proposed ban on even prayers with Western Christians is also fully consistent with what is taking place in Russia regarding those denominations already. Ever more criminal cases are being opened against the leaders of these groups and some of them have been forced to flee Russia altogether.
What makes this worrisome is that such an action by the patriarchate will deepen the divide between Russia and the West and make it far more difficult to overcome even when Putin and his entourage leave the scene as actuarial tables mean will be the case in a decade or two. At the very least, this will be a brake on any reintegration.
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