Paul
Goble
Staunton, December 27 – Many are
treating the Moscow Patriarchate’s decision to allow parents to have their
children baptized by what the church had hitherto objected to as “foreign” names
as an act of liberalization, Archdeacon Andrey Kurayev says. But they are
wrong: it is part of Patriarch Kirill’s drive to elevate Moscow to the head of
the Orthodox world.
He tells Konstantin Mityagin of the URA
news agency that “this is a natural decision on the path of Patriarch Kirill to
build a global Orthodox church. In correspondence with this, it is necessary to
be softer on the territories of other countries and not force all Jeans to be
Vanyas” (ura.news/news/1052412990).
Meanwhile,
another close observer of Kirill and the Moscow Patriarchate says that Kirill’s
“pragmatism” in the pursuit of all things has led him to within a single step
of “public recognition of gratitude for the restoration of the Moscow
Patriarchate” and of asking for God’s blessing on the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (facebook.com/amoro59/posts/10215855734090744).
Aleksander
Morozov who long covered Orthodox affairs for Nezavisimaya gazeta says
that until Putin’s time, hierarchs of the ROC MP combined “canonical loyalty with
consistent anti-Bolshevism.” Now, however, the state is demanding more; and to
achieve his goals, Kirill is prepared as always to meet in more than half way.
Twenty
years ago, maintaining that balance was important even for those closer to the
state. Sergey Pugachev, who was a bridge between the Kremlin and the
Patriarchate before emigrating to France, told Zhanna Nemirova in an interview
for Deutsche Welle that “of course Putin doesn’t believe in God as
people generally believe in God.”
Now,
such statements would not be uttered, and Morozov says that he has no doubt
that Kirill, “being a complete opportunist will at some point thank God for the
Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact” thus ensuring that his position and that of the Church
will perfectly correspond to Putin’s own.
After
all, that is a small price to pay if one’s goal is to become the first Orthodox
pope.
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