Catholic World News News Feature

Russian prelate disputes role of Ecumenical Patriarch October 02, 2006

The Russian Orthodox Church has lodged a serious objection to the notion that the Patriarch of Constantinople is the worldwide leader of the Orthodox faith.

Following up on a protest that he had lodged during meetings of the joint Catholic-Orthodox theological commission earlier this month, the Russian Orthodox Bishop Hilarion of Vienna told the Interfax news service that Catholics must not impose their model upon the Orthodox world.

Bishop Hilarion said that the Moscow patriarchate welcomes further discussion on the question of whether the Catholic model-- with Church centered in Rome-- could be compatible with the Orthodox model of autonomous churches. However, he said, that discussion can continue only if "an ecclesiological model in which the Patriarch of Constantinople occupies the place of an ‘Eastern Pope’ is not imposed on the Orthodox Church."

The Russian Orthodox prelate was reacting to a statement put forward during the 9th meeting of the Catholic-Orthodox theological commission. That statement said that after the schism of the 11th century it became impossible to hold an ecumenical council including all Christian leaders, but the separated churches "continued to hold ‘general’ councils, gathering together the bishops of local churches in communion with the See of Rome and the See of Constantinople."

In the Orthodox world, Bishop Hilarion argued forcefully, the requirement of maintaining "communion with Constantinople" was never regarded as essential, as it is in the Catholic Church. While the Ecumenical Patriarch is recognized as the "first among equals," he said, the autocephalous Orthodox churches have different understandings of the nature of that role. "Some rather regard this primacy as purely honorary, while others give certain coordinating functions to the Patriarch of Constantinople and see him as highest court."

The Orthodox understanding of primacy cannot be changed, the Moscow representative said, without a worldwide meeting of Orthodox leaders. He expressed resentment that Cardinal Walter Kasper, the leading Catholic representative at meetings of the joint theological commission, had pressed for a vote on the disputed statement. Matters of doctrine, the Orthodox prelate said, should not be tested by majority vote.

Cardinal Kasper has said that he was surprised by the Russian Orthodox objection to the proposed statement-- to which the Patriarchate of Constantinople had given its full support. But Bishop Hilarion told Interfax that the Moscow patriarchate would remain "hard-line" on the question.