ROCOR on the Eve of Union with the MP
In an interview with Interfax, the secretary of the ROCOR commission for negotiations with the Moscow Patriarchate Archpriest Alexander Lebedev made the following comments regarding the MP’s involvement in the World Council of Churches and ROCOR’s own stance:
Fr. Alexander Lebedev”We are satisfied with the Moscow Patriarchate signing a document in which it denounced all harmful sides of ecumenism, such as syncretism, common liturgical prayer with the non-Orthodox, and everything that may blur Orthodox ecclesiology. Of course most our fellow churchmen would welcome Moscow Patriarchate leaving the World Council of Churches because we regard its involvement with the WCC as confusing. Yet the reasons for this involvement have become much clearer to us. We realize that it is based not upon a desire to share in non-Orthodox prayers or a belief that there are other Churches besides the One Church. The Russian Orthodox Church as the world’s biggest Orthodox Church seeks leadership at international forums. If she leaves the WCC, the Orthodox representation will be assumed by the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the voice of the Russian Orthodox Church will remain unheard. We believe this is a serious reason for the Moscow Patriarchate to remain involved with the WCC at least for some time.
I’d like to note that the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia is never going to participate in the WCC even after it enters into canonical communion with the Church in Russia. We will stay aside of that and continue opposing ecumenism in the Orthodox world as we have always done. Our attitude to the ecumenical movement has remained generally unchanged.”
One has to welcome Fr. Alexander’s statement that ROCOR will continue to oppose Orthodox involvement in ecumenism. For, there are not a few who have left or are considering leaving ROCOR for fear of post-union compromise. There can be no doubt that the union of ROCOR and the MP would be quite tragic for the cause of Orthodoxy if ROCOR not only did not maintain its patristic stance but moreover missed the opportunity to work even harder from within the larger Russian church toward the exodus of the Orthodox from the WCC and similiar ecumenist ventures. ROCOR stands at a most crucial crossroads for itself and, indeed, for the Orthodox Church as a whole.
Posted on 04/28/07. Filed under: Ecclesia • Ecclesiology: The Church and Ecumenism • The Contemporary World • The Prophetic Role of the Church in the World • • Email This Entry
