A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY
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| Volume 6 Number 36 - Tuesday, September 7th, 2004 |
A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY |
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Russian Catholic metropolitan places hopes on return of Kazan iconHEAD OF RUSSIAN CATHOLICS: RETURN OF KAZAN ICONSIGNIFICANT EVENT RIA Novosti, 25 August 2004 - The head of Russian Catholics, Metropolitan Tadeusz Kondrusiewicz, considers the return of a copy of the Kazan icon of the Mother of God from the Vatican to Russia a very important step for the development of Orthodox-Catholic relations. "There is no doubt that the event that will occur on 28 August is one of the most significant events in the history of relations between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox churches," the Catholic metropolitan stated on Tuesday in an interview with RIA "Novosti." This is how he commented on the upcoming ceremony of transfer to Patriarch Alexis II of Moscow and all-Rus of an eighteenth century copy of the miracle working Kazan icon. This copy was at some time stolen from Russia and then bought by American Catholics and presented to Roman Pope John Paul II, in whose private quarters it has been kept for the past eleven years. "I hope that the return of this icon will tell positively on the further development of relations between the two churches," Kondrusiewicz emphasized. He said that the pope "has exerted titanic efforts for the development of intra-Christian unity" and "for a long time now he has wanted to return the Kazan icon to its owner, that is, the Russian Orthodox church." A delegation from the Vatican, which will bring the sacred item to Moscow, will be headed by the chairman of the Papal Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, Cardinal Walter Casper. (tr. by PDS, posted 25 August 2004)
POPE RETURNS ICON
TO RUSSIA, EYES RECONCILIATION Reuters, 25 August 2004 - Pope John Paul, aiming to improve ties with Russia's Orthodox Church and possibly pave the way for a papal trip, sent an icon dear to Russians on its way back to Moscow on Wednesday after nearly a century in the West. At an elaborate ceremony in the Vatican tinged with Byzantine chants used in the Russian Church, the Pope gave the icon of the "Mother of God of Kazan" to a delegation that will take it to Russia on Friday after public veneration in Rome. The traditional Byzantine gold and wood icon, which depicts the Madonna and Child, is a venerated 17th or 18th century copy of the original 16th century image, which has gone missing. The Polish Pope has kept the ornate icon, which measures 31 by 26 cm (12 by 10 inches) and is decorated with precious stones, above his desk since 1993 and has said that it has guided his daily work. The icon was believed to have been smuggled out of Russia in the early 20th century and the 84-year-old Pope, who appeared in relatively good condition at the ceremony, said he believed divine providence had brought it to the Vatican. The "Blue Army," a conservative Catholic group established after the 1917 Russian Revolution with the aim of keeping religion alive under communism, donated it to him. The Pope said he hoped the return of the icon, which the delegation will give to Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexiy II, would help reconciliation between the two churches. AN ICON AND A PRAYER "Tell him (Alexiy) of the firm desire of the Pope of Rome to move ahead together with them on the reciprocal path of understanding and reconciliation, to hasten the day of full unity among Christians....," he said. A priest read a prayer the Pope had written in Russian. The Pope blessed and kissed the icon before giving it to Cardinal Walter Kasper, the German head of the Vatican's department for Christian unity who is leading the delegation. The Eastern and Western branches of Christianity split in the Great Schism of 1054 and the Pope, the first Slav pontiff in history, has made great strides in improving relations with several national Orthodox Churches. The Pope has a standing invitation from a succession of Russian presidents, including Vladimir Putin, to visit Russia. But his desire to travel to the home of the largest and most influential Church of world Orthodoxy has been stymied. Last year the Vatican had started the initial planning for a papal trip to Mongolia, with a stopover in Kazan, some 800 km (500 miles) east of Moscow, so the Pope could return the icon personally. But Alexiy vetoed the idea. Alexiy has accused the Catholic Church in areas of the former Soviet Union of using its new-found freedoms after the fall of communism to poach believers from the Orthodox.
Relations between
the Vatican and the Orthodox in former Soviet
states have also been strained by the return to
Catholics of church property that had been
confiscated during the rule of Soviet dictator
Josef Stalin and given the Orthodox. |
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