Showing posts with label Metropolitan Hilarion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Metropolitan Hilarion. Show all posts

Monday, March 4, 2019

‘Faces Among Icons’ — Deconstructing a joint Novus Ordo / Russian Orthodox ecumenical piece of propaganda





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Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Francis venerates a Russian Orthodox saint!


The Russian Orthodox are almost as frequent visitors to the Vatican as the Talmudists are.


Francis met once again with his friend, Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeyev) of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations.  The two have known each other for some time and were introduced by the late Rabbi Angel Kreiman who, as a Cooperator of Opus Dei, met Hilarion at an interfaith congress held at one of Opus Dei’s universities.  (Rabbi Kreiman was Francis go to rabbi until he died.)  One wonders what these two chums discussed that didn’t make the official record — communism or navel-gazing?

Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk is a frequent visitor at the Vatican and he usually brings a delegation of orthodox with him.  This time the group was rather large.  In the public statement, Francis concedes to Metropolitan Hilarion’s complaints from 2014 concerning “Uniatism”, Greek Catholics, and the Ukraine.  Francis told Hilaron and the delegation from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) that the Vatican under him has abandoned the goal of converting the members of the ROC to the Catholic Faith and also doesn’t care about correcting the errors in their beliefs.


“I am happy to take the road of unity with you: the only road that promises us something certain, because the path of division leads us to war and destruction. And before you I would like to reiterate – in a special way before you, my dear brother, and before all of you – that the Catholic Church will never allow an attitude of division to arise from her people. We will never allow ourselves to do this, I do not want it. In Moscow – in Russia – there is only one Patriarchate: yours. We will not have another one. And when some Catholic faithful, be they laypeople, priests or bishops, raise the banner of Uniatism, which does not work anymore, and is over, then it causes me pain. The Churches that are united in Rome must be respected, but Uniatism as a path of unity is not valid today.” — Francis 


Francis said further that he and Kirill are brothers that are spiritually walking together.  Perhaps, Francis is running a scheme with cigarettes à la the “Tobacco Metropolitan”?  After all, calculating Francis must of had an ulterior motive for prohibiting the sale of cigarettes to Vatican employees.  Or is this Francis’ way of stating that he is a communist and agrees with the goals of the KGB-agent (codename ‘Mikhailov’) Kirill?


Seraphim of Sarov


“I would like to say something to you: when we met with the Patriarch, afterwards he sent me a relic of Saint Seraphim. I keep that relic on my nightstand, and at night, before going to bed, and in the morning, when I get up, I venerate it and pray for our unity.” — Francis


Francis told the ROC delegation and the world that he (like John Paul II) regards the navel-gazing (hesychast) sympathizer of the Old Believers, Seraphim of Sarov, a saint and further that he venerates him twice a day!

Wow, what else does one need to know?

Francis doesn’t want to convert the Russian Orthodox people, or correct the errors of their church, and he venerates one of their saints!







Francis’ full remarks
Thank you so much for your visit, and also for this meeting, which helps us so much to live our faith in unity and in the hope to walk together. I am happy to take the road of unity with you: the only road that promises us something certain, because the path of division leads us to war and destruction. And before you I would like to reiterate – in a special way before you, my dear brother, and before all of you – that the Catholic Church will never allow an attitude of division to arise from her people. We will never allow ourselves to do this, I do not want it. In Moscow – in Russia – there is only one Patriarchate: yours. We will not have another one. And when some Catholic faithful, be they laypeople, priests or bishops, raise the banner of Uniatism, which does not work anymore, and is over, then it causes me pain. The Churches that are united in Rome must be respected, but Uniatism as a path of unity is not valid today. Instead it brings me comfort when I find this: the extended hand, the fraternal embrace, thinking together, and journeying. Ecumenism is made by journeying. We walk. Some think – but this is not right – that there must first be doctrinal agreement, on all the points of division, and then the journey. This does not work for ecumenism, because we do not know when agreement will come. I once heard a man of the Church, a man of God, who said: “I know which day a doctrinal agreement will be signed”. They asked him: “When?” – “The day after the coming of the glorious Christ”. We must continue to study theology, to clarify the points, but in the meantime let us walk together, let us not wait for these things to be resolved in order to walk, no. We journey together and also do this, but walking in love, in prayer; as in this example of the relics. Prayer together, for each other, in dialogue. This is so good. The meeting with His Holiness Kirill was very good for me, I found a brother.  
And now, spiritually, we walk together. And a couple of words to finish. One on the respect of Catholics towards you, Russian Orthodox brothers: the Catholic Church, the Catholic Churches must not get involved in internal matters of the Russian Orthodox Church, nor in political issues. This is my attitude, and the attitude of the Holy See today. And those who meddle do not obey the Holy See. This regards politics. The second thing: piety. It is important that we pray for each other, also in personal prayer. We know new brothers and sisters, and then there is also personal prayer. I would like to say something to you: when we met with the Patriarch, afterwards he sent me a relic of Saint Seraphim. I keep that relic on my nightstand, and at night, before going to bed, and in the morning, when I get up, I venerate it and pray for our unity.
Thank you very much. Let us pray for each other. Let us bless each other. And let us go together. Thank you.

To the Delegation of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow, Vatican, (30 May 2018).



Somewhere on this nightstand is the relic of Seraphim of Sarov that Francis venerates.
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Thursday, October 16, 2014

the circus at the Vatican


We have to disagree with the kosher approved super-reporter extraordinaire, John Allen, even if it is only in a matter of degrees.  The Synod isn't like a soap opera but is a circus just like the Novus Ordo church.  Which tent do you want to be a part of?
ROME – Every day, the 2014 Synod of Bishops on the family, a summit of 260 bishops and other participants convened by Pope Francis, seems more and more like a daytime soap opera. Today brought more surprising turns on multiple fronts.

 For one thing, the bishops made the unprecedented decision to release internal reports of small group discussions about a working document released Monday that became a sensation due to its positive language about same-sex unions, couples who live together outside of marriage, and others in “irregular” situations.

 The reports photograph a vigorous debate within a divided synod, with one camp seemingly embracing a more positive vision of situations that fall outside the boundaries of official Catholic doctrine, and another clearly alarmed about going soft.

 Austrian Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, one of the leaders of the moderate camp, today compared the situation in the synod in which a mother says “watch out, be careful,” and the father says “no, that’s fine, go ahead.”

 In part, the decision to release the reports was probably a response to accusations that a policy of not providing individual speeches bishops had given earlier in the synod was intended to suppress conservatives who don’t support the line believed to be favored by Pope Francis.

 Also today, the Vatican released a slightly modified English translation of the report from Monday which softened its language on gays; for instance, changing “welcoming” homosexuals to “providing for” them, and saying their unions can provide “valuable support” for partners rather than “precious support.”

 Paradoxically, however, the Vatican also insisted that the Italian version is the definitive one, where the word accoglienza, meaning “welcome,” remains.

 On a different front, Metropolitan Hilarion of the Russian Orthodox Church used his speech in the synod today to take a shot at the Greek Catholic Church in Ukraine, basically telling them to stop complaining about Russian foreign policy and the support for Russian incursions in Ukraine voiced by Russian Orthodox leaders.

 Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York was sufficiently outraged that be grabbed Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Greek Catholic Church, who was also in the synod hall, and immediately taped a segment for his radio show in New York to object to Hilarion’s rhetoric.

 Outside the synod, things were no less interesting.

 In an interview with Rome-based journalist Edwin Pentin, Cardinal Walter Kasper, renowned as the champion of the permissive camp on the question of allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to take Communion, said that African bishops at the synod “should not tell us too much what we have to do.”

 Kasper later disassociated himself from the comments.

 The emergence of the Africans has been one of the more intriguing bits of subtext to the 2014 synod. The fact that they tend to be conservative on matters of sexual morality, especially gay relationships, is no surprise; what has raised eyebrows has been the forceful way they’ve been inserting themselves into the conversation.

 After Pope Francis named a six-member editorial committee to shape the synod’s final document, for instance, Africans objected that he hadn’t included anyone from the continent. (Naturally, conspiracy theorists saw this as part of the plot to muzzle the conservative voice.)

 Today the Vatican announced that the pope had added Cardinal Wilfrid Fox Napier of South Africa to the group, along with Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne, Australia. Two days ago, Napier told a Vatican briefing that it “is not true” the entire synod stood behind the message delivered in Monday’s document.

 One cardinal speaking on background today said that the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s, the Africans weren’t much involved in the discussion. Now, he said, they’ve come of age and are making sure their voice is heard.

 In other words, the fault lines at the 2014 synod don’t just run left/right, but also north/south.

 Each one of these twists probably deserves its own commentary, but for now here are three general observations.

 First, tune in Saturday evening to see what happens with the final document the bishops are slated to vote on, paragraph by paragraph.

 Given the divisions that have surfaced — which Francesco Miano, one of the laity in the synod, today phrased as a tension between truth and mercy — it’s virtually certain that some of the daring language from Monday’s interim report will be tweaked, more citations of Church teaching will be inserted, and a stronger focus on sin and the negative elements of certain relationships will emerge.

 The drama is whether after all of that is done, the basic message of outreach and — even though the term has been redacted in English — welcome expressed in Monday’s document will still be there.

 A cardinal put the question this way today: “Is the synod going to end up being more hesitant than the pope?”

 Two, on the keenly debated issue of Communion for the divorced and remarried, it’s abundantly clear that there is no consensus one way or the other, and so the final document seems likely to call for further study rather than making a verdict.

 Even that, however, would arguably mark a breakthrough of sorts for the reform position, given that the concluding document of the last synod specifically devoted to the family, in 1980, confirmed the existing rule “founded on Sacred Scripture, of not admitting the divorced and remarried to Holy Communion.”

 That document was titled Familiaris Consortio, and was issued by Pope John Paul II. It was confirmed again in a letter from the Vatican’s doctrinal office in 1994, signed by the future Pope Benedict XVI.

 Third, it will be fascinating to watch what bishops do over the next year, in the run-up to the larger Synod of Bishops on the family called by Pope Francis for October 2015.

 Some will undoubtedly use the synod’s final document as a basis for open debate on the issues raised, without any pre-determined idea of how they should be resolved. Others, however, may well use the following 12 months to marshal their forces to bolster the positions they support, much as happened during the periods between sessions of Vatican II.

 Next year, coincidentally, will mark the 50th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II in 1965. In many ways, the experience of this synod and what’s likely to happen from here is as close as the Church has come in the period sense to living some of the same drama.

 Whether that’s a welcome development or something to rue, of course, depends on one’s point of view.

The Circus Show never ends with Francis!
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