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Russian Orthodox Church provides evidence of Roman Catholic 'proselytizing'
2002-174-6
7/10/2002
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[Episcopal News Service]
The Orthodox Church has presented what it describes as evidence supporting its long-standing charge of Roman Catholic proselytizing in Russia.
The Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church last week sent letters to the Vatican setting out its definition of proselytizing and listing cases of what it viewed as Roman Catholic poaching of its flock. 'The Catholic Church has asked us to provide concrete cases of their proselytizing, and we are doing it,' said Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the church's external relations department, at a press conference on July 5. The letters were a response to recent Roman Catholic claims that attempts were being made to curb Roman Catholic church activities in Russia.
Observers suggested that the letters could be intended as a prelude to a new round of very frank talks to deal with a crisis between the two churches. Already strained relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Vatican plunged to a new low last February after Pope John Paul II created four full-scale dioceses in Russia united in an 'ecclesiastical province' headed by an archbishop in Moscow. While the Vatican presented the changes as an internal administrative matter and a way of normalizing its life in Russia, the Russian Orthodox hierarchy perceived them to be a challenge to Orthodoxy, maintaining that they violated the spirit of ecumenical dialogue. Since then, the Russian government has expelled several Roman Catholic clergymen from Russia without explanation--a development the Orthodox Church claims not to have initiated, but which has further complicated relations between the churches.
At the press conference, Orthodox officials said their list of incidents of Roman Catholic proselytizing was based on Roman Catholic news stories and reports from Russian Orthodox dioceses. The list includes cases of Roman Catholic charity work with non-Roman Catholic Russian children. Their document also says that Roman Catholic priests and monks prevent people baptized in the Orthodox Church from having contact with Orthodox priests. The Moscow Patriarchate claimed that the true goal of Roman Catholics in organizing shelters for homeless children was 'to make little Roman Catholics.'
The involvement in Russia of Roman Catholic monastic orders--most of which were founded as missionary organizations or contain the word 'mission' in their names--is considered in the Orthodox document as evidence of proselytizing. So is what the Orthodox describe as a Roman Catholic policy of searching for 'local vocations,' Russian nationals to join the priesthood, and the enrollment of students from traditionally Orthodox families in Roman Catholic seminaries.
Leaders of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia reject the Moscow Patriarchate's interpretation of the concept of 'canonical territory.' The church says it is carrying out its mission among non-believers rather than Orthodox Christians. But the Moscow Patriarchate argues that Russians who have been forcefully torn from their Orthodox roots by decades of militant atheism could not accurately be described as non-believers. The patriarchate also says that the Vatican should refer Russians baptized in the Orthodox Church, many of whom are not practicing Orthodox, to Orthodox churches, rather than 'evangelizing' them.
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