Pope, Russian Orthodox head discuss Ukraine and 'just peace'

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

By NICOLE WINFIELD

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis and the head of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke on the phone Wednesday about Ukraine and the need for a “just peace,” the Russian church said, in the first known communication between the two leaders since the Kremlin’s invasion.

The call was all the more remarkable because Francis and Kirill have only met once — at the Havana airport in 2016 — in what was then the first encounter between a pope and Russian patriarch in over 1,000 years.

Wednesday’s call came just hours after Francis evoked the specter of a “final catastrophe” of an atomic war that would extinguish humanity during his weekly general audience. While Francis didn’t reference Ukraine explicitly in that part of his speech, he did elsewhere call for prayers for Ukraine and for God to protect its children and forgive those who make war.

Francis’ long-term goal to improve relations with Kirill and avoid antagonizing the Russian Orthodox Church had explained his initially tepid responses to the Feb. 24 Russian invasion. He has since stepped up his denunciations, demanding “an end to this massacre,” and labeling the invasion an “unacceptable armed aggression.”



FILE - Pope Francis, left, embraces Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill after signing a joint declaration on religious unity in Havana, Cuba on Feb. 12, 2016. The head of the Polish bishops’ conference had done what Pope Francis has so far avoided doing by publicly condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki also publicly urged the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to use his influence on Vladimir Putin to demand an end to the war and for Russian soldiers to stand down. “The time will come to settle these crimes, including before the international courts," Gadecki warned in his March 2 letter to Patriarch Kirill. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, Pool)


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-pope-francis-europe-lifestyle-religion-b474a5a67ba5c1be26aedf343b7c8eb9

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[ck4829]

1. Kirill is a monster

[Lonestarblue]

2. If I'm not mistaken, Kirill hais already said something along the line of Putin's war being "just."

Putin has been careful to keep Russian Orthodox leaders on his side. They’re like too many religious leaders—more concerned about their own position and power than their religious teachings.

[Igel]

3. Different mindset.

No separation of church and state.

Also a different definition of "just". Everybody acts like words like "fair" and "just" have obvious meanings that descended on platinum tablets from the heavens. A lot of polarization is because various groups disagree on what the emotionally laden terms mean, and even when discussed and a compromise found as soon as somebody blinks that person reverts to his/her usual meaning for the term, letting the meaning fallaciously slip and slide as necessary.



"Symphonia". Church and state have their own areas of operation. But they interlock and complement each other. One purpose of the state is to uphold the church's pre-eminence in its area of operation, and for the state to be able to do that the church has to uphold the state's power. That's the theory. Two working together as one for common cause and common good--that's both policy, political, economic, territorial, and religious. After all, Orthodoxy is but a sub-branch of Christianity, an evangelizing faith like Islam. One hand washes the other.

Symphonia has been markedly stressed at times--Stalin hated it until he needed it, then accommodated the ROC. Putin rather likes it and has praised and supported the ROC. Just look at the Spassky Cathedral across the Moscow from the Kremlin. You don't have to be a dyed-in-the-rule believer to support the theory and practice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphonia_%28theology%29

https://politicaltheology.com/russias-unfinished-symphony-of-church-and-state/

https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/responses/russian-orthodoxy-and-the-endangered-symphonia-model-in-the-age-of-covid-19

https://www.orthodoxchristianbooks.com/articles/587/-byzantine-symphony-powers/

[burrowowl]

4. Russia and Ukraine are different varieties of Orthodox

so the Russian Orthodox head is for Russia or Putin.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

5. Russia and Iran have similar parallel political and religious intertwining...only one was

world pariah in the jaundiced eyes of the West until…now? maybe we get two under the same umbrella?

Although one hasn’t invaded any country at all. And one is more deserving of the status.

« All veils secretly desire to be lifted except the veil of hypocrisy »