Russian Orthodox Church Won’t Profit by quarrelling with Georgian Church.
Photo: Dmitry Dukhanin
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Russian Orthodox Church Recognized Integrity of Georgian Orthodox Church
The Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church rejected yesterday to accept the Orthodox Churches of Ossetia and Abkhazia that are seeking to break free of Georgian Orthodox Church. The most probable reason is the fear to lose almost a single ally in the battle for influence on the CIS soil.
Led by Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, the Holy Synod met for its regular summit yesterday, October 6, 2008. The highlight was the destiny of self-proclaimed Orthodox Churches of Ossetia and Abkhazia that voiced the intention to break free of Georgian Orthodox Church in summer in time when the situation in the Caucasus aggravated to the greatest extent and that have been willing to join Russian Orthodox Church as self-controlled organizations ever since.
According to Father Vissarion, head of the Orthodox Church of Abkhazia, they had sought admission to the Russian Orthodox Church from time to time previously, but the non-recognition of republics had been given as the main hurdle.
But the Synod didn’t uphold self-proclaimed churches yesterday. “Accepting Ossetian and Abkhazian churches to the Russian Orthodox Church is completely out of the question,” pointed out Farther Vladimir Vigilyansky, who is the briefer at Moscow Patriarchy.
“The political decisions don’t determine issues of church jurisdiction. This issue should be settled through dialogue of two churches,” Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, who is the deputy chairman of Moscow Patriarchy’s Department for External Church Relations, said a day before. “The Patriarch has always supported unity of Georgian Church,” Chaplin specified.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Oct. 07, 2008
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