Disputes between “Orthodox sisters”

Disputes between “Orthodox sisters”


Giorgi Kalatozishvili, Tbilisi. Exclusively for Vestnik Kavkaza


During a meeting with President of Austria Heinz Fischer, the head of the Georgian Orthodox Church (GOC) Ilya II suddenly stated that the GOC “had difficult relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.” In this context he stressed that “the European course of Georgia is firm,” remembering his Moscow meeting with Vladimir Putin, during which, as the Patriarch’s office reported earlier, the Russian President “promised to think about returning Georgian refugees and clergy to Abkhazia.” “Russia should be interested not only in Abkhazia, but also a friendly Georgia,” Ilya II stressed.

The Patriarch’s statement caused a wide-scale response in the country. GOC and ROC are thought to be ‘sister-churches’: they have never had and have no canonical disputes. ROC was the first to recognize reconstruction of GOC autocephaly in 1944. “I can’t rule out that Josef Stalin was involved in this,” Georgian historian Zaza Abashidze told Vestnik Kavkaza. By the way, the Constantinople patriarch only recognized GOC autocephaly in 1990.

Ilya II has always been very careful in everything which concerns relations with ROC and the Russian state. Some radicals even called him “a pro-Russian politician.” Taking into account the Patriarch’s influence on his flock, his every word is considered to be a political statement. Therefore, Ilya II has always thought twice, speaking about Russia and ROC.

Moscow has treated him respectfully. There have been a series of meetings with Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev, and the fact that during the war of August 2008 the Russian generalship ordered the army to provide security for the head of GOC when he visited a zone of the conflict.

Later, Ilya II had many times said (including in his sermons) that President Saakashvili made a big mistake in trying to solve the problem of South Ossetia by force. “Why was it necessary to bang against the wall, when it could be bypassed?” the Patriarch once asked during one of his Sunday sermons.

Why did the head of the Georgian Church make such a harsh statement, admitting disputes and “difficult relations” with the Russian Church, now? According to Vestnik Kavkaza’s information, the reason for this is the absence of a consensus on Abkhazia. The Moscow Patriarch’s Office recognizes Abkhazia as a canonical territory of GOC; but Tbilisi wants Moscow to apply more influence on decisions which are made in Abkhazia on Georgian churches on Abkhaz territory. Including the problem of restoration and (as Tbilisi often complains) “changing their appearance.”

Moreover, GOC is dissatisfied with the consecration of Abkhaz clergy without its approval and the fact that the spiritual guidance of the Abkhazian flock is going on without Tbilisi’s approval.

In fact, not all these issues depend on Moscow, particularly considering the growing ‘people’s-church movement’ for autocephaly of the Abkhazian Church and its direct subordination to Constantinople.

For example, Moscow failed to organize a joint visit of the heads of ROC and GOC to Abkhazia in 2010, as Sukhumi agreed to welcome Moscow Patriarch Kirill, but forbade Ilya II from entering the territory of the former Georgian autonomy.

Informed sources of Vestnik Kavkaza in religious circles say that the statement by the Georgian Patriarch cannot be considered as readiness to break relations with ROC. According to one of the sources, ahead of the Universal Assembly of Orthodox Churches in 2016, the patriarchies of the two countries are holding intensive talks on development of a joint position on issues of the Abkhazian and Ukrainian Churches; it is unlikely that certain claims will prevent the development of a consensus on this strategic question, ahead of a historic event for the whole Orthodox world.

 

6985 views
Поделиться:
Print: