wfn.org | Episcopal delegation visit Moscow and Istanbul

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99-107

Griswold and delegation greeted warmly by Orthodox patriarchs in 
Moscow and Istanbul

by James Solheim

     (ENS) Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold and a small 
delegation from the Episcopal Church made an official visit in 
July to two of the most important centers of Orthodox 
Christianity, in Moscow and Istanbul, where they received a very 
warm welcome--and assurances of "a new era of cooperation."

     Welcomed at the airport by representatives of the Russian 
Orthodox Church's Department for External Church Relations 
(DECR), it was clear that the long history of relations between 
the two churches had transcended political differences between 
the two nations. Archimandrite Feofan, a vice-chairman of DCER, 
said in the opening conversation that the political barriers 
could be overcome by Christians who share a common faith. "This 
is our responsibility before God," he said.

     Griswold responded by agreeing that "people of faith must 
overcome obstacles," citing a history of cooperation that goes 
back to the early 19th century when Episcopalians offered 
hospitality to Russian Orthodox congregations in California. "I 
came to learn about the church in Russia and to build on those 
relationships so they can be richer and more productive," he 
said.

     Bishop Richard Grein of New York, who has close ties to the 
Russian church, pointed out that Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow and 
All Russia, who led the church during the Revolution and was 
later canonized, was a bishop in New York and formed friendships 
with Episcopalians. He said that he has icons of Tikhon in his 
office and "I pray to him daily about our relationship--that it 
will continue to grow."

     In the four-day visit the delegation met with Patriarch 
Alexy II and other church leaders to discuss common issues and 
explore ways to cooperate.

     In addition to Griswold and Grein, the delegation included 
the Rev. David Perry, the church's deputy ecumenical officer; 
Bishop Roger White of Milwaukee, co-chair of a coordinating 
committee of the two churches; the Rev. Prof. J. Robert Wright of 
the General Seminary in New York, ecumenical consultant to the 
ecumenical office; Bishop Charles Keyser, bishop for the Armed 
Forces; the Rev. John Backus, chair of the Diocese of New York's 
Russia Committee; and Jim Rosenthal, communications officer for 
the Anglican Communion Office in London.

Task is to restore souls

     In a conversation with Alexy and church leaders, the 
patriarch described the enormous task of restoring thousands of 
churches and hundreds of monasteries and ministries that were 
"disrupted by the Revolution." Yet, he added, "Our most important 
task is to help people restore their souls." 

     He expressed deep appreciation to the Episcopal Church "for 
your help in restoring our activities and consider your visit 
another step in developing our good relations." He cited areas 
such as religious education and chaplaincy to the military. "I 
give great importance to personal contact," he said.

     Griswold quickly agreed, pointing out that several members 
of the delegation had already formed relationships with the 
Russian church, leading to "deepened respect and affection." He 
expressed a hope that prayer, which had "sustained you through 
difficult times," would now usher in a new era "so that which has 
been hidden may flourish openly."

     Alexy was obviously moved by the observation. "People can't 
imagine what our church went through in the 1920s and 1930s. It 
was genocide against religion, but now we have new models of 
witness... who share the experience of persecution through the 
centuries."

     Griswold said that he had read with deep respect about the 
witness of the church, mentioning several theologians and 
teachers. "In some sense I feel that I have come home," he said.

     The patriarch described the present hunger in Russian 
society for religion and a "great desire" for the Bible. Yet he 
pointed again to the immense task of restoring 12,000 churches 
and about 450 monasteries and finding clergy.

Transcending differences

     Meeting with the press following the audience, Griswold 
repeated his deep appreciation for the Russian church's "rich 
experience of prayer and spirituality--gifts we very much need in 
the United States." And he said that the Episcopal Church was 
ready to share some of its practical experience. "We are not 
interested in the slightest bit in any kind of proselytism 
because we support and respect the ministries of churches."

     The Russians have been bruised by what they perceive as 
encroachments by Western missionary agencies but also by the 
Roman Catholic Church's appointment of bishops for Russia without 
any consultation. And they have encountered some tensions within 
the Orthodox family, especially since the dissolution of the 
Soviet Union.

     The patriarch expressed appreciation that the presiding 
bishop's delegation had "come to see what has been accomplished 
with God's grace. After 70 years we are seeing people come back 
to faith, more aware of their need for God." He said that the 
last century was a tragic one for the Russians, with two world 
wars, a Revolution, depression, atheism and other upheavals. "We 
think it is our duty to remind society, educated for atheism and 
a denial of faith, that the new century will be marked by the 
maturing of Christianity. Our whole culture is based on Christian 
values... so we will celebrate Jubilee by returning to those 
values."

     "We have not experienced suffering as you have," Griswold 
said. "Your experience and witness can assist us in coming to 
that deeper place of prayer and grounding on the rock that is 
Christ." And he said that "our oneness in Christ through baptism 
transcends political differences between our peoples."

New era of collaboration

     Metropolitan Kirill, chair of the DECR, hosted the 
delegation in an important dialogue on cooperation. He said that 
the Russian church was deeply involved in trying to establish a 
"new understanding" of the church's role in society while 
maintaining contacts with other churches.

     "The church should be a peace-making force in the country," 
Kirill said. He outlined efforts for peace in the Balkans where 
the Russian church intervened with Yugoslav President Slobodan 
Milosevic, pressing for an agreement to allow NATO forces in 
Kosovo. "Churches should be in the forefront of solving these 
problems," he asserted. He proposed a conference to deal with the 
role of churches in reconstruction.

     On the touchy subject of the WCC, Kirill said, "We are not 
against the World Council of Churches but we want it to be more 
effective in interchurch relations." He expressed frustration 
among the Orthodox with the theological meaning of membership and 
said that criticism had mounted and become more "noisy" in the 
last decade.

     The metropolitan said that it might help if membership were 
based on "confessional families," suggesting that the WCC 
consider two chambers, one based on confession and the other more 
freely based, including all groups and a wide range of issues. 
Each might have its own agenda and style.

     "In the last 50 years the Orthodox voice has been 
marginalized," he argued. "We must be equal partners or 
withdraw."

     Admitting that the coordinating committee of the two 
churches needed attention, he promised to take steps to 
"stimulate" cooperation. "Relations with your church is one of 
the few positive ones with churches that came out of the 
Reformation," he said.

     Bishop Roger White expressed his appreciation, observing 
that the practical cooperation was "very active for six years" 
but had shown little progress in the last two years. He has co-
chaired the committee since it was established following a visit 
to Russia by former presiding bishop, Edmond Browning.

     Kirill proposed that the next round of theological dialogue 
consider the challenges of the new millennium, centering on the 
relations of Christian cultures in the East and West. "Many 
problems arise because there never has been an ideological 
conversation" on those cultural differences. He highlighted the 
value of student exchange and the trust that has developed 
through those exchanges. "We send them to friends--in trust," he 
said.

Peace through friendship

     Showing familiarity with the history of relations between 
the two churches, Kirill said that contacts were established when 
Russia sold Alaska to the United States. The Holy Synod of the 
Russian Church received "an amazing message" from the Episcopal 
Church proposing common pastoral work in Alaska. In response, the 
Holy Synod said that the churches "should seek unity in faith 
through dialogue," that peace comes through friendship.

      "It is still very relevant--the best answer to those who 
reject relations, who argue against them. Our two churches have 
never disrupted their relations and now we face a very good 
opportunity to enrich each other." Griswold said that the 
conversation had convinced him that the two churches were 
entering a "new era of collaboration."

     As a sign of that collaboration, Bishop Charles Keyser was 
invited to participate in the dedication of a new military chapel 
where the patriarch made it very clear that he was enthused and 
supportive of cooperation--in a public setting that included the 
deputy minister of defense and nine generals. 

     In 1995 Keyser headed a delegation of military chaplains to 
Russia to consult with his counterpart, Bishop Savva, and the two 
of them also visited peacekeeping forces in Bosnia in the fall of 
1996 and reported back to the patriarch. "We will resume plans 
for a discussion with Russian clergy on the problem of suicide, a 
conversation sidelined by the crisis in Kosovo."

     The delegation also visited the new Cathedral of Christ the 
Savior, rising on the banks of the Moscow River on the site of a 
cathedral destroyed by Stalin in 1931. Despite the cost, with 
estimates of almost $150 million, it is regarded as a symbol of 
the church's revival and has received support from believers 
throughout Russia. The delegation attended a reception at the 
Church of St. Andrew, an Anglican parish seized in 1920 and 
reestablished after its return in 1991. (See text of Communique 
issued at the end of the visit in Newsfeatures.)

The spiritual center of Orthodoxy

     The shimmering onion domes of Moscow's churches changed into 
domes of the world's largest mosques as the delegation flew to 
Istanbul, once the most powerful city in Christendom but now a 
place where the church struggles for visibility in an environment 
that is occasionally hostile.

     Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I welcomed the delegation, 
calling the visit "an occasion of great rejoicing" that would 
deepen the relationship. In his official welcome, he said that he 
hoped that "your pilgrimage to the spiritual center of Orthodoxy 
will lead you to regard our city to truly be the age-old bridge 
uniting East and West--as it indeed has been for nearly two 
millennia." (See text in Newsfeatures)

     Looking back over the last millennium, he said that it 
"began tragically with the division of the seamless garment of 
Christ, his holy church, namely with the separation between the 
Roman Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox Church. Subsequent 
centuries have seen the continued lamentable process of 
fragmentation and disruption of communion between believers in 
Christ, both in the East and in the West." 

     The patriarch urged faithfulness to a vision of the 
undivided church, even though he admitted that "the path is long 
and difficult."

     He said, "We must contend with the current ecumenical 
malaise," one that is marked by "cooling of relationships," and a 
"winter of ecumenism." One example of that malaise, he observed, 
is the "troublesome" future of the World Council of Churches, one 
that he finds "disheartening." And he described the anger of many 
Orthodox churches over "missionary activity and proselytism," 
especially in areas where the church is emerging from an era of 
persecution. 

     In response, Griswold said he hoped that "spring is coming" 
and that the patriarch would support the new dialogue between the 
Episcopal Church and the Orthodox in the United States. He 
thanked the patriarch for his "witness in the larger community 
and his concern for justice" and his "frankness over some of the 
difficulties in the ecumenical world today." He repeated the 
Episcopal Church's official position that "where there is a 
historic church, we are there to support that church." The 
patriarch added that he was "delighted to hear that from you."

     The patriarch described his role in "the first see in the 
Orthodox world," and "first among equals" of the 16 independent 
Orthodox churches with a membership estimated at 250 million. 
That role has had its rocky moments in recent years, including a 
serious conflict with Patriarch Alexy over jurisdiction of 
Orthodox churches in Estonia. 	

     Concerned with pan-Orthodox unity, Bartholomew proposed an 
Orthodox summit shortly after his election in 1992, repeating the 
invitation in 1995. It is now scheduled for December of 2000 and 
it will discuss common problems the church faces in the new 
millennium.

     "Christians are just a drop in a Muslim ocean" in Turkey, 
despite a long history that began in biblical times and 
culminated in the Byzantine Empire. The delegation visited one of 
the most important symbols of that era, Hagia Sophia (Church of 
Holy Wisdom), for almost a thousand years the largest church and 
most important church in the world. When the Ottoman Turks 
captured Constantinople in 1453, the church was turned into a 
mosque and in 1936 it officially became a museum with mixed 
Christian and Islamic symbols.

     Despite pressures, and an occasional bomb thrown over the 
wall of the patriarch's headquarters, Bartholomew is convinced 
that, after 17 centuries, it is important to remain in Istanbul 
as a witness to that historic role.

A continuation of the past

     In a dialogue at a monastery on the nearby island of Halki 
with members of the Synod Commission on Inter-Christian Relations 
the tone was open and frank. Griswold pointed out that Anglicans 
have always drawn on Eastern Church fathers and Orthodox 
spirituality.

     Metropolitan Gennadios raised the issue of how the Episcopal 
Church deals with issues of sexuality, expressing dismay that the 
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in New York recently 
hosted a service for sexual minorities.

     Griswold responded that the churches in America are trying 
to deal with the emotional issues of sexuality, adding that he is 
convinced that the most significant conversations take place 
"between the extremes." He said that last summer's Lambeth 
Conference of Anglican/Episcopal bishops "helped us recognize 
that theology is always done in a local setting." And yet Lambeth 
also raised the difficult issues of authority in the church, 
mutual accountability and limits to freedom among member 
provinces of the Anglican Communion.

     The visit to Russia came at an "incredibly precarious time," 
Griswold observed, a time when the church faces the tremendous 
challenge of rebuilding churches and dealing with a popular piety 
that is sometimes disconnected from deeper spiritual roots. 
Because the need to supply clergy is so urgent, theological 
education may be inadequate.

     Professor B. Stavridis, an advisor to the patriarch, pointed 
to the Episcopal Church's "very close and very rich relationship 
with the Ecumenical Patriarchate," adding that "we are not 
starting something new, it is a continuation of the past." 
Griswold responded, "We are retrieving the past and going into a 
new future." He said that he was grateful for the frankness he 
had encountered on the trip because it meant "moving beyond the 
ceremonial level." He is convinced that "we have something we can 
build on."

     In a second conversation with the patriarch, he said, "We 
need your prayers, your solidarity--and your support." He 
encouraged a strengthened dialogue on the local and national 
level but also with his office. He was pleased to learn that 
Grein will co-chair the renewed dialogue with Orthodox in the 
U.S.

     In a prepared response to the patriarch's official welcome 
(See text in Newsfeatures), Griswold said that the delegation 
sensed that they were "at home in this venerable spiritual center 
of Orthodoxy." He said that "we dare to hope that in some small 
way our visit to the Great Church and our meeting with you is 
indicative of a new springtime that is slowly overcoming the 
ecumenical winter of the past few decades."

A new beginning

     Later Griswold said that the "generous outpouring of 
friendship was quite overwhelming, much of it based on 
relationships we have already established." He was clearly buoyed 
by the determination in both Moscow and Istanbul to pursue ever-
deeper relationships and cooperation.  "I leave with a vastly 
expanded vision of the church catholic and the rich variety of 
ways in which the Holy Spirit is at work among believers in other 
cultures, other churches."

     Griswold was moved by the suffering, prayer and presence of 
the Holy Spirit that has "sustained these churches through dark 
and difficult times. It is a gift to us in the West." And he was 
intrigued by the possibilities of practical cooperation in relief 
for Kosovo, in the context of the church's role in peace efforts.

     White said that the visit "represents a new beginning 
because the transition has been made." Perry agreed, adding that 
Griswold had connected with both patriarchs on a personal and a 
theological level. "As a result, the ripple effect will influence 
our relationship on all levels, including local communities of 
faith," he said. "We have received a strong endorsement for our 
work together in the future."

     --James Solheim is director of the Episcopal Church's Office 
of News and Information and accompanied the delegation to Moscow 
and Istanbul.