Observers of the Russian Orthodox Church at the Second Vatican Council

Authors

  • Archpriest Sergiy Zvonarev Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, 22, ul. Danilovskiy Val, Moscow, 115191, Russian Federation https://orcid.org/0009-0008-6785-4090

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu28.2024.401

Abstract

The purpose of the article is a comprehensive based on sources and researches presentation of one of the brightest and most intense pages of relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the second half of the 20th century — the presence of Church observers from Moscow at the Second Vatican Council. Russian and foreign scientists have attempted to find out the reasons that prompted the authorities of the Russian Church to change its initially restrained attitude towards the prospects of its representatives’ presence at the Council of the Catholic Church, to link the decision to accept the invitation from the Catholic side with the policy of the Soviet Union towards the Vatican. The assessments and conclusions of most researchers indicate that there is a relationship between the decision of the authorities of the Moscow Patriarchate to send observers to Rome and the political interests of the USSR. However, this external aspect of the issue highlights its inner side, namely the interests of the Church, consistently promoted by Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov) in his activities in the Catholic direction. Although Church and state interests differed from each other, they were intertwined at the same time. Cultivating a relationship by the Moscow Patriarchate and the Soviet Union with the Vatican had different goals: for the Church it meant overcoming internal isolation and strengthening international authority, and for the USSR it was an attempt to involve the Vatican in a peaceful movement, reduce the degree of its anti–Soviet attitude and acquire a partner in the camp of Western countries. At the same time, the promotion of the Vatican’s interests on Soviet territory, primarily an attempt to solve the problem of the situation of the Uniates, met solidary opposition from both the authorities of the Soviet Union and of the Russian Church, making them allies. The topic of delegating observers of the Moscow Patriarchate to the Second Vatican Council was one of the few topics that met the interests of all parties — the Russian Church, the Soviet Union and the Vatican.

Keywords:

The Second Vatican Council, Vatican City, Eastern politics, the Soviet Union, the Phanar, the Greek Catholic Church

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References


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Published

2024-12-28

Issue

Vol. 6 No. 4 (2024)

Section

Church diplomacy of Metropolitan Nikodim (Rotov): on the 95th anniversary of the hierarch’s birth

License

Articles of "Issues of Theology" are open access distributed under the terms of the License Agreement with Saint Petersburg State University, which permits to the authors unrestricted distribution and self-archiving free of charge.