There are a lot of detailed biographical articles about the Russian Patriarch, but we will focus only on the main moments of his life and on the fact that today Orthodox Christians have a lot of questions and conflicting opinions related to his meeting with the Pope. Of course, even before that, many tried to denigrate and accuse His Holiness of treason. But first things first.
Patriarch of All Russia Kirill. Short biography
In the world, Vladimir Gundyaev was born in Leningrad in 1946, on November 20th. His grandfather and father were priests, his mother was a German teacher. Love for the Orthodox faith also led Vladimir and his brother to the priesthood. Sister Elena became an Orthodox teacher.
Just think, his grandfather spent 30 years of his life in prisons on Solovki for his church activities and the fight against renovationism in the 20-40s. Be that as it may, with all this, Patriarch of All Russia Kirill does not reproach the Soviet government, becausefits everything with intelligence, deep analysis and wisdom. He believes that during this period there was a lot of both bad and good, and all this should be understood, and not make hasty conclusions.
The future Patriarch of All Russia graduated from the Leningrad Theological Seminary and Academy with honors. In 1969 he was tonsured a monk with the name Cyril. And so, step by step, as a result of gradual conscientious work and sincere faith in the important things that he brings and preaches to people, by the will of God he gets to the highest level of the priesthood.
Now he is the most holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. A more worthy candidate was not found, and in 2009, on January 27, the Local Council of the Orthodox Church elected him to this post. Without a doubt, it was a very good choice.
Patriarch and Pope
Serious difficulties in relations between Catholics and Orthodox continued for several centuries from the very moment that Catholicism broke away from the main and main Orthodox Christian branch in 1054. Today, confrontations have moved to a new modern, more cunning and embittered level, and if we don’t start dialogues now, something irreparable can happen.
Christian churches must learn to confront the new challenges of our time together. Churches have indeed begun to strive for unity, but this does not at all mean that they are going to unite their efforts and argue on controversial issues of theology. Not at all, through a unified and new Christian view of events in the modern world, they need tolearn to resist violence and lies and do your best to protect your traditional values.
Meeting
And for the first time in Havana, His Holiness Patriarch Kirill met with the Primate of the Roman Catholic Church on February 12, and following the meeting in closed session, they signed a mutual declaration consisting of 30 points. This signing became a new stage in the development of relations between the two largest religions.
In addition to calling for interreligious dialogue and religious tolerance, this document discussed the persecution of Christian believers in the Middle East and Syria, where today a lot of innocent blood is shed in military conflicts, including on religious grounds. This is the main point of the declaration. Before the war, almost two million Christians of various faiths lived in Syria, but the Islamists of ISIS "Islamic State" - a terrorist movement banned in Russia - are persecuting these poor people, and they are forced to flee to Europe and neighboring Lebanon.
Declaration
Patriarch of All Russia Kirill and Pope Francis also touched upon the subject of forcible annexation of churches and confrontation in Ukraine between Greek Catholics, schismatics of the Kyiv Patriarchate and the Orthodox Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. This very painful topic for a long time was an obstacle to the meeting of the heads of churches in the 90s. The chapters also discussed the issues of euthanasia, abortion and same-sex marriages allowed in Europe and the US. Although Catholics and Orthodox churches have different approaches to this problem. the Vatican is notsupports same-sex marriage, but tolerantly refrains from commenting on this topic, while the ROC MP has a clearer position. The theme of peace and religious freedom in long-suffering Ukraine was touched upon.
Smart Dialogue
Patriarch of All Russia Kirill and His Holiness Pope Francis, understanding the history of the schism between them, make a respectful appeal to the entire suffering world as preachers of Christ. It is also important that the European sanctions against Russia did not receive the Catholic blessing. The Kremlin did not hide its interest in this meeting both as an important component of interreligious dialogue and as an instrument for establishing foreign policy, overcoming the economic isolation of Russia, while taking into account the influence and authority of the Pope in Western political circles.
This meeting has become an example for politicians, because today, more than ever, the threat of the outbreak of the Third World War is felt. Orthodox and Catholics must understand that they are brothers, not rivals, and simply must live in peace and harmony.
We all need to love God and our neighbor, as Jesus Christ himself preached to people. And it doesn’t matter what views this person holds, what nationality and faith he is.
