Kommuniké fra møte mellom representanter for Pavestolen og Moskva-patriarkatet

HOLY SEE AND MOSCOW PATRIARCHATE MEET

VATICAN CITY, DEC 21, 1996 (VIS) - A communique was released this morning which stated that "a regular bilateral meeting between the delegations of the Holy See and of the Moscow Patriarchate was held at the premises of the Department for External Church Relations of the Patriarchate on December 17-18, 1996."

"The delegations," continues the communique in English, "were headed by Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and by Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity."

"Considered at the meeting, which was held in the atmosphere of openness and mutual respect, was a whole range of problems connected with an urgent need to settle the matter of bilateral relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the territory of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

"Both delegations agreed unanimously that the most profound concern at the moment is caused by a difficult and sometimes critical situation in the relationships between the Orthodox Church and the Greek Catholic Church which has developed in the Western Ukraine and Transcarpathia during recent years.

"Participants in the meeting thoroughly considered manifestations of religious intolerance and nationalism in the region, which acquired the form of direct violence incompatible with Christian moral standards and which lead to further escalation of the interconfessional discord. ... The Russian Orthodox Church delegation expressed its anxiety over the attempt of expansion of the Greek Catholic Church in the Orthodox territory in the eastern Ukraine.

"In order to find a solution to the problem of interconfessional instability in the western Ukraine and Transcarpathia, it was agreed that representatives of Orthodox and Greek-Catholics in the region would be invited to meet at an early date with delegations."

The communique also pointed out that "a serious danger for the internal life of Christian communities is being posed by the appearance and activization of the numerous so-called new religious movements and sects." In this regard "both sides agreed on the necessity of holding an interconfessional conference in the near future."

The communique closed with a reference to the Jubilee Year 2000 and the special commissions which both Churches have set up for this event and the preparatory period leading up to it.

.../ORTHODOX:CATHOLICS/MOSCOW:CASSIDY:KIRILL                 VIS 961223 (380)