Patriarch Kirill gives Russian minority churches cautious optimism

Russian minority churches have voiced cautious optimism about their prospects under the country's new Orthodox patriarch, Kirill I, after messages of welcome from church leaders worldwide following his installation on Feb. 1.

"Kirill's recent words about non-Orthodox denominations can been seen as electoral rhetoric intended to win over supporters of more conservative candidates," said Archbishop Edmund Ratz, the head of the 75,000-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in Russia and Other States. "We'll have to see how much weight he'll now have with the country's political rulers, and whether he's as free now as patriarch to have contacts with other churches."

In an interview with Ecumenical News International, Ratz said he believed Patriarch Kirill was "ecumenically minded," but noted that Protestants were unsure whether the new Orthodox leader would help them with practical difficulties, including their endeavours to regain churches confiscated under Soviet rule.

The legal officer of Russia's Union of Evangelical Christian Baptists said his church held the same position as the Russian Orthodox Church on most moral and social issues, including homosexuality, and counted on Orthodox help in finding solutions to local issues.

"The late Patriarch Alexei II received Baptist delegations on several occasions, and we hope our top-level dialogue will continue developing," said Pavel Belkov, whose union has 80,000 members in 1,750 congregations and is Russia's single Protestant denomination.

"The new patriarch has great moral authority, and we hope our good relations will encourage local officials to settle our difficulties and ensure our needs are met," Belkove stated.

The former Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad was elected on Jan. 27 as Russia's 16th patriarch, after handling ecumenical relations for 18 years as head of the Moscow Patriarchate's Department for External Church Relations.

In a message for Kirill's Feb. 1 enthronement, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, thanked him for his "friendship and companionship in the area of inter-Christian relations", and urged him to continue "to speak to the world openly and courageously, frankly and caringly."