Moscow, Mar. 20 (RISU/CWNews.com) - Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow has warned that the creation of a Byzantine-rite Catholic patriarchate in Ukraine would cause a complete breakdown in relations between the Orthodox Church and the Holy See.
In an interview published by the Kiev Telegraph, the Russian patriarch said that Ukrainian Catholic leaders are threatening to «escalate the conflict» between Catholic and Orthodox believers in Ukraine, by moving the Catholic see from Lviv to Kiev, the country's capital city. The Orthodox leader pointed out that Kiev is located in «the traditionally Orthodox part of Ukraine, where the Byzantine Catholic presence is extremely limited.»
Ukrainian Orthodox leaders cannot accept any Catholic claim that the Byzantine-rite Catholic Church is a nationwide body, Patriarch Alexei continued. And the establishment of a Catholic patriarchate-- a status that Ukrainian Catholic leaders clearly seek-- would cause a direct clash with the Orthodox world, he warned.
Patriarch Alexei complained that Orthodox believers in western Ukraine-- where the Byzantine Catholic Church is dominant-- are already «an oppressed minority.» He said that the Orthodox world could not allow the Catholic Church to extend her influence over the eastern part of the country.
Catholic World News (CWN)
20. mars 2003