FACES AND PLACES: Third Rome revisited (09/28/97)

FACES AND PLACES

by Myron B. Kuropas

Third Rome revisited

The first step towards the formal re-institution of the three pillars of Russian messianic imperialism may soon be taken by the Kremlin.

New legislation passed by the Russian Duma, the lower house of Parliament, and supported by the Federation Council, the upper house, would severely limit religious freedom in Russia. The measure is only slightly different from legislation vetoed by Boris Yeltsin this past summer. The Russian president is being pressured by the Russian Orthodox Church to sign the new legislation, billed by the president's office as a compromise measure among various faiths and all branches of the government. Many believe Mr. Yeltsin will give in to the pressure, regardless of his past reticence.

According to Richard C. Paddock of the Los Angeles Times, the latest legislation would create two tiers of religious status: religious "organizations" and religious "groups." Organizations that could prove they were in existence in Russia for the past 15 years or more would be granted full status to practice their faiths, buy property and receive tax breaks. Judaism, Buddhism and Islam would be recognized as "organizations," however, the Russian Orthodox Church would remain the Russian government's religion of choice.

"A church 'group,'" according to Mr. Paddock, is defined as "one that could not prove 15 years of operation in Russia, should not be considered a legal entity, and would not be allowed to own property, conduct religious education, or publish or disseminate literature. Groups would also not be able to invite foreigners into Russia, meaning missionaries from other countries could not obtain visas to work" in Russia. By this standard, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Pentecostals, Mormons, and, of course, Ukrainian Catholics would be left out in the cold.

Patriarch Aleksei II of the Russian Orthodox Church, while in Odesa on September 20, expressed his view that the draft - euphemistically titled "On the Freedom of Conscience and Religious Associations" - is not unconstitutional. "This law has evoked certain criticism from destructive totalitarian sects that try to fill the spiritual vacuum in people's souls," the patriarch said when questioned about its provisions.

Patriarch Aleksei also expressed his concerns about disagreements that exist among Orthodox believers in Ukraine. Overcoming the division of Church is vital for preserving the unity and strength of the Russian Orthodox Church, he said.

Significantly, it was Patriarch Aleksei who severely criticized Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in 1995 for his reception of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the U.S.A. into his jurisdiction. In his response, Patriarch Bartholomew noted that the acceptance of the UOC-U.S.A. recognizes the Church's "right to seek the protected shelter of the Mother Church of Constantinople with which they have historically unbroken bonds." The response made clear that "those received were obligated to formally declare that they will not seek autocephaly of the Ukrainian Church." The four-page response also expressed Patriarch Bartholomew's "deep bitterness and even grave disappointment" over the Russian prelate's inquiry.

During tsarist times, Russian imperial power was predicated on three basic principles: the autocracy of the tsar, the messianic orthodoxy of the Russian Orthodox Church, and "narodnichestvo," a peculiar brand of Russian nationalism that venerates the Russian people (narod) as the embodiment of the Russian religious soul and the guardian of truth and light.

Messianic Russian Orthodoxy is based on the belief that Moscow is the "third Rome," an idea first articulated by the Russian monk Filofei in a letter to Tsar Ivan III soon after the fall of Constantinople, the second Rome, in 1453. "Take note, oh religious and gracious tsar," wrote Filofei, "that all Christian kingdoms are merged into thine alone, that two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and there will be no fourth." From that moment on, the tsar was viewed as Christ's vice-regent on earth and the Russian Orthodox Church as the shrine in which true Christianity is treasured.

Nicholas Berdyayev argued that much of the messianic underpinning for tsarist imperialism was merely transferred to Soviet imperialism. The Soviet Union was founded on the autocracy of the Communist Party, the orthodoxy of Marxism-Leninism, and the narodnichestvo of the proletariat. Now that Marxism-Leninism has collapsed, religious orthodoxy, supported by all segments of the Russian political spectrum, is making a comeback.

Russian scholar Sergei Ivanov notes Russia "has always been an empire ... It was never a nation-state ... Russianness is a matter of belonging to an empire." That is why many prominent Russians yearn for a resurrected imperial state that includes Ukraine.

The Russian Orthodox Church remains stridently opposed to the existence of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which it accuses of "inadmissible violent methods [never identified] to restore their legal parish life after an 'underground' existence." What hypocrisy! One needs to remember that it was the Russian Orthodox Church that wholeheartedly supported the abolition of the Ukrainian Catholic Church by Soviet authorities in 1946, an act that forced Ukrainian Catholics to go underground in the first place.

Russian Orthodox Church leaders still argue that Ukrainian Catholics broke away from Orthodoxy four centuries ago and must return to the "true" Church to be recognized. Other Orthodox Churches disagree. In 1993, after years of ecumenical dialogue, representatives of the Vatican and nine Orthodox Churches met in Belamand, Lebanon, and drafted a compromise document that recognized the existence of Eastern rites within the Catholic Church. At the same time, however, the document declared that the kind of proselytization which resulted in the establishment of the Eastern rites originally, (identified as "uniatism") would no longer be accepted as a model for Christian unity. The Russian Orthodox Church has yet to react favorably to the document.

Given its history, and with some 6,000 parishes in Ukraine, the Russian Orthodox Church remains a Trojan horse within Ukraine. If the proposed legislation is signed into law by President Yeltsin, thousands of Ukrainian believers living in Russia - Baptists, Pentecostals and Catholics alike - will be deprived of spiritual sustenance and the Russian Church will move one step closer to its former pre-eminent position at the spiritual center of Russian messianic imperialism.

Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected]

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