Word: patriarch
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Like a new Pope stepping out of the conclave or the latest U.S. Supreme Court appointment, the election of the Russian Orthodox Patriarch comes with a fundamental question for anyone who's just nabbed a lifetime post atop his career ladder: Will he be in the future how he's been in the past...
Cyril, who'd been serving as interim head of the Church since the Dec. 5 death of Patriarch Alexy II, was particularly adept at keeping warm relations with both Kremlin insiders and religious counterparts outside of Russia. His many contacts with the West, including a meeting in 2007 with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, helped earn Cyril a reputation as a pragmatic reformer who favored moving his Church closer to Catholicism after a millennium-long schism...
Tensions had been easing under Benedict, who has made rapprochement with the Orthodox a priority of his papacy, but a hoped-for meeting never materialized between the new Pope and Alexy, who died after serving for 18 years as the first Patriarch in the post-Soviet era. (See pictures of Pope Benedict's visit to America...
...opening questions of the new reign in Moscow is whether attempts to pull off that unprecedented Pope-meets-Patriarch summit gets put on the fast track. Benedict sent his best wishes Wednesday, notably long and gushing in his stated desire to move the two Churches closer. "May the Almighty bless your efforts to maintain Communion among the Orthodox Churches and to seek that fullness of Communion which is the goal of Catholic-Orthodox collaboration and dialogue," the Pope wrote. "I assure Your Holiness of my spiritual closeness and of the Catholic Church's commitment to cooperate with the Russian Orthodox...
...most other Metropolitans, and a longtime operator within the Church's tight bureaucratic machinery. He is believed to have maintained close relations with Vladimir Putin since he took over as Russian President in 2000. Both Putin, who is now Prime Minister, and current President Dmitry Medvedev, called the new Patriarch soon after the votes were tallied on Tuesday. It is widely believed that no Patriarch can emerge from the tightly controlled process of candidates? selection and voting, unless vetted by the Kremlin...