Russian patriarch hopes for better ties with Hungarian Catholics

Published: 2006-04-11

MOSCOW (CNS) -- The Russian Orthodox patriarch said he hopes for healing and better ties with the Hungarian Catholic Church on the 50th anniversary of the bloody Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule. "Wounds inflicted by past upheavals" could be healed through "only prayer and repentance," said Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow in a letter to Hungarian Cardinal Peter Erdo of Esztergom-Budapest. "It was our nations' fate to suffer many severe trials in the 20th century," said the patriarch. "In the postwar period, their history witnessed many a bitter scene, among them the events of 1956. Remembering these events fills our hearts with pain and sincere regret." The patriarch's late-March letter was a reply to a February letter from the Hungarian cardinal, who expressed "love and respect" for Russians and pledged reconciliation. The patriarch said he was pleased the cardinal had established "good and cordial relations" with Orthodox Christians in Hungary.

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