Russian Orthodox bishop says Catholic-Orthodox text not comprehensive

Published: 2007-10-19

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The Russian Orthodox bishop who walked out of the official Catholic-Orthodox dialogue meeting said its final document cannot be assumed to represent the entire Orthodox world. "The Orthodox-Catholic dialogue cannot be considered comprehensive without taking the Russian Orthodox Church's opinion into account," said Bishop Hilarion of Vienna and Austria. Since the Russian Orthodox Church, the largest of the world's Orthodox churches, was not present for the final discussions about and approval of the dialogue commission's document, "its legitimacy is cast in doubt," he said in an Oct. 17 interview with Russia's Nezavisimaia Gazeta newspaper. The 42-year-old bishop led the Russian Orthodox delegation to the Oct. 8-15 meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church in Ravenna, Italy. But, in a dispute with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, he and the other Russian Orthodox delegate left Ravenna before the working sessions began.

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