Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis of Constantinople (1940- )… shall he get Kirill’s support for the reopening of Halki?
At the invitation of His Holiness Krill Gundyaev, the Patriarch of Moscow and all the Russias, Patriarch Bartholomew Archontonis of Constantinople shall visit Russia from 22 to 31 May. The programme of Bartholomew’s visit includes stops in Moscow, Sergiev Posad, the Valaam Monastery, and St Petersburg. On 23 May, on Trinity Sunday, Patriarchs Kirill and Bartholomew will serve liturgy at the Holy Trinity-St Sergius Lavra. The next day, on the feastday of Ss Cyril and Methodius, they will take part in the opening of the Days of Slavic Literature and Culture at Christ the Saviour Cathedral. In addition, Patriarch Bartholomew shall venerate the relics kept in the Moscow Kremlin, he shall meet with Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and the ambassadors of Greece and Turkey, he shall speak before theological students from all the Local Churches, and he will visit the St Dmitri Nursing School. On 27-29 May, Patriarch Bartholomew will visit the Valaam Monastery, then, he will go to Kronshtadt, where he will receive a briefing on the restoration of the Naval Cathedral. Furthermore, Patriarch Bartholomew will visit the Hermitage, serve liturgy in St Isaac Cathedral, and inspect the restored building of the Holy Synod, before returning to Istanbul on the morning of 31 May. In July 2009, Patriarch Kirill will visit Turkey, his first official visit to another Local Church as First Hierarch of the MP. At a meeting in Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew said that “clouds” from time to time arose in relations between the two “Sister Churches”, but he said that they were “only temporary” and “passed quickly”. He emphasised, “No one can deprive us of the unity that we have in the shared chalice”.
18 May 2010
Interfax-Religion
http://www.interfax-religion.ru/?act=news&div=35612
Editor’s Note:
DUM-DA-DUM-DUM…
You got it! It’s Big Green Weenie Award time again, kiddies! I normally don’t look at the English side of the Interfax side any more, the incompetence and stupidity just depresses me too much. However, I decided to see how they “Englished” this piece”. Take a look:
http://www.interfax-religion.com/?act=news&div=7269
My version has 276 words in the main body; the Interfax version has 113. This was not a hard piece to translate; it was straightforward and fell into place easily. This is criminal… this is lazy… this is reprehensible. The missing detail was not unimportant.
For instance, there is no mention of a meeting between Bart and Putin or Bart and Medvedev. Mayor Luzhkov is named explicitly, he is the most important secular figure identified. Of course, there could be a meeting with Putin and/or Medvedev… it may not have been mentioned in the press release handed to Interfax. Nevertheless, it’s an important detail. He has three working days in Moscow, so a visit to the secular leadership is not out of the question. Also notice that there is no mention of the Boy Wonder… he’s been laying low lately. No doubt, he’ll emerge to be part of the photo ops… the little weasel is photogenic, isn’t he?
Note well that Bart is going to be in Moscow over Trinity, that’s one of the major feastdays of the Church (you’d think that he’d celebrate it at home… that’s an interesting little sidelight, no?). I’d love to be a fly on the wall when Bart and Kirill palaver in Peredelkino. Bart is playing rather too nice… I believe that he is coming to Moscow to garner Kirill’s support for the reopening of Halki. That means that his overtures to the USA and the EU in that respect have failed, and the Vatican didn’t help either.
This does not bode well for the Parisian cabal and their legal fight with Moscow. The EP has cut the Paris lot off before… it could do it again. This time, the door would shut permanently. Paris is just an expendable pawn as far as Bart is concerned. Then, the Renovationist lot at SVS would be in a real jam… shall they support their Parisian pals and risk the ire of Moscow or shall they cut them loose and mend their fences with Moscow? After all, the OCA is just an expendable pawn, too. If I were to lay odds, I’d put my money on the former happening… what about you?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
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