Kirill I (Gundyayev), Metropolitan of Smolensk and Königsburg [Sovietice “Kaliningrad”], today elected Patriarch of Moscow, is the first freely chosen holder of that see since St. Tikhon (reg. 1917–1925). His elevation comes at a time when Orthodox Christians must feel anxious about the Church of Russia. The overthrow of communist rule liberated the Church, but that liberty has too often been used for secular aggrandizement rather than spiritual renewal. Some would say that the Patriarchate has found a new Tsar in Vladimir Putin and is content to sink into the slough of subservience.
The new Patriarch’s career has been outwardly brilliant: bishop at age 29, archbishop at 33, rector of the St. Petersburg [Sovietice “Leningrad”] Theological Academy, chairman of the Patriarchate’s Department of External Relations, a popular preacher and author of numerous theological works. He has a reputation, too, of being a “modernizer”, which in the Muscovite context means only not an obscurantist or neo-Slavophile.
The “dark side” is that his spectacular rise through the ecclesiastical ranks occurred during the Brezhnev years, when no man gained preferment unless he was regarded as “safe” by the KGB-controlled Council on Religious Affairs. He was a protegé of the highly controversial Metropolitan Nikodim, a prelate greatly admired in many circles (he died of a heart attack in the arms of Pope John Paul I and received the Pope’s blessing in his last moments) but also a KGB collaborator (codenamed “Adamant”) and tireless apologist for Soviet policies. While, to the best of knowledge, nothing discreditable to Metropolitan Kirill has ever come to light, it is a virtual certainty that he toadied to the communists to some extent. The Kremlin possesses all of the records of that era; if the Patriarch takes too independent a line, it has the means to embarrass or blackmail him.
In my fondest dreams, the new Patriarch will begin his reign with firm declarations in favor of moral renewal (reminding superficial Christians that God expects them to put aside corruption, greed, gluttony, ostentation, mistresses and other vices), religious freedom and the rule of law, which are not “merely” virtues but urgent necessities for the declining Russian polity. Even one out of three would be an improvement.
For those who want to form their own impressions of Patriarch Kirill, here are a few articles and interviews of interest:
- “Metropolitan Kirill on Economic Globalization and the Social Consensus”
- “The Orthodox Church, State and Europe: View from Russia”
- “There Is No Freedom Without Moral Responsibility”
- “How Should We Live in the ‘Global Village’?”
- “Europe Is Losing Its Soul”
- Letter from the Russian Orthodox Church to the Convention on the Future of Europe
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