Patriarch Kirill, presiding bishop of the Russian Orthodox
Church, has been trashed in many columns, editorials, news reports and blog
postings lately, portrayed as corrupt, vengeful, un-Christian, President
Putin’s dance partner, etc. Few of those making these and similar
charges seem to have met him or even to know much about Russia or the
Orthodox Church.
I don’t want to argue that there is nothing about Kirill to
criticize, but I do want to share a few memories
of him that go back to the summer of 1987, when Nancy and I were his guests in
Smolensk for two days. At the time he was both Bishop of Smolensk and rector of
the Theological Academy in Leningrad, as the city was still named in those Soviet days. At
the time I was writing a book published the following year as Pilgrim to the
Russian Church. Here are extracts from the book’s Smolensk pages:
Smolensk, Sunday, July 26, 1987:
Smolensk, “the key and gate of Russia,” is the most western of
ancient Russian cities. On the north end of the River Dnieper, it is at the
source of the water highway that leads past Kiev to the Black Sea.
Father Victor, a quiet young priest, met us when the train pulled
into the station at dawn. After checking into the hotel and having a brief
rest, we went to Holy Liturgy at the Cathedral of the Assumption, the principal
Smolensk landmark, a five-domed green and white building standing at the top of
a steep hill in the center of the city. Inside the cathedral is a mammoth,
heavily gilded iconostasis from the Eighteenth Century that includes not only
icons but statues. There is also a baroque pulpit, not an element of Russian
church architecture until the time of Peter the Great.
Archbishop Kirill was presiding, a man in his forties, among the
youngest bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church. He has a greying black beard
and a clear, direct manner. For ten years before coming to Smolensk he was
rector of the Leningrad Theological Academy where he is credited with many of
the innovations that happened there, including the introduction of women
students.
While he stood in the center of the church with his arms
outstretched, attendants vested him. It as though he were no longer himself,
but a moving, praying, singing part of the liturgy, all connected with the
church, the icons, the music, the incense, the Eucharist.
The church was crowded. There were the usual deeply pious old
women, among them one woman on her knees at the front rail, eyes fixed on an
icon, crossing herself and bowing over and over again. Russian tourists moved
in and out, watching rather than participating. Despite the almost continuous
motion among the people and the clergy, and the constant music from the choirs,
there was a powerful sense of attentiveness and stillness.
No one hushed the children in the church. They obviously enjoyed
being there. We noticed a priest and his family in a vacant choir stall. One
daughter looked to be twelve and her little sister about four. The older sister
was holding the little one up on the rail and they were hugging and stroking
each other. All the while, the older girl joined in singing the words to all
the prayers and hymns.
The day's Gospel was the story of Jesus healing two blind men. A
sermon followed by Archbishop Kirill. As he began to speak, the congregation
gathered around him, standing with their hands relaxed at their sides,
completely attentive.
“Our Savior said to the blind men, 'Do you believe I can heal you?'
They said, 'Yes, Lord.' And then he healed their blindness.
“This story makes me wonder about wonders. A wonder is something
that surprises. It goes past the border of usual experience. We see wonders and
we call them miracles. But there are people who reject the possibility of
miracles or anything that goes beyond their own experiences. They say, 'It
cannot be.'
“What the Church teaches is that wonders are special expressions of
the love and power of God. When we experience or contemplate wonders, they
inspire wonder in us.
“St. Augustine says that the normal growing of wheat is akin to the
multiplication of loaves. So much of the beauty of the natural world awakens
wonder: sky, sun, plants, water. 'Look at these things,' says St. Augustine,
'and see that they are beautiful. Their beauty is their confession of God.'
“Most wonders stand on laws that are the foundation of the world,
in which everything is developed. And isn't this too a wonder? When God does
things beyond our understanding, even then he is acting within the laws of the
universe.
“Not to see beauty, not to be aware of wonders -- this is to be
blind and deaf. The French scientist Pasteur said that the more we contemplate
the world, the more we are filled with wonder.
“Some people can see wonders, some not. Why? What makes it possible
to become aware of the actions of God in the world? Do we need special
education? Some special wisdom? No, dear brothers and sisters, the Gospel shows
us otherwise. Christ said to the two blind men, 'Do you believe I can heal
you?' Only when they confess that they do believe does he heal them.
“They were healed, but there were even at that time people who were
not moved to wonder by what he did. There were those who said, 'Jesus casts out
devils only because he is the prince of devils.' What he does, they said, isn't
a miracle. It is magic. And so they dismissed what Jesus did.
“Faith is the condition of wonder, not the other way around.
Perhaps here at this moment there could be a miracle. Even then there would be
people present who would leave saying, 'Yes, there was something strange,
something we need to clarify.' In fact we find in the press stories about
events for which there seems to be no natural explanation. But this doesn't
mean people reading these stories are led to faith. Miracles don't give birth
to faith. Perhaps that is why Our Lord in this Gospel forbids people to
publicize what he did for the blind men. The news would add nothing to people's
faith. It was not with wonders but with his words that he tried to soften
people's hearts. A heart filled with love and faith can distinguish good and
evil. The believer can cross any boundary with God.
“Love is the power of God. May God help all believers to be
attentive to the wonders that, because of God's love, fill the whole universe.”
The congregation replied, “God save you!”
While the Liturgy was going on, Vasili left us for about a half
hour. When he returned he said that another priest had been giving a talk in
the back of the church on such topics as the reception of communion, marriage
and mutual help.
At communion, the children came first -- all the children,
beginning with babies, held in the arms of their parents or other adult
friends. The first in line was the twelve-year-old girl, holding up her little
sister to receive the Eucharist. Communion is administered with a spoon while
an attendant holds a napkin under the chin of the person receiving. [.…]
Smolensk, July 27:
After a morning of being rained on in the countryside, we visited
Archbishop Kirill. He lives in a small house with a view of the Assumption
Cathedral. The dining room table was laid with candies, cookies, and a
delicious cake. Coffee, tea and vodka were served.
I asked why so few adults had received communion at the Liturgy
yesterday. “Yes, it is still very few, but more than used to come. Now it can
be fifty on a Sunday when it used to be not more than five. Things change, but
slowly. Before the Revolution, it was common for people to receive communion
only twice a year. People were overwhelmed by their sense of unworthiness.
Patriarch Pimen has made a call to believers to receive communion as often as
possible and this appeal is being heard. But with this there has to be a
process of religious education. We try to offer that in the church and actually
prefer doing it there. We would rather not have something like that happen in a
school classroom. Part of the process of religious education in our diocese is
to have a priest on duty throughout the day in the cathedral where they can
answer questions. We find that if one person asks a question, immediately
others gather and you have a group discussion.”
Archbishop Kirill is a member of the Executive Committee of the
World Council of Churches. “I got into the ecumenical movement as a 'youth.' It
was the sixties, a decade when everyone was bowing their heads to the young
people. The experiences that opened to me through the World Council of Churches
have made me realize that the ecumenical movement and work for the renewal of
humanity and peace are profoundly linked to each other. What enthusiasm there
was for Christian unity sixty years ago! Not that I was there, but what a
spirit of youth, power, and passion there is in papers presented at early
ecumenical conferences. They are filled with both joy and pain, with longing
for unity and sorrow for division.”
Nancy commented on how much more vital churches are in the Soviet
Union than in Holland. “The problem in the west is not organized atheism but
secularism and the consumer psychology. But we may face the same thing in a few
years, so we watch anxiously what the church does in the west as this may help
us. But perhaps we also have something to offer the church in the west, some
encouragement, some lessons. It is important to know something of the church
that exists in the first socialist state.”
I asked about the tendency for more young people to become active
believers.
“Certainly there is an encouraging influx of young people right now
but we have to be careful not to limit our perception of who is a believer by
only noticing who is standing in the church. The process of coming to belief is
very complex. We are aware that many people are believers in their world
outlook even though they rarely go to church. The tip of the iceberg are the
people you see in church, and that tip creates the image. These are people
permanently in church, often retired people, mainly elderly women. But the
iceberg is one object, not two, even though most of it cannot be seen. Also
that babushka that looks older than the world -- in fact she is younger than
the Revolution. She never attended a church school. She memorized no catechism.
As a young woman she never went into a church. But sometime in her life she
became part of the visible church. There is always a large group of believers
who are struggling with this decision, and slowly, as they become older, they
begin attending church. The invisible part of the church is much younger, but
today they more quickly become part of the visible church. They aren't waiting
for retirement. The democratic events now going on in our country help this
process. We see more and more people coming who never came before, never showed
any sign of belief. Now they want to belong to the church. It seems like a
fresh development, something completely new, but actually it has deep roots.”
Toward the end of the conversation, Archbishop Kirill said, “Jim, I am
disappointed. There is one question every journalist asks but you haven’t asked
it.”
“What question is that?”
“How many of the people in church are actual believers?”
“All right, your Grace -- one last question: How many people are actual
believers.”
“I’m glad you asked. My answer is I don’t know. Yesterday you saw
quite a lot of people in the church. You might say that some of them were just
tourists. I don't think more than twenty percent of the people were crossing
themselves. Many of the women weren't wearing scarfs. But a lot of those who
seem to be just watching are on the border of belief. They don't stand there
for two hours just because it is a beautiful old building. Something draws
them. They are not practicing believers, but they are there. But what about
those who crossed themselves? Can we say they are believers? It may be that
they were just conforming to norms of church behavior. Who can say who is a
believer and who is not? We don't know. Nobody knows. God knows.”
We said good-bye and hurried to catch the train to Minsk.
(from Pilgrim to the Russian Church by Jim Forest, Crossroads
Books, New York, 1988)
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