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Orthodox Ties to Catholics Seen as Vital to Stand Against Liberalism
PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Feb. 20 (Reuters) - Changes in church practices that are seen as liberal, such as allowing women to serve in the clergy and permitting same-sex marriages, are creating a widening gulf within world Christianity, a leading Russian Orthodox bishop said Monday.
That growing divide may prompt Orthodox churches to consider a tactical alliance with Roman Catholicism to defend traditional Christian values, Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev said in an interview on the sidelines of the global assembly here of the mostly Protestant World Council of Churches.
While Orthodox churches, with about 220 million members, are members of the council, Bishop Alfeyev, the bishop of Vienna and the chief Russian Orthodox delegate, said they have less in common with some fellow members than they once had.
"The gap between the traditional wing, represented mainly by Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church, and the liberal wing, represented by many Protestant churches, is only growing day by day," he said. "We," referring to the Orthodox and Roman Catholics, "are on the same side of the divide."
He added: "Traditional Christianity's very survival is in jeopardy. We have no right to delay this strategic alliance, because in 20 to 40 years it will be too late."
Bishop Alfeyev, who is in charge of Russian Orthodox Church relations with the European Union, said, though, that an alliance with Roman Catholics should not be a matter of dogma and should precede the resolution of many centuries-old differences between the two oldest branches of Christianity, some differences dating back to the Great Schism of 1054.
Pope Benedict XVI has said closer ties with Orthodox churches are a top priority of his papacy. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches.
Bishop Alfeyev said the two sides were working to prepare a historic meeting between the pope and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksy II. The meeting had not yet taken place "not because of our denial, but because we want it to actually change things and not be just a protocol event," the bishop said.
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