In connection with the publication in the western press of the materials of the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops (September 25 — October 2, 1980), pertaining to the Lviv Synod of 1946, we are herewith publishing the correspondence between the Most Holy Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia and His Holiness, the Pope of Rome, John Paul II.
То his Holiness
The Holy Father, John Paul II,
Pope of Rome
Your Holiness, Beloved Brother in the Lord!
Upon his return from the Holy City of Jerusalem via Rome, His Eminence Juvenaly, the Metropolitan of Krutitsky and Kolomensky, the Chairman of the Department of External Church Relations, gave me Your letter of December 16 of this year, written in reply to mine of May 21 of this year, and some enclosed documents pertaining to the task of Christian peacekeeping, for which I sincerely thank Your Holiness, and, upon a careful study of these materials, I shall respond in due time. I am firmly convinced that the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches can, each by itself as well as together, do much to strengthen peace in the relations between peoples and states.
Your Holiness, we have been notified about the Synod of the Ukrainian Catholic Bishops which recently took place in the Vatican with Your Holiness’ blessing. In addition, His Eminence, Metropolitan Juvenaly informed me in detail about his reception by Your Holiness and about his talks with high-ranking officials of Your Church.
It is with great anxiety and bitterness that I must say that the Declaration of the Synod can negate, in the full meaning of word, all those great achievements in the area of fraternal rapprochement of our two Churches, which resulted from our common intensive efforts during and after the Second Vatican Council. The Declaration of the Synod has created a dangerous tension in the relations between the Roman Catholic and Russian Orthodox Churches, which can be termed nothing else but tragic because of the destructive consequences which it may introduce into the reciprocal relations between our fraternal Churches.
The contents and the spirit of the Declaration are alien to the spirit of ecumenical brotherhood which prevails between us; and what is more, it is an attempt to revise and disrupt the contemporary structure of the Russian Orthodox Church. I do not wish at this time to take issue with the details of the Declaration or to analyze them, because I believe that this can only deepen the memory of the tragic character of the mutual relations between our two Churches in the past, which rests like a heavy burden on both sides.
I am writing to Your Holiness in the hope of finding a solution to the dangerous situation which has been created in our mutual relations. His Eminence, Metropolitan Juvenaly, communicated to me that, judging by the understanding His Eminence, Wladislaw Cardinal Rubin and the officials of Your Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity, until Your Holiness expresses his attitude towards the Declaration in question, that document has no juridical or canonical validity for the Roman Catholic Church. This circumstance inspires in me a profound faith that Your Holiness, in the face of the dangerous conditions that have come into being at this momentous juncture of the recent auspicious beginnings of the Orthodox-Catholic theological dialogue, will find within Yourselves that strength and wisdom which will prevent the return of relation between our two Churches to the sorrowful state which existed up to the pontificate of Pope John XXIII of blessed memory.
Your Holiness, I also feel obliged to inform You that as a result of this Declaration of the Synod there is a growing tension within the Russian Orthodox Church in relation to the Church whose Head You are. I urgently ask and prevail upon You to take such actions, without delay, as would not only not give force to the Declaration but would make known to the Churches that Your Holiness does not give his blessing or encourage the path chosen by the Ukrainian Catholic bishops concerning the relations between the Churches today. I am convinced that only such actions on Your part will in fact cure the tense situation which has been created.
I await the prompt reply of Your Holiness so that we can continue anew our patient course filled with mutual brotherly love along the path to authentic unity Christ. As ever in God’s love,
With unchanging love for You in the Lord,
Pimen
Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia December 22, 1980
Moscow Nr. 2677
Letter of Pope John-Paul II to Patriarch Pimen
To His Holiness Pimen Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
Thank you for your letter of 22 December 1980 in which, in a spirit of fraternal and Christian candor you inform me about the dangers and the feeling of bitterness evoked in the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate by the Declaration published over the signatures of the Ukrainian Catholic bishops after their conference in Rome at the end of November last year.
I want to assure You, Your Holiness, that I have given very great attention to Your letter in connection with that importance which I attach to the development of ever greater fraternal relations of mutual confidence between our Churches. Therefore I, hasten to reply in the same spirit of fraternal and Christian candor, for only this spirit — I am confident — can dispel all misunderstandings.
During the visit to Rome of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, for which I would like to thank Your Holiness, I had the opportunity of discussing this question with him. The Metropolitan also met with Wladislaw Cardinal Rubin, who participated in the conference of the Ukrainian Catholic bishops, gathered in Rome with the purpose of presenting candidates for vacant episcopal sees and of discussing various aspects of their pastoral activity, carried on among their faithful, scattered in many countries of the world. Both the names of the candidates and all decisions of the Synod should have been presented to me for approval.
However, without any previous consultation, someone informed the press about the proposals discussed at the Synod. The Holy See, firmly maintaining the position which it has always taken regarding the rights of the Ukrainian Catholics, regrets that such publication occured; it took place before I had myself become acquainted with these documents, but shortly thereafter the Holy See informed all the nunciatures in those countries where communities of Ukrainian Catholics exist that these texts had not been approved and therefore are devoid of any official character. It was also demanded that these documents not be published or distributed. Not a single organ of the Holy See mentioned them.
I hope that these clarifications will remove Your Holiness’ fears. The past should not endanger what the Lord has accomplished in our Churches since the Second Vatican Council. During the Week of Prayer for Unity and the day following the celebration of the Liturgy in the Sistine Chapel with all the members of the Roman Curia, my collaborators in my daily labors, when we raised up prayers about accomplishing the will of Lord «that all may be one», I would like to write once more to You about my unshaken desire to continue — under the direction of the Holy Spirit — to move forward along the way, traced by the Second Vatican Council, the spirit and direction of which have unceasingly inspired me since the very beginning of my pontificate.
I assure You, Your Holiness, of my most sincere and fraternal love in Christ, our one Lord.
John Paul II
At the Vatican
24 January 1981
