(Printed under the title «Religious Situation under the Modern Totalitarian State» – «LOGOS», Yorktown, Sask. Canada June 1972).
The materialistic philosophy of Communism is based on atheistic doctrine even though the Soviet government for opportunistic reasons put the Church organization on its aims. Pope Pius XI teaches us in this respect that «Communism is intrinsically wrong and no one who would save Christian civilization may collaborate with it in any undertaking whatsoever. Nevertheless, Pius XII suggested that there is a hope in the area of negotiations with the human beings, but the base for it may yet be built on a spiritual nature. The pope goes on to tell us that:
«Now a bridge cannot be built in truth between these two separate worlds unless it be founded on the human beings living in one and the other of these worlds, and not on their governments and social system. This is so because, while one of the two parties still strives in large measure consciously or unconsciously, to preserve the natural law, the system prevailing in the other has completely abandoned this basis. In both camps, there are millions in whom the imprint of Christ is preserved in a more active degrees they, too, no less than faithful and fervent believers, should be called upon to collaborate toward a renewed basis of unity for the human race».
Our reasoning will support entirely the above statement of Pius XII. There shall not be any negotiations with the Soviet regime which, in Mr. Kennan’s words, «has little or nothing to do with the state of religion in the Soviet Union».
Unfortunately, however, Pope Paul VI tries to build the bridge with the Soviet government by inviting its officials (Mr. Gromyko) as well as representatives of the Moscow Patriarchy to the Vatican. On February 7, 1972, the Holy Father received an official delegation of the Patriarchate of Moscow, led by Archbishop Filaret of Dimitrov, Auxiliary to the Patriarch of Moscow, who was accompanied by the Rev. Archpriest Alexei Ostapov, and the Rev. Archpriest Vadim Griskim and Dimitri Nazvetiaev. On this occasion the Pope said: «It is a great joy for us to receive in our home Your Excellency» esteamed Rector of the theological Academy and of the Seminary of Moscow, with your companions, priests of the same Academy of the Russian Orthodox Church. You came to Rome as pilgrims, to venerate the places sanctified by Christians who bore witness to their faith in their lives and often by their deaths… We share this faith in common; we are called upon together to preserve it, to understand it better, and to transmit it, enriched by our own experiences, to those who follow us… We thank God for having let us meet and get to know one another. May the divine blessing be lavished upon the venerable leader and all the faithful of your Church…
This invitation of the Russian Church delegation will bring us back to the statement of Mr. Kennan of February 3. 1945, who suggested that Patriarchal status of the Russian Orthodox Church» has now acquired a prominence and INTERNATIONAL CONNECTIONS which will give him a certain independent dignity. His Perceptible mind projected the future events which we are witnessing at present with a great distress.