Likely Moscow patriarch stresses differences with Catholic belief

Moscow, Russia, Jan 23, 2009 / 05:03 am

An Orthodox prelate considered to be the most likely successor of Patriarch of Moscow Alexy II has said that while Orthodox Christianity shares similarities with Catholicism, there are a “great number of differences” on which “there is no room for compromise.”

Metropolitan Kirill, Patriarchal Locum Tenens of Moscow, made the remarks in an interview recently published by Argumenty i Fakty (Arguments and Facts), SIR reports.

Discussing relations with other Christian confessions, Metropolitan Kirill said: “unfortunately, differences in religious doctrines and practices have increased between orthodoxy and other confessions.”

“With some Protestant communities, such as the Lutheran Church of Sweden and the Episcopal Church of the United States, we have come to a complete break, due to the official recognition of homosexual relations,” he continued.

While noting that the social positions of Orthodox Christianity and the Catholic Church are “more close,” the metropolitan said, “nevertheless, we have be accountable for a great number of differences in doctrine and practice between the Orthodox and the Catholic Churches and, in this regard, there is no room for compromise.”

 “Nevertheless,” he added, “this does not prevent us from being open and friendly with people who share different points of view, and with whom we live in the same society.”