Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA
On May 14, Pope Leo XIV welcomed in the Vatican’s audience hall the participants in the “Jubilee of the Oriental Churches,” which is being celebrated May 12-14 as part of the Catholic Church’s “Jubilee Holy Year 2025.” https://www.iubilaeum2025.va/en.html The full text of the address by Pope Leo is found at https://www.vatican.va/content/leo-xiv/en/speeches/2025/may/documents/20250514-giubileo-chiese-orientali.html. Although the people in the hall were predominately members of the Oriental Churches in union with Rome, certain of the Pope’s remarks used the broad term “Christian East,” a term which obviously includes the Orthodox Church of the Byzantine tradition and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Pope Leo praised the Christian East. Thus, for example, he stated:
The contribution that the Christian East can offer us today is immense! We have great need to recover the sense of mystery that remains alive in your liturgies, liturgies that engage the human person in his or her entirety, that sing of the beauty of salvation and evoke a sense of wonder at how God’s majesty embraces our human frailty! It is likewise important to rediscover, especially in the Christian West, a sense of the primacy of God, the importance of mystagogy and the values so typical of Eastern spirituality: constant intercession, penance, fasting, and weeping for one’s own sins and for those of all humanity (penthos)!
On May 12, Patriarch Theophilos of Jerusalem issued a statement in which he congratulated Pope Leo XIV and called his election “a significant event not just in the life of the Roman Catholic Church, but for the world.” https://en.jerusalem-patriarchate.info/announcements/statement-on-the-election-of-pope-leo-xiv/ The statement also included the following two paragraphs:
We affirm the words that His Holiness spoke in his speech after the election that emphasise bridge-building, dialogue, and encounter as the avenues to peace. In a world so torn by division, violence, distrust, and despair, we know that the way of peace can be built only by such means. We look forward to the important engagement of Pope Leo in this urgent work, to which we, as the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, together with our fellow Heads of the Churches in the Holy Land, have long been committed.
We also look forward to the ongoing Orthodox-Roman Catholic international theological dialogue, which has been so constructive, and to which our Patriarchate, as a member of the Orthodox family, remains committed. We pray for this to be the pathway that we may walk together to unity and to full communion in the common Chalice.
In Ukraine, the Cabinet of Ministers on May 8 approved two sets of regulations implementing Law 3894. The first (Resolution 541) relates to the procedure for confirming the facts of a religious organization propagating the ideology of “Russian world.” https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/1071143-amp.html The full text of this procedure is found at https://www.kmu.gov.ua/npas/pro-zatverdzhennia-poriadku-rozghliadu-pytannia-shchodo-pidtverdzhennia-faktiv-s541090525. The second (Resolution 543) relates to the procedure for conducting a study on the issue of the presence of signs of affiliation of a religious organization with a foreign religious organization whose activities are prohibited in Ukraine. https://interfax.com.ua/news/general/1071093.html The full text of this procedure is found at https://www.kmu.gov.ua/npas/pro-zatverdzhennia-poriadku-provedennia-doslidzhennia-shchodo-pytannia-s543090525 I am now preparing an English translation (Google) of the complete texts of both resolutions. If you wish a copy of the English translation, please send me a reply email with a request.
The Cabinet of Ministers has been holding drafts of these two sets of regulations since approximately the first of the year. Until these two regulations were approved, DESS was unable to begin administrative proceedings under Law 3894. Now, with the approval by the Cabinet, DESS will be able to begin processing cases under Law 3894. Presumably, cases will be initiated against religious organizations that are part of the UOC. It was my belief that the delay by the Cabinet was due to a concern that activating the Law would create problems with the Trump administration including Vice President Vance. Perhaps now the Cabinet believes that the active enforcement of Law 3894 will give Ukrainian negotiators a “card” which can be traded in negotiations with Russia.
In my opinion, the terms of the two sets of regulations provide additional arguments for the invalidity of Law 3894 under international conventions relating to freedom of religion. For example, Resolution 541 provides that “the signs of propaganda of the ideology of ‘Russian world’” include “Denial of the right of Ukrainian churches to autocephaly” (“Заперечення права українських церков на автокефалію”). Under the language of Law 3894 (amendments to Article 16), “identification of repeated facts of the use of a religious organization for the purpose of spreading the propaganda of the ideology of ‘Russian world’” is grounds for terminating the religious organization. From these two provisions it would seem to follow that if a parish or diocese of the UOC repeatedly denied the autocephaly of the OCU, the parish or diocese would be subject to termination. As it appears that all or almost all of the parishes and dioceses of the UOC would deny the autocephaly of the OCU, all or almost all of these parishes and dioceses are subject to termination under these regulations.
The annual assembly of all of the bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church began on May 13 with a Liturgy served by Patriarch Porfirije in the Church of St. Sava in Belgrade. The news agency Tanjug has reported: “The media previously announced, referring to information from church circles, that the working part of the Assembly should last for three days, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, while on Saturday the Serbian bishops should serve the traditional memorial service to the founders and contributors of St. Sava Church.
According to their knowledge, the Assembly should deal with personnel solutions and diocesan borders and the situation in the southern Serbian province.” https://www.tanjug.rs/srbija/drustvo/161375/poceo-sabor-srpske-pravoslavne-crkve-patrijarh-porfirije-sluzio-liturgiju-u-hramu-svetog-save/vest The student-led protests remain active in Serbia. One wonders whether the Church’s position and Patriarch Porfirije’s statements in Moscow concerning the protestors will be discussed by the Assembly.
The Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs (SEIA) of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, DC, has appointed Jack Figel as the coordinator of ecumenical dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches in America. Jack Figel’s predecessor in this position was the recently deceased Father Ron Roberson, CSP, who for decades did so much to improve Catholic – Orthodox relations in the United States and who also participated in the international dialogue between the Catholic and Oriental Orthodox Churches. Jack Figel is well-known as the founder of the Orientale Lumen Conferences and the founder and publisher of Eastern Christian Publications.
Jack Figel has started a monthly newsletter, entitled News of the East. It introduces various important news articles relating to ecumenism and the churches of the East with links to the entire articles. I find it a very useful publication and have asked to be added to the mailing list. I have attached the first issue of the newsletter for your review. If you wish to receive this monthly newsletter without any cost or charge, please contact Jack Figel at EIAConsult_JFigel@usccb.org.
Peter Anderson, Seattle USA