Rifts in Russian Orthodox Church could be healed in five years - Metropolitan Kirill

13 August 2007, 15:18

Moscow, August 13, Interfax - At least five years will pass before the Russian Orthodox Church in Russia and abroad overcome their differences, head of the Moscow Patriarchate department for external church relations Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, said.

"This time will be spent on resolving the remaining problems," Metropolitan Kirill said at a news conference in Moscow on Monday.

He said some representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia had not accepted the reunification, which should not be overly dramatized, though.

"I think those who reject reunification are guided by psychological, rather than rational factors," he said.

Metropolitan Kirill also said that negation can only be overcome in prayers, and with love and patience which will take time - the way family disputes are normally handled, but where the rational factor is rarely used.

Then again, the image of the enemy in these irreconcilable people' minds could be a comfortable way of shaking off the blame for their problems on others, he said.

Generally speaking, said Metropolitan Kirill, the churches would never unite to the last believer. This explains why Christians split in the Apostles' lifetime, he said.

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