MR PUTIN AND THE POPE, THE 25TH OF NOVEMBER

There is always hope.

Even now.  Of the Three Theological Virtues, all of equal value, the virtue of Hope is perhaps the one on most people's minds, those who are of the Faith at any rate.  As everything is crashing down around us, and it is, hope is a virtue that I, for one, would like to keep very much in mind.

It is with that cognizance of this particular theological virtue that I offer these few thoughts on the upcoming meeting tomorrow,  November 25th, between Vladimir Putin and the Pope, a meeting apparently requested by Mr Putin himself and readily agreed to by Francis.  We don't know what will be discussed at this meeting but preliminary reports inform us that it will concern for the most part the terrible situation of Christians in the Middle East in general and Syria in particular.  God be thanked for that.

Yet I am not ashamed to admit that I do hope, at least a little, for the beginnings of a miracle.   Or should we say another miracle, because we had a rather interesting miracle on September 7th, when the USA was getting ready to smash into smithereens the nation of Syria, but was stopped by both a papal plea for fasting and prayer and the diplomatic genius of Vladimir Putin (I remain firm in the opinion that the one followed the other).  What precisely that other miracle might be I obviously cannot say but I can hope that it could portend the beginning, even if a very small one, of a rapprochement between the Eastern Church and Rome, or that it might be something equally momentous.

Equally momentous?  I shall let the philosopher Vladimir Solovyev say it, a man whose life centered upon the desire to convince the Orthodox to return to the Universal Church:

"The profoundly religious and monarchic instinct of the Russian people, certain prophetic events in its past history, the enormous and compact bulk of its Empire, the great latent strength of the national spirit in contrast to the poverty and emptiness of its actual existence - all this seems to indicate that it is the historic destiny of Russia to provide the Universal Church with the political power which it requires for the salvation and regeneration of Europe and the world." (1)

Solovyev spent his short life trying to bring the Eastern Churches back into the bosom of the Catholic Church, which he terms always the Universal Church, so when he is saying that Russia must be the guardian and protector of the Universal Church he is saying that the Church could see its work on earth defended by a great Christian power.  To Solovyev the philosopher this whole idea dovetails with his vision of the day when the schism of 1054 A.D. will be ended and Russia will emerge as the shield that will protect the True Faith in a reunited Church of the East and the West.

Mr Putin has already met with the previous two Popes.  But the world has changed with startling rapidity this past Fall and what he spoke about to the last two Popes was most likely somewhat different than what these two men might speak about today.  Among other things Putin appears to be, according to published interviews, genuinely concerned by the split in the two Churches. This alone is most interesting.

I imagine it would absolutely terrify the world's neo-pagan rulers if a serious, Christian, powerful Russian ruler would become the defender of the world's Christians.  A delightful thought.

But I must not allow my glasses to become too rosy-colored.  The current Russian leader may not wish to be Christendom's new guarantor, or perhaps God does not think the time is yet ripe.  And He may not think that the time is yet right for an end to the Great Schism.  So many times in the past the delicate relations between the Catholics and the Orthodox have come to grief often because of clumsiness on the part of the one or the other.  That could easily happen here.  And there is "baggage" being carried by both parties that could ruin everything.  We must leave the dealing of that baggage to God.

Right now, as we write, we are faced with an extremely powerful, militaristic, usurious and openly pagan government intent on forcing the world to accept every conceivable vice at the point of a gun.  On the other side of the world we have a once-powerful government slowly beginning to be healed from a cruel dictatorship of eighty years standing which is going from strength to strength.  It is a fascinating situation.

The Pope and Vladimir Putin will meet on the feast of Sr Catherine of Alexandria.  St  Joan of Arc named St Catherine as one of those who counseled her.  She is a Saint honored both in the East and the West.  Five days later, November 30th, is the feast of St Andrew.  An interesting week for such a meeting to occur in.


1.) Vladimir Solovyev, Russia and the Universal Church, Trans. by Herbert Rees, London, Geoffrey Bles, The Centenary Press, pg. 29

Putin and the Pope, earlier today.

Postscript:
[Of course the Pope will be meeting with the snake oil salesmen from America shortly after his meeting with Mr Putin, and with the snake himself on December 2nd, which I fully expect will be an attempt to defuse any good that might have come from the meeting between Putin and the Holy See.  But I am hopeful that the Holy Father will not allow himself to be bamboozled by them.]

Interesting update:

A small but not unimportant action by Russia: http://rt.com/politics/russia-abortion-advertising-ban-266/