The Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris, a Seine-side symbol of the Moscow Patriarchate’s efforts to expand outside Russia’s borders, has snubbed the heads of France’s Catholic and Protestant communities trying to deliver an appeal for peace in Ukraine.
Catholic bishops conference head Archbishop Éric de Moulins-Beaufort and Rev François Clavairoly, president of the French Protestant Federation, were due on 10 March at Holy Trinity Cathedral to discuss Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and hand over a letter to Patriarch Kirill during a meeting with its parish priest, Fr. Maxim Politiv.
“Ukraine: Does religious nationalism endanger peace?” was the title of their joint letter to the patriarch, who has fully backed President Vladimir Putin’s military campaign against Kyiv.
But they were met at the door by a curate who took the letter but did not let them into the cathedral, built in 2016 by the Russian state with which the Moscow Patriarchate works closely.
The war in Ukraine has proved an embarrassment to Orthodox in France loyal to the Moscow Patriarchate. The Moscow-linked Russian Orthodox seminary outside Paris last week denounced imperialism nationalism and urged Russia “to end its bloody offensive”.
Archbishop Jean of Dubna, head of the Russian Orthodox archdiocese of Western Europe, declared solidarity with Ukrainians and told Patriarch Kirill in his peace appeal that the war is “a serious sin before God”.
The archbishop, whose flock includes descendants of earlier Russian immigrants born in western Europe, only joined the Moscow Patriarchate in 2019 after the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, his former jurisdiction, recognised the new Orthodox Church of Ukraine.
Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, head of the Brussels-based EU bishops’ lobby Comece, also wrote to Patriarch Kirill urging him to intervene with Russian authorities to seek a diplomatic solution to “this senseless war” and advocate for “safe humanitarian corridors and unrestricted access to humanitarian assistance”.
In Amsterdam, the four priests and the deacon at the Russian Orthodox parish of St. Nicholas of Myra decided to switch loyalty from Moscow to Istanbul after being threatened by their pro-Moscow archbishop based in The Hague.
The priests did not want to leave the Moscow Patriarchate but said they would no longer mention Patriarch Kirill at their liturgies due to his support for the Ukraine invasion.
Archbishop Elisay turned up unannounced before the Sunday service on 6 March to preside and ensure Kirill’s name was mentioned. He told priests afterwards that the Moscow Patriarchate and the Russian Foreign Ministry were closely following developments in the parish.
The multinational church then shut down, saying it could not ensure a “prayerful atmosphere” at its liturgies, and accepted Dutch police protection.
Bishop Jan Hendrik of Haarlem-Amsterdam thanked the parish for resisting “attempts to make the invasion into a ‘holy war’” and offered it the use of a Catholic church for services in the interim.