Instituto de Estudios Políticos y Derecho Público "Dr. Humberto J. La Roche"
de la Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas de la Universidad del Zulia
Maracaibo, Venezuela
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Cues tio nes Po lí ti cas
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Vol. 40, Nº 73 (2022), 819-836
IEPDP-Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Políticas - LUZ
Recibido el 14/04/2022 Aceptado el 03/05/2022
Representations of the
Russian Orthodox Church to the
European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
DOI: https://doi.org/10.46398/cuestpol.4073.47
Oleksandr Trygub *
Enache George-Eugen **
Oleg Bobina ***
Olga Kravchuk ****
Iryna Shapovalova *****
Abstract
The aim of the article is to reveal the importance of the
instruments of the Russian Orthodox Church in the European
space: the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in
the European institutions and the Representation of the Russian
Orthodox Church in the Council of Europe. The methodological basis of
the study is a comprehensive interdisciplinary approach that uses systemic,
civilizational, historical-chronological and structural-functional methods.
Everything leads to the conclusion that the activities of the missions are
designed to contribute to the achievement of the foreign policy objectives,
both religious and spiritual and State of the Russian Federation. By
interacting with foreign media and civil society institutions, the oces
of the Russian Orthodox Church promote a positive image of Russian
Orthodoxy and the idea of a “Russian world”, creating a more favorable
image of these ideas in the world for Russia’s foreign policy. In this way, we
see that the Orthodox Church has intensied its external activities in the
twenty-rst century. At the same time, it is often not only religious but also
political, attesting to the greater rapprochement of the “New Russia” with
* Doctor of History, Professor of the Department of History, V.O. Sukhomlynskyi Mykolaiv National
University, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0610-1702
** Ph.D. in History, Professor of the Faculty of History, Philosophy and Theology „Dunărea de Jos”
University of Galați, Galați, Romania. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9389-993X
*** Ph.D. in History, Associate Professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences Admiral
Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-
0002-1920-8341
**** Ph.D. in Political Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian Sciences
Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://orcid.
org/0000-0001-7802-1934
***** Ph.D. in Philosophical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Social and Humanitarian
Sciences Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding, Mykolaiv, Ukraine. ORCID ID: https://
orcid.org/0000-0001-6781-7697
820
Oleksandr Trygub, Enache George-Eugen, Oleg Bobina, Olga Kravchuk y Iryna Shapovalova
Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
the Russian Orthodox Church, which continues to perform secular tasks on
the foreign policy front.
Keywords: Russian Orthodox Church; Russian Federation; religion and
politics; European Union; international organizations.
Representaciones de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa en
organizaciones europeas (2002-2021): de la religión a la
política
Resumen
El objetivo del artículo es revelar la importancia de los instrumentos
de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa en el espacio europeo: la Representación de la
Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa en las instituciones europeas y la Representación de
la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa en el Consejo de Europa. La base metodológica
del estudio es un enfoque interdisciplinario integral que utiliza métodos
sistémicos, civilizacionales, histórico-cronológicos y estructural-
funcionales. Todo permite concluir que las actividades de las misiones
están diseñadas para contribuir al logro de los objetivos de política exterior,
tanto religiosos como espirituales y estatales de la Federación de Rusia. Al
interactuar con medios extranjeros e instituciones de la sociedad civil, las
ocinas de la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa promueven una imagen positiva de
la ortodoxia rusa y la idea de un “mundo ruso”, creando una imagen más
favorable de estas ideas en el mundo para la política exterior de Rusia. De
esta manera, vemos que la Iglesia Ortodoxa ha intensicado sus actividades
externas en el siglo XXI. Al mismo tiempo, a menudo no solo es religioso
sino también político, lo que atestigua el mayor acercamiento de la “Nueva
Rusia” con la Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa, que continúa desempeñando tareas
seculares en el frente de la política exterior.
Palabras clave: Iglesia Ortodoxa Rusa; federación rusa; religión y
política; unión europea, organizaciones internacionales.
Introduction
Religious organizations are playing an increasingly active role in in the
political processes of the modern world. They become inuential participants
in international relations in a globalizing world, remaining sometimes in
the shadows, “behind the scenes” of events unfolding interstate or intrastate
relations and contradictions. The inuence of religious organizations on
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Vol. 40 Nº 73 (2022): 819-836
the political destinies of the country, states and the entire world community
can be clearly traced, for example, in the activities of the Vatican or Islamic
institutions.
The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) also seeks to occupy its niche
in international relations. Obviously that the real activity of the Russian
Orthodox Church in the international arena is not limited to the Soviet
slogan “struggle for world peace” imposed on it. From now on, the Russian
Federation, as in former communist times, supports the Russian Orthodox
Church, which in turn supports Russia’s international prestige.
In the XXI century there is an increase in the interaction of the ROC and
the Russian Federation in various spheres of life of the country, not only
in the spiritual, but in the practical terms also. In March 2003, Patriarch
Aleksiy II at a meeting of the Collegium’ Ministry of Foreign Aairs of the
Russian Federation informed on the Russian Orthodox Church’s vision of
the Russian diplomacy strategic objectives, given the role the ROC assigns
to Russia in the international arena. According to the Russian Orthodox
Church, Russia should become one of the international poles of the world,
one of the decision-making centers. The Church, according to the Patriarch,
has its point of view on the most important issues of political life and openly
proclaims it. In turn, Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov stressed that
close contacts with the Russian Orthodox Church enrich the diplomatic
service with a broader vision of the country’s national interests.
The relevance of the chosen topic is facilitated by the fact, that it remains
poorly studied today. Some aspects of the issue were raised by Russian
scientists: Olga Tserpitskaya (2011), Petr Kasatkin (2010a; 2010b), Roman
Lunkin (2018; 2020), and Ukrainian scientist Oleksandr Trygub (2012;
2014), but there is no summary work. It should also be borne in mind that
the situation in the international arena and inside the Russian Orthodox
Church has changed signicantly over the last decade.
Thus, the place and role of the Russian Orthodox Church in international
relations is becoming very relevant today. Therefore, the authors aim
to reveal the importance of the ROC instruments in the European space
– the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European
Institutions and the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in
the Council of Europe (Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Strasbourg).
1. Methodology of the research
The methodological basis of the study is a comprehensive interdisciplinary
approach. In the course of the research both general scientic theoretical
822
Oleksandr Trygub, Enache George-Eugen, Oleg Bobina, Olga Kravchuk y Iryna Shapovalova
Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
methods (systemic, civilizational) and special political science methods
(theory of political systems, structural-functional, comparative analysis)
were used.
In considering the conceptual foundations of cooperation between the
Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Federation, the author followed
a systematic approach, which claried the role and place of the Russian
Orthodox Church in the international arena, comprehensively reveal the
internal logic of the ROC’s international activity in the context of Russian
Federation’ foreign policy in a globalized environment.
In the study of political problems of international relations and global
development, which includes the research topic, the institutional approach
is of great importance. The use of the historical-chronological method in
the positivist key played an important role, as all events are revealed in a
logical sequence.
The use of these methodological tool made it possible to fully and
objectively solve this problem.
2. Results and Discussion
2.1. The Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the
European Institutions
The Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European
Institutions (further – ‘Representation in EI’) was established on July
17, 2002 in Brussels with the blessing of Patriarch and the Holy Synod of
the ROC “taking into account a widening dialogue of the Russian Church
with European international organisations”. The primary purpose of this
decision was to enable the ROC to participate in discussions about the
future of Europe. Numerous theological, philosophical, ethical and social
issues also played an important role in the debate about the future EU
constitution. In addition, the mission planned to engage in ecumenical
cooperation with other Church’ organizations located in Brussels, as well as
to communicate with the public (Trygub, 2012).
The ocial message of Patriarch Aleksiy II of Moscow to the European
Commission President Romano Prodi states, that many members of the
Russian Orthodox Church live in the current EU countries, as well as in the
candidate countries. With the accession of Eastern European countries to
the EU, the Moscow Patriarchate hopes that the Russian Orthodox Church
will gain more weight and will be able to contribute to the creation of
European integration structures (Representation of the Russian Orthodox
Church to the EU in Brussels begins to work, 2002).
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At a reception on the occasion of the mission’ beginning of the
Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European
Institutions, Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev) of Podolsk (now Metropolitan of
Volokolamsk) on February 5, 2003, noted that “in recent years, the Russian
Orthodox Church has a steadily growing interest to European problems.
This is due to several factors. First, after the fall of the ‘Iron Curtain’, new
opportunities opened up for dialogue between the European Union and the
former members of the so-called ‘Eastern Bloc’.
Secondly, the signicant increase in the number of communities of the
Russian Church in the European Unions’ countries in recent years has made
the participation and presence of our Church in the religious, cultural and
social life of Europe more tangible. Third, the planned accession the States
of the Orthodox tradition and the Baltic States to the European Union,
which includes about 300 parishes of the Moscow Patriarchate, creates
additional opportunities for interaction between our Church and European
political structures…
The Russian Orthodox Church is not indierent to the face of Europe in
the near future, the place of religious communities in European law, and
the role of the Orthodox tradition in Europe.
The Russian Church feels an integral part of the process of European
integration and seeks to contribute to the formation of the spiritual and
cultural identity of the new Europe…
The tasks of the newly created Representation are in some respects
consonant, but by no means identical to the tasks of the Permanent Mission
of the Russian Federation to the European Institutions” (Reception on
the Occasion, 2004).
We see that the speech of the head of ‘Representation in EI’ clearly
shows a trend towards political cooperation between the Church and EU
structures, as well as the relationship with the Russian authorities in the
face of the Russian Permanent Mission to the EU in achieving state goals.
According to the ocial position of the Russian Orthodox Church, the
goals and objectives of the Mission are as follows:
• Direct dialogue of the Moscow Patriarchate with European
intergovernmental institutions;
• Participation in discussions on European integration, the rights
of believers in EU countries, human rights law, migration law,
interethnic and interreligious peace, social justice, European
security, bioethics, ethical aspects of the use of modern technologies;
• Establishing regular contacts and interaction with the representations
of the Orthodox Churches in the European Union (the Patriarchate
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Oleksandr Trygub, Enache George-Eugen, Oleg Bobina, Olga Kravchuk y Iryna Shapovalova
Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
of Constantinople, the Cypriot, Romanian and Greek Churches), as
well as with various structures and representations of the Catholic
Church, Protestant communities and inter-Christian organizations;
• Providing reliable information about the ministry and doctrine of
the ROC to Western and domestic media (Representation of the
Russian Orthodox Church to the European Institutions, 2002).
During 2002-2009, the General Administration was headed by
Metropolitan of Volokolamsk Hilarion (Alfeev), Head of the Department
for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
Since 2009, the top management of the Russian Orthodox Church cannot
decide on the head of the ‘Representation in EI’, appointing temporary
acting: Archpriest Anthoniy Il’yin (2009-2013), Archpriest Dmitriy
Sizonenko (2013-2016), and Abbot Philip (Ryabykh) (2016 –present). At
the same time, Philip (Ryabykh) is also the head of the Representation of
the Russian Orthodox Church to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg and
concentrated in his hands all the representative functions of the Russian
Orthodox Church in the European political arena.
In 2009, due to the creation of a special Secretariat of the Moscow
Patriarchate for foreign institutions, the hierarchical subordination of
‘Representation in EI’ changed. The Foreign institutions were subordinated
not to the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow
Patriarchate (DECR), but directly to the Patriarch. Previously, their
activities were supervised by the Chairman of the DECR, who nominated
candidates for the positions of their leaders to the Synod. However, in
accordance with the amendments adopted by the Council of Bishops in
2011, foreign institutions were nally removed from the competence of the
Chairman of the DECR.
At the same time, DECR remains the main institution that monitors the
development of international activities of the Russian Orthodox Church
in all major areas. He to oversees and continues cooperation with the
representations of Moscow Patriarchate in international organizations
(Tserpitskaya, 2011).
Regarding the activity of ‘Representation in EI’, only in the rst years
it has achieved considerable results in its activity, based on European
approaches and classical technologies of public relations. During 2002,
a website was created (http://orthodoxeurope.org) containing numerous
materials in English, French, German and other languages. The ocial
“Europaica Bulletin” has started to be published, which is available on the
website and sent by subscription to everyone.
The bulletin was designed as a means by which the ‘Representation in
EI’ will inform the Western public about its work, the participation of the
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Russian Orthodox Church and other Christian Churches in the process of
European integration, as well as explain the ocial position of the Moscow
Patriarchate on topical issues. On February 2004, 34 issues of the bulletin
had been published; the number of its subscribers exceeded 4,000. Among
the readers of the bulletin are representatives of Christian Churches
from dierent countries of Europe and the world (Orthodox, Catholics,
Protestants), members of the European Parliament, politicians, scientists,
public gures. On February 27, 2004, a Russian-language version of the
bulletin was published.
In 2010, the “Europaica Bulletin” stopped publishing the 179th issue
in May 2010 (even earlier, in 2008, the Russian-language supplement
“Orthodoxy in Europe” was discontinued). The ocial website content of
‘Representation in EI’ (http://orthodoxeurope.org) was suspended, the
latest notes in the “News” section are dated the end of 2010. According to the
ocial position, “the ocial website of the Department for External Church
Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate has started publishing information
in four European languages – English, French, Italian and Greek, and all
readers are asked to refer to this site” (Trygub, 2012:71-72).
As a result, the eectiveness of purposeful missionary work among the
European community has declined signicantly due to the blurring of the
readership of the ocial website of the Department of External Church
Relations. This naturally excited the management of Russian Orthodox
Church and the site ‘Representation in EI’ was restored to a new address
(http://orthodoxru.eu).
Until 2015, ‘Representation in EI’ worked quite actively in close contact
with the Representations of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and
the Greek Orthodox Church in the European Union, as well as with the
Brussels Representations of the Roman Catholic Commission of Episcopal
Conferences of Europe, with the Commission “Church and Society” of the
European Churches Conference and other Christian missions in Brussels.
The regular contacts with the media were organized.
The ocial contacts of ‘Representation in EI’ with the religious and
political leaders of Europe were quite active. Only during 2002-2003, the
head of ‘Representation in EI’ Bishop Hilarion, met leaders and ocials’
representatives of European international organizations (European
Commission, European Parliament, Council of Europe, NATO, etc.), also
with diplomats accredited to these organizations from the dierent states
of world on a regular basis.
Thus, in 2003, Bishop Hilarion met the Secretary General of the Council
of Europe W. Schwimmer; Permanent Representative of the Russian
Federation to the European Communities, Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary V. Likhachev; Permanent Representative of the Russian
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Oleksandr Trygub, Enache George-Eugen, Oleg Bobina, Olga Kravchuk y Iryna Shapovalova
Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
Federation to the European Communities, Special Representative of the
President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Relations
with the EU Minister M. Fradkov; Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to
the North Atlantic Alliance, General of the Army K. Totskiy; Adviser to the
President of the European Commission on Social Aairs M. Weninger.
Her Majesty Queen Paola of Belgium, Russian Foreign Minister
Igor Ivanov, the Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland,
Archbishop Jukka Parma, and others also visited the Brussels Oce of the
Russian Orthodox Church (Main Events, 2004).
The political basis of these meetings can be clearly seen in the bilateral
dialogue between Bishop Hilarion and the President of the European
People’s Party Wilfried Martens, which took place on January 24, 2008.
In particular, Episcope Hilarion stressed that “bilateral relations with the
Russian Orthodox Church will create a platform for dialogue between
the European People’s Party and Russian civil society.” (Bishop Hilarion,
2008).
Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, through
‘Representation in EI’, took part in the annual (since 2005) meetings of
the European Union leadership, led by the President of the European
Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, with the European religious leaders.
The issues discussed at the meetings were very diverse.
Thus, at the 7th meeting on May 30, 2011 at the headquarters of the
European Commission more than twenty representatives of traditional
religious organizations of the European Union gathered to discuss the
topic: “Cooperation for Democracy and Mutual Prosperity: A Common
Aspiration to Promote Democratic Rights and Freedoms.” The discussion
touched on a much wider range of issues, including immigration, interfaith
and intercultural dialogue, the situation in the Middle East and North
Africa, and many others.
The Russian Orthodox Church was ocially represented by the Deputy
Chairman of the DECR, Abbot Filaret (Bulekov). The event was also
attended by Archpriest Anthony Il’yin, a representative of ‘Representation
in EI’.
In his speech, Abbot Filaret noted that with the undoubted importance
of annual high-level meetings, it is necessary to develop a permanent
mechanism for dialogue between EU institutions and religious
organizations. The representative of the Moscow Patriarchate also stressed
the responsibility of Europe, its secular authorities, civil society and religious
leaders in defending religious freedom in Asia, the Middle East and North
Africa, where ancient Christian communities were in serious danger.
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Abbot Filaret expressed concern that believers most often face the
impossibility to openly express their position in the European Union on
the moral problems of modern society. The participants of the meeting
emphasized that freedom of religion and the adequate role of religion in the
public sphere are conditions for fruitful cooperation to achieve the above
goals.
According to Abbot Filaret, the main focus of his work in “Representation
in EI”, is “expert analysis of current political and legislative initiatives of the
European Union, which concern the Orthodox Churches.” (Representatives
of the Russian Orthodox Church Took Part in a Meeting, 2011).
Since 2005, cooperation between the Russian authorities and the
Russian Orthodox Church has been ocially announced. On November 3,
2005, the representative of ‘Representation in EI’, Bishop Hilarion (Alfeev),
met the Head of the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the
EU, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary V. Chizhov. During the
meeting, the prospects of cooperation between ‘Representation in EI’ and
the Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU were discussed
(The Russian Orthodox Church and the Permanent Mission, 2005).
Russian diplomats quite often invite representatives of the Russian
Orthodox Church to ocial meetings. Thus, on March 21-22, 2011, a
regular meeting of the Russia-EU Parliamentary Cooperation Committee
took place in the European Parliament in Brussels. Acting representative
of the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European
Institutions, Archpriest Anthony Il’yin, was present at the meeting as an
invited participant. In his speech, he touched not only on religious, but also
on political issues (Trygub, 2012).
With the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian conict in 2014 and the
deepening gap between Ukrainian Orthodoxy and the ROC, ‘Representation
in EI’ regularly has rhetoric about the need to protect the Orthodox in
Ukraine. Emphasis was placed on the need to protect the rights of religious
communities and individual believers at the European level through the
OSCE, the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights.
For this, in May 27, 2017 on the basis of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
(to enter the canonical eld of the Russian Orthodox Church and actually
its satellite) “in connection with the need to convey the position of the
Ukrainian Orthodox Church on important ideological, religious, social and
socio-political issues” the Representation of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
to the European Institutions was formed. Archimandrite Victor (Kotsabu)
was appointed the head of this institution, who was later ordained Bishop
of Baryshivskyi, Vicar of the Kyiv Metropolis (The Synod of the Ukrainian
Orthodox Church, 2017).
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Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
In fact, the leadership of the Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches
appealed to the EU institutions to protect the religious rights of citizens
and the status of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), rearming the
idea, that the Ukrainian crisis cannot be resolved only in a bilateral format
between Russia and Ukraine. This issue should include a revision of the
EU’s relations with Ukraine and Russia’s relations with the European
Union (Mironenko, 2018).
The key to understanding the foreign policy strategy of the Russian
Orthodox Church is the visit of Patriarch Kirill to Strasbourg on May
26-27, 2019. The leader of the ROC met, in particular, the Council of
Europe’s Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland and the Council of Europe’s
Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović. At the end of the visit,
the Patriarch spoke in defense of conscience freedom:
I am constantly raising the issue of Ukraine, and especially here in Strasbourg,
because this topic is directly related to human rights and religious freedom. In the
European country, the rights of a huge number of Orthodox believers were grossly
violated (Lunkin, 2020:159-160).
The result of the “pro-European” policy of the patriarchate was the
intensication of activity the Representation of the Ukrainian Orthodox
Church to the European Institutions and separately the Representation
of the Russian Orthodox Churches at the Council of Europe and other
organizations in Strasbourg (headed by Abbot Philip (Ryabykh). Since
2019, the Representation in Strasbourg publishes a report on the violation
of Christian rights in Europe, where most of it is dedicated to Ukraine.
The Synodal Department of the ROC for the Church’s interaction
with society and the media also regularly declares the rights of believers,
appealing to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the
principles of religious freedom. According to Russian researcher Roman
Lunkin, such rhetoric can be seen as a political declaration for the tactical
purpose of putting pressure on Ukrainian politicians. At the same time,
the Ukrainian factor only accelerated the recognition of certain European
values in the foreign policy strategy of the Russian Orthodox Church
(Lunkin, 2020).
2.2. The Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Strasbourg
On March 24, 2004, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church
decided to establish the Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church in
Strasbourg (further – ‘Representation in Strasbourg’), which is entrusted
to conduct a dialogue and present the position of the ROC in the Council of
Europe. Abbot Filaret (Bulekov) was appointed the rst representative of
the ROC in Strasbourg.
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Metropolitan Kirill (Gundyaev), the head of the Department for External
Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, noted: The activities of
the Council of Europe, the oldest European international organization,
are of great interest to the Church. The Council of Europe is one of the
personications of integration processes that aect all aspects of the life
of the peoples of the continent, including their spiritual traditions. The
parishioners of the ROC, which is the largest religious community in the
post-Soviet space, also feel the inuence of the work carried out within this
organization.
The Russian Orthodox Church saw its place in the implementation of one
of the key areas of the Council of Europe’s work – the protection of human
rights, as “the realization of human rights is impossible without religious
freedom.” Therefore, interfaith dialogue, recognized and supported by the
member states of the Council of Europe, should become the starting point
for building a ‘Greater Europe’, which respects traditional spiritual values
(Kirill, 2006).
2004 was mainly an organizational year for ‘Representation in
Strasbourg’ – the formation of a ‘team’, setting priorities, preliminary
meetings with leading politicians of ‘Old Europe’. Only on September 14,
2005, the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the
Council of Europe, Ambassador Aleksander Orlov, gave a reception at his
ocial residence on the occasion of the beginning of the ‘Representation in
Strasbourg’ and the arrival of Abbot Filaret (Bulekov). The reception was
attended by the Consul General of the Russian Federation in Strasbourg
Vladimir Korotkov, the Catholic Archbishop of Strasbourg Joseph Dori,
and the Vatican Representative to the Council of Europe Monsignor Vito
Rallo.
In last quarter of 2005, Abbot Filaret held a series of meetings to explain
the position of the Moscow Patriarchate on education, freedom of conscience,
gender issues, freedom of religion, and more. During the autumn session of
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (October 3-7, 2005),
the abbot met individual deputies on “Women and Religion in Europe”
and “Education and Religion”; On October 10 and December 20, Council
of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Alvaro Gil-Robles met Abbot
Filaret to discuss a wide range of issues between the Council of Europe and
the CoE Commissioner for Human Rights with various institutions of the
Moscow Patriarchate, human rights in Europe, and religious education, in
secular schools, etc.; November 21 – Meeting with the Secretary General of
the Council of Europe Terry Davis, etc (Trygub, 2014).
It should be noted that all activities of ‘Representation in Strasbourg’
were constantly under the control of the Ministry of Foreign Aairs of
the Russian Federation. This is evidenced by the regular meetings of
Abbot Filaret with Russian diplomats, their care of the ‘Representation
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in Strasbourg’. Thus, on June 14, 2006 in Strasbourg, Abbot Filaret met
Deputy Minister of Foreign Aairs of the Russian Federation Aleksander
Grushko, who was in charge of European and Euro-Atlantic organizations,
and on October 4 the same year Abbot Filaret met Minister of Foreign
Aairs of the Russian Federation Sergei Lavrov.
It is interesting that such close cooperation was not hidden, but veiled.
This is evidenced by the interview of Abbot Filaret to the Interfax-Religion
correspondent on November 5, 2009, where he noted:
The Ministry of Foreign Aairs and the Permanent Representation of Russia
[in Strasbourg] have been providing us with all possible assistance from the very
beginning. This does not mean that we are a unit of the Russian diplomatic corps.
At the same time, we have always emphasized that the representation of the
Moscow Patriarchate does not represent the Church in the Russian Federation,
but Orthodox believers in all countries of the canonical territory of the Russian
Orthodox Church… (Lozitskaya, 2009: n/p).
A landmark event in the history of ‘Representation in Strasbourg’
was the visit of Patriarch Alexiy II on October 2, 2007 the session of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe by invitation of its
President Rene van der Linden. The oer to the spiritual leader of the largest
Orthodox Church in the world to speak on topical issues of the European
agenda was an expression of the readiness of representatives of the political
elite of all European countries – members of the Council of Europe to listen
to the voice of modern Orthodoxy.
Patriarch Alexiy not only addressed the PACE deputies, but also
answered a number of questions concerning religious education, respect
for the feelings of believers, intercultural and interreligious dialogue,
the death penalty, and others. This, in turn, testied the readiness of the
Russian Orthodox Church for a real dialogue with the Council of Europe
on the whole spectrum of mutual interests. At the same time, certain issues
(religiosity, same-sex marriages, etc.) provoked discussion among deputies.
The Patriarch also touched on political issues. Thus, Alexiy II touched
upon the Kosovo problem, noting: “The negotiation process must be
made open to all those who can have a positive inuence on it. Thus,
Kosovo still does not pay due attention to the peacekeeping potential of
religious communities. The Russian Orthodox Church, which has extensive
experience in peacekeeping, is ready to help bring peace.” However, the
Patriarch’s proposal to join the peace process in the region of Europe
where human rights and the rights of religious and ethnic communities are
constantly and severely violated has not provoked any response from the
Council of Europe (Trygub, 2014:160-162).
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In 2011, Abbot Philip (Ryabykh) was appointed to the ocial
‘Representation in Strasbourg’ (New Representative of the Moscow
Patriarchate, 2011), who became the leader of the European policy of
the newly elected Patriarch Kirill (Gundyaev). Since 2016, Abbot (now
Archimandrite) Philip has united all the representative functions of the
Russian Orthodox Church in the European arena under his leadership.
‘Representation in Strasbourg’ pays great attention to the possibility to
inuence the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, which is
located in this city. Thus, on July 9, 2012, Abbot Philip (Ryabykh) met the
Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muižnieks. A
representative of the ROC handed over a document of the ROC on human
dignity, freedom and human rights, adopted by the Council of Bishops in
2008 to the Commissioner for Human Rights.
The priest also expressed concern over the increasing number of cases of
interference of secular state and public institutions in the internal aairs of
religious associations, stressed the inadmissibility of insulting believers and
desecrating their shrines, noted the need to protect the rights of believers to
defend morals and public life according to religious doctrine, for example,
in the formation of legislation governing the creation and life of the family,
the relationship between the sexes, the origin of human life and departure
from it, the activities of the media, education (Representative of the Russian
Orthodox Church in Strasbourg, 2012).
One of the most important tasks, which have been implemented
throughout the decade of ‘Representation in Strasbourg’, is to try to
inuence the moral and legal initiatives of the European Union. Thus, in
June 2011, in connection with the summer session of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, the discussion on
the recognition of same-sex marriage in Europe, gay parades and sanctions
against those who disagree with these phenomena intensied again in the
media and on the Internet.
‘Representation in Strasbourg’ published on its ocial website a report
by Russian legal experts “On the right to critically evaluate homosexuality
and on legal restrictions on the imposition of homosexuality”, where it
criticized the support of a number of European structures, in particular
the European Court of Human Rights, for this issue (Representative of the
Russian Orthodox Church in the EU, 2011).
The purpose of this step is to promote an objective and comprehensive
discussion on discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender
identity. The Representation of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Council
of Europe welcomes the wide-ranging discussion of the above-mentioned
report by Russian experts. The Representation will also be interested in
discussing the report of the Council of Europe’s Commissioner for Human
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Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church to the European Organizations (2002-2021):
from religion to politics
Rights following the public appearance of his text (Russian experts have
prepared a report, 2011).
At the same time, ‘Representation in Strasbourg’ expects that as a result
of joint eorts of various public organizations, religious unions and the
ROC, European countries will disagree with the position of the European
Court of Human Rights and will defend traditional values, as a result of
which the European Court of Human Rights will be forced to change its
decision. Such condence in the eectiveness of these measures is based on
the positive practice in previous years.
Thus, on May 15, 2006, the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and
Home Aairs of the European Parliament approved a report on the “EU
Framework Strategy on Non-Discrimination and Equal Opportunities”.
‘Representation in Strasbourg’ took an active part in the preparation of the
document within the framework of expert-consultative interaction with the
deputies – members of the Committee.
The result of this interaction was the inclusion in the nal text of the
report the concept of “distributive justice”, which allows the realization
of the collective rights of vulnerable groups, mainly ethnic minorities in
Europe which will be the basis for the development of a system of so-called
“positive actions”. This system will be used by the European Union to ensure
proportional representation of dierent groups of the EU population in all
spheres of life, including politics and public administration (The European
Parliament, 2006).
In the last ve years, the activities of the European representations of
the Russian Orthodox Church have focused on the Ukrainian issue and the
protection of the rights of believers in Ukraine (we have already discussed
this). In his interview at the end of 2018, Philip (Ryabykh) noted that “two
thirds of violations of the rights of European Orthodox believers in 2017
occurred in Ukraine,” and in accordance with its commitments under the
European Convention on Human Rights, Ukraine “must protect religious
communities from physical and verbal attacks by third parties.” (Interfax
Interview with Abbot Philip (Ryabykh, 2018). Thus, the Russian Orthodox
Church through ‘Representation in Strasbourg’ tried to organize pressure
on the Ukrainian political circles.
Conclusions
Thus, the Representations of the Russian Orthodox Church are a new
form of foreign institutions, created to establish a dialogue with the world
community, to protect traditional Russian values at the international level
(through the popularization of the ideas of the “Russian World”), protection
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of the rights of Orthodox believers through European institutions, bringing
to the attention of international organizations and the authorities of foreign
states the views of the ROC on topical issues, as well as increasing the
inuence of the Russian Federation in the international arena.
The activities of the Representations are designed to contribute to the
achievement of both religious and spiritual and state foreign policy goals
of the Russian Federation. Interacting with foreign media and civil society
institutions, the missions promote a positive image of Russian Orthodoxy
and the idea of the “Russian world”, creating a more favorable image of
these ideas in the world for Russia’s foreign policy.
In this way, we see that the Russian Orthodox Church has intensied
its external activities in the 21st century. At the same time, it is often not
only religious in nature, but also political, which indicates the further
rapprochement of “New Russia” with the Russian Orthodox Church. It
continues to carry out secular tasks on the foreign policy front, continuing
the historical traditions of both imperial politics and the Soviet post-war
use of the Church in its political interests.
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Esta revista fue editada en formato digital y publicada
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Universidad del Zulia. Maracaibo-Venezuela
Vol.40 Nº 73
