Religious Scholar: Patriarch Porfirije’s Visit to Moscow Purely Political

Vukasin Milicevic (Photo; PrintScreen YouTube)

According to an April 24 statement by theologian Vukasin Milicevic, Serbian Orthodox Church Patriarch Porfirije’s visit to Moscow and his sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin will in no way contribute to the Church’s standing, since there was “virtually no religious purpose to the meeting.”

Milicevic told the Danas daily that the patriarch’s move could, in fact, only damage the Church’s reputation since it runs contrary to proper traditions and customs.

“After the head of an Orthodox church is chosen, it is customary for him to visit all other church heads, but in a certain order… where the Patriarchate of Constantinople comes first. The patriarch has demonstrated that he has no regard for this order simply because his goal is to tie the Serbian Orthodox Church to the Russian Orthodox Church as much as possible, which is catastrophic since it only deepens [existing] divisions,” the religious scholar said.

In his opinion, there was no reason for Porfirije and Putin to meet at all.

“It would make sense, when it came time to visit the Russian Orthodox Church, for [Porfirije] to meet with the Moscow patriarch. That could be interpreted as a conciliatory mission since there has been no communication between the patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople for years. That would make sense only if the visit were more than pure church protocol. [What happened instead] was a purely political visit,” Milicevic concluded.