RUSSIAN CHURCH AND ROMAN CATHOLICISM.

MOVEMENT FOR UNION.

FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. BERLIN, Monday.

Those members of the Russian colony here who are in the closest touch with the leading circles of the hierarchy in their own country have received information that Patriarch Tikhon has recently expressed himself in favour of the movement for the reunion of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Russian Churches. Since the revolution this movement has developed very rapidly. It is particularly strong among the intellectual section of Orthodox believers. In these quarters it is felt that the Russian Church is too weak in its administrative and disciplinary organisation to deal with the great spiritual crises engendered by the events of the past few years. Under the Holy Synod of Tsarist days the individual priest felt himself to be part of the State administrative machinery and under its protection. In any difficulty he sent for the police or reported to some official instead of trying to find a solution on his own account. In this way he failed to cultivate independent initiative. Consequently, it is not surprising that he has not been able to accommodate himself to the greater freedom of action afforded him by the new constitution of the Church or to meet the exigencies before which the persecutions and vagaries of Bolshevik rule have placed him. Educated and reflective Orthodox Churchmen point with envy to the Catholic priest who always knows what he must do in every situation, however unforeseen, and argue that some sort of combination of the wonderful organisation and discipline of Rome with the fervent spirit and democratic usages of Orthodoxy would constitute a religious force of tremendous power, and do much to help their country through the arduous years still in front of it.

If it is true that a head of the Orthodox Church of the learning, piety, courage, and, consequently, authority of Tikhon has expressed the readiness to subordinate himself in any degree to the primacy of Rome – for that is what any union of the two Churches would necessarily amount to – the movement in favour of a rapprochement would, of course, be given a tremendous impetus. Everything possible is being done to promote it from the side of the Vatican. The pro-russian sympathies of Pius XI. are well known, and have taken the very practical form of large gifts of drugs and medical appliances which were bought in this country and despatched to the Volga famine area. It is not so generally known that after his accession to the throne of St. Peter the Pope, already a remarkable linguist, took up the study of the Russian language.

The differences which separate the two Churches are not so great as is generally supposed. Already the Eastern rite is used by Catholics in Russia, and many of their priests are married. In the leading circles of such of these Catholics as have been expelled by the Bolsheviks I find the conviction that the primacy of the Pope is the only serious obstacle that separates them from Orthodoxy.

It was reported recently in the European and American press that Tikhon had just been given by the Bolsheviks the alternative of remaining under domiciliary arrest or going into exile. Indeed, a rumour was current here a few days ago that he had already arrived in Berlin. Persons here who are best informed as to his intentions and movements have, however, no knowledge of any such development. They state that shortly after he was put under arrest he was given the choice mentioned above, but decided to remain in Russia, even though as a prisoner of the Bolsheviks. It is considered in the highest degree unlikely that he has faltered in this resolve.