Rome, Italy, Oct 12, 2007 / 10:43 am
The delegation of the Orthodox Patriarchate of Moscow has walked out of a joint session of Catholic and Orthodox theologians over internal disagreements in the Orthodox community.
The Russian Orthodox delegation refused to participate in the dialogue sessions after learning that a representative from the Estonian Apostolic Church would be included in the ecumenical talks that were to be held in Ravenna, Italy.
The Russian Orthodox Church disputes a decision by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople to grant canonical status to the Estonian Apostolic Church, which the Russian Patriarch claims is under his authority.
Orthodox Archbishop Illarion of Vienna, who led the Russian delegation, said the Russian Orthodox Church does not recognize the legitimacy of the Estonian Apostolic Church created by Constantinople and conditioned his delegation’s participation in the talks on the exclusion of the Estonian delegation.