Mission To Moscow

Pope John Paul is not the only church leader on the move. Last week Dimitrios I of Constantinople (now Istanbul), spiritual leader of the world's 150 million Eastern Orthodox Christians, concluded a historic mission: the first visit since 1589 by an Ecumenical Patriarch to the great daughter church of Russia.

The twelve-day U.S.S.R. pilgrimage produced no formal actions but was remarkable for having occurred at all. In overwhelmingly Muslim Turkey, the government wants the Patriarch's small church of ethnic Greeks to attract as little attention as possible, and Dimitrios has heretofore shown no urge to travel. Given the long rivalry between the Patriarchs of Moscow and Constantinople, his friendly reception and lengthy talks with Russia's Pimen strengthened Orthodox unity, as well as Dimitrios' influence as "first among equals" in the Orthodox hierarchy. In coming months the Patriarch will visit the churches of five other nations, then meet the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Expected in 1988: a return to Moscow for the millennium of Eastern Slavic Christianity.