There's a New Star in the Russian Sky. His Name Is Aleksandr

From Dr. Tighe...

ROME, November 7, 2011 - Among the religious leaders listening to the pope in Assisi, in the photo above, the first on the left with the solemn white headdress is Metropolitan Aleksandr of Astana and Kazakhstan.

The fact that the Orthodox patriarchate of Moscow and all Russia sent him as the head of its delegation to Assisi made some think of a downgrading and of a sticking point in the dialogue with the Church of Rome.

Nothing could be more mistaken.

Aleksandr is not at all a second-rank figure. He is the new star of Russian Orthodoxy.

Born 51 years ago in Kirov, northeast of Moscow, Aleksandr attended the seminary of Saint Petersburg, known as Leningrad at the time, when its rector was the current patriarch of Moscow, Kirill. As an archbishop, he spent ten years directing the synodal department for young people. In March of 2010, he was appointed archbishop of Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan. Four months later he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan. And at the beginning of this autumn, he was appointed a permanent member of the Holy Synod.

The Holy Synod is the supreme authority of the Russian Orthodox Church. Until a few weeks ago, it was made up of twelve members: seven permanent and five temporary, the latter of which remain in office for no more than a year.

With Aleksandr, the number of permanent members of the Holy Synod has been brought to eight: a sign that his appointment was so strongly desired as to require a modification in the canons, which will be ratified soon.

In Assisi on October 27, of the ten delegates from the patriarchate of Moscow, three were bishops. One of them was another permanent member of the Holy Synod, the metropolitan and patriarchal exarch Filaret of Minsk and Belarus, a great supporter of dialogue with the Catholic Church who will soon host, in his city, a conference on relations between Orthodoxy and Catholicism, from November 13 to 15.

But in spite of Filaret's authority and prestige, in Assisi the role of head of the Russian Orthodox delegation was in effect played by Aleksandr, who is much younger than him.

In the afternoon ceremony in front of the basilica where Saint Francis is buried, it was Aleksandr who spoke. And before this, during the "frugal" lunch, he was the one seated at the same table as Benedict XVI.

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