Whenever two or more Orthodox Christian clerics join in celebrating the Eucharist-consecrating bread and wine in a manner that is far more elaborate, solemn and formal than is usual in today's Christian West-it creates a special bond between them. And if one Orthodox cleric refuses to "concelebrate" with another, that is a sign of a deep, painful rift.rnThat helps to explain why Orthodox Christians all over the world (who may number more than 200m, if one makes generous assumptions about the religiosity of ordinary Russians and Ukrainians) looked on with fascination as two important gentlemen, one from Moscow and the other from Istanbul, came together in Kiev on July 27th to conduct their church's most important rite. This was a powerful, if provisional, moment of reconciliation between the Patriarchs of Constantinople and Moscow, whose relations have been scratchy for most of the past decade.
展开▼
