Not so long ago, the Catholic Church of Spain allocated one of its temples in the province of Navarre for the Eastern Orthodox believers for five years, rent free. The Orthodox community plans to build a house God of their own, but there is no doubt that the term of free lease will be extended if need be.
Spain is known as one of the most Catholic countries of Europe and very important events in its history are associated with the Catholic Church. Primarily, the Reconquista, reconquest by Spanish Catholics of the Iberian Peninsula that cleared it of Muslims and Jews, lasting almost 600 years. Also, the association of the populace into a single state, in the late fifteenth century, at the time of the Catholic Kings, Ferdinand V of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile. In the Middle Ages, Spain showed a purity of faith (largely owing to the Inquisition) and even fanaticism. At present, there is an increasing number of so-called non-practicing Catholics, who, like many Ukrainian Orthodox believers, go to church only on most important holy days.
However, all Spaniards are very enthusiastic about religious occasions, eagerly joining street processions dramatizing biblical and historical events. Such solemn processions are especially spectacular on Christmas, Easter, and numerous other religious dates, people carrying heavy platforms with venerated images like Golgotha or the Cave of Bethlehem on their shoulders, followed by crowds of flagellants. Every city, every village has its own special and revered religious occasions marked as major public events. Interestingly, there are many families where people have played the same roles in religious shows for generations like the three kings bringing gifts to Jesus or others tending the medieval wardrobe and the platform on which the biblical episode is dramatized.
On weekdays, the singular grand Spanish museum churches are visited almost exclusively by foreign tourists. They come, take a quick look at the gothic facade, hurry inside, glancing at the vast interior with a gold shining altar obscuring further distant view, and rush outside past the unearthly beauty of stained glass and stone saints with the faces of medieval masters, chimeras, pangolins, and apostles painted by El Greco for the temple of Toledo. They do not even pause by his Disrobing of Christ (1577-1579) made for the sacristy, presenting a splendid image of the Savior in a rich red garment, closely surrounded by his captors, inexplicably embodying the entire mysticism of the Catholic faith.
Returning to the magnanimous gesture of the Spanish Catholic Church, one can only wonder why, considering that there are no Orthodox among the Spaniards. But there are immigrants from Eastern Europe, particularly from Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. Their number is noticeably increasing. Remarkably, the Russian community is the smallest, consisting mostly of construction workers, cleaning women, nannies, and a spattering of businessmen with varying bank accounts and legitimacy. The so-called ordinary Russians are in no hurry to travel abroad for well-paid but backbreaking jobs. Could this be a manifestation of their inherent rejection and wariness of things foreign or a greater degree of territorial aloofness from the West? Or is it evidence that the living standard is higher and employment rate lower in Russia?
Whatever the case, making a Catholic temple available to the Orthodox believers is a significant event, especially considering that Moscow-Vatican relations, complicated as they are, were further aggravated this spring after the Holy See made administrative changes in the Catholic church structures in Russia and Ukraine. Two more dioceses emerged in Ukraine: Kharkiv-Zaporizhzhia and Odesa- Simferopol, bringing the total to six. In Russia, the so-called administrations (ad hoc church administrative units) were replaced by regular dioceses, enraging the Moscow Patriarchate. St. Daniel’s Monastery protested this “Catholic expansion” as a violation of the integrity of canonical Orthodox territory (Ukraine included) as well as “aggression and proselytism.” Concern was voiced by part of the Duma. Of course, the possibility of a meeting between Patriarch Alexis II and Pope John Paul II is not even discussed. The Patriarch of Moscow told Izvestiya that this reaction is by no means a sign of fear of Catholic influence on the Russian Orthodox believers: “All we want is to establish mutually respectful and constructive relations with the Roman Catholic Church.”
This situation actually prompted me to write about a Catholic temple in Spain that will now accommodate Orthodox believers with their services. Hopefully, this gesture will be regarded as a sign of respect for the Orthodox faithful by the Catholic Church.
