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- WORLD, Page 40World NotesEASTERN EUROPE Poaching Souls
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- When Eastern Orthodox leaders met in Istanbul for the first
- time in a millennium to claim a new, more assertive role for their
- church, they achieved a remarkable degree of unity with one
- another. But their joint decree last week revealed a serious
- disagreement with other Christians.
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- After decades of "pitiless persecutions" under the
- communists, the primates insisted angrily, the Orthodox Church
- was entitled to respect from fellow Christians. Instead,
- Catholics and "certain Protestant Fundamentalists" have been
- poaching souls on what the Orthodox Church considers its own
- turf. The primates are especially upset that Pope John Paul II
- named five bishops in the former Soviet Union without consulting
- Russian Orthodox leaders. Bitter disputes have also erupted with
- Eastern Rite Catholics, notably in Ukraine and Romania.
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- Nonetheless, the primates decided not to condemn
- Catholicism. They believe that they have friends at the Vatican,
- although some wonder privately if Pope John Paul can be
- considered one of them.
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