წმინდა საყდრის უნიატური პოლიტიკა და რუსეთის დიპლომატიური მისია ვატიკანში (1878-1903)
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2021
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Abstract
The history of the Vatican-Russian diplomatic relations, in the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, is marked by many issues in both
domestic and foreign policy. They could be solved only by reconsidering
the basic principles by both parties. It had been the most important goal
for the papacy, which lost its statehood in 1870, to resolve the “Roman
Issue” and return the lost territories. The relations with Russia also played
an important role in the Vatican’s foreign policy. After the Great Schism
of 1054, the Roman pontiff s saw their world mission in the unifi cation of
Christian churches. Eastern Europe, primarily the Russian Orthodox Church,
played a key role in carrying out this mission. That was one of the main
vectors of the Vatican’s foreign policy to create the Uniate church and the
pontiff s of Rome tried to resolve it at diff erent times, in diff erent ways.
In this article, I have tried to analyze the diplomatic relations between
the Vatican and Russia in 1878-1903. The book by E. A. Adamov, “Diplomacy
of the Vatican in the Age of Imperialism” helped me to do more complex
research on the topic. The book covers the reports of Russian diplomats
in the Vatican, including the reports of A.P. Izvolski. Academician E.
Winter’s (Berlin Academy of Sciences) monographs in German and Russian
languages were signifi cantly informative (Winter E. Russland und das
Papsstum. Berlin. Bände, Berlin: Akademie-Verlag 1960-1961, Winter E . 1950
Russland und die slawishen Volker in der Diplomatie des Vatikans 1878-
1903. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag). In his study “Policy of Vatican in relation to the USSR in 1917-1968,” which is based on resources of archives of European
countries, Edward Winter argues that anti-communism, anti-Sovietism and
unifi cation of Catholic and Orthodox Churches remained the main political
orientation of the Vatican in the twentieth century, which I completely
agree with. In the process of working on monographs by other authors, I
further strengthened my point of view.
Vatican-Russian relations have always been problematic. The Russian
policy towards the Greek-Catholic (Uniate) Church was based on
the traditional attitude of the Orthodox Church. Due to the political
situation in 1596, a signifi cant part of the Orthodox population united
with the Catholics, so their return to the roots of Orthodoxy seemed to be
legal. Between 1839 and 1875, the Uniate population formally converted
to Orthodoxy, which made the situation worse. The Russian legislation
clearly showed the priority of Orthodoxy over other confessions, and the
protection of those interests was taken up to the state level. This attitude
greatly complicated Vatican-Russian relations. The Russian authorities
treated the Roman Catholic clergy in the same way as bureaucrats. For the
above reason, the papacy tried to show support for the traditional Catholic
population, even if it could make bad eff ects on foreign policy interests.
But neither diplomatic relations turned out to be common; there were
several reasons for this. Russia was still trying to limit the interference of
the Roman Curia in Russian domestic policy from the time of the Empress
of Russia, Catherine II. At the same time, Russia feared that Poland would
have a strong infl uence on the Roman Catholic clergy. Because of this,
the Holy See has refused to fully restore both diplomatic and concordant
relations, even though negotiations on both issues had been conducted
several times.
The Russian aristocracy feared revolution and supported the Vatican’s
idea of establishing a “Russian Catholic Church”. It should also be noted
that before the end of the First World War, the Roman Church had normal
relations with Tsarism. Pope Leo XIII (1878-1903) played a major role
in beginning a new era in the history of the Roman Church. Leo XIII was
involved in a complicated political game for almost 25 years in order to
revive the “Divine Union”, the ideological leader of which would be the
Pope. Russia should have played an important role in this union; The Pope considered the Romanovs a reliable supporter in the struggle against the
revolution in Europe and therefore sought to establish friendly relations
with them. The pope off ered the Russian emperor to restore diplomatic
relations, which had been ended in 1867, as well as support the Catholic
Church in Poland and the Balkans. And most importantly, the Pope who was
a good diplomat always remembered the main goal - the creation of the
Uniate Church. Leo XIII hoped that by the unifi cation of the Orthodox and
Catholic Churches, he would also bring Protestants back into the roots of
Catholicism. For this purpose, the Pope held active negotiations with three
Russian monarchs: Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II.
In March 1884, Leo XIII sent a letter to the Polish bishops urging them
to cooperate with the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian authorities.
The Pope was urging Russian Catholics to obey the local government.
Authorities of St. Petersburg liked the pope’s encyclical and diplomacy.
After many years of negotiations, a Russian diplomatic mission was restored
in the Holy See in 1894, which lasted for 23 years, until 1917 (until 1990,
Russia no longer had offi cial diplomatic relations with the Vatican). P.A.
Izwolski was appointed Minister-Resident in the Vatican. In exchange for
the restoration of offi cial diplomatic relations almost thirty years later, the
pope hoped to obtain the king’s consent to the opening of a nunciature in
St. Petersburg, but the death of Alexander III became the hindering factor
to the pope’s plans. Benedict XV, the successor of Leo XIII, tried to sort out
relations with Tsarism, but his diplomatic activities did not bring signifi cant
results.
Thus, Leo XIII, despite active diplomacy, was unable to unite the Slavic
world and Catholicism, nor did he make Russia an equal ally of the Holy
See, or open a nunciature in St. Petersburg. The issue of creating the Uniate
Church is still actively discussed in the frames of the foreign policy of the
Vatican.
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Keywords
ლეო XIII, უნიატური, ეკლესია, ცარიზმი, პაპი, ენციკლიკა, დიპლომატია, რუსეთი, Leo XIII, Uniate, church, Tsarism, Pope, encyclical, diplomacy, Russia
Citation
იაკობ გოგებაშვილისადმი მიძღვნილი ქართველოლოგიური სამეცნიერო კონფერენცია, თეზისები, 2021 გვ.: 161-169/ KARTVELOLOGICAL SCIENTIFIC CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO IAKOB GOGEBASHVILI, Abstracts, 2021, p.: 161-169