2026/01/01 by Pavlo Smytsnyuk
Social Sciences · #Religion and Society Interactions #Soviet and Russian History #Post-Soviet Geopolitical Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1093/jcs/csag026
Abstract This article argues that the key dynamics shaping relations between the Holy See and the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC), established during the Soviet period, continue to influence the Vatican’s approach to Russia today. While many scholars maintain that Ostpolitik ended with the collapse of communism, this study contends that important elements of the policy survived the Cold War and remain embedded in Vatican diplomacy. It argues that Vatican diplomacy toward Russia reflects a synthesis between the Holy See’s longstanding concordatarian tradition and its post–Vatican II theological commitments. Ecumenical dialogue with the ROC has often functioned as an indirect channel of political communication with the Kremlin, intertwining theological and geopolitical considerations. During the Cold War period and beyond, ecumenical aspirations were intertwined with geopolitical calculations, producing a form of dialogue in which religious and political arguments were inseparable. While in Soviet times, ecumenical dialogue functioned as a form of ersatz diplomacy between Rome and the Kremlin, the pontificates of Benedict XVI and Francis suggest a different configuration, in which periods of intensified political dialogue between the Vatican and the Kremlin often coincided with improvements in Catholic–Orthodox relations with the ROC, and vice versa. While the Russo-Ukrainian war has exposed the moral tensions inherent in the Ostpolitik approach, some of its core features have thus far proven remarkably resilient.