To deduce the diplomatic reasons for this secret, as jealously guarded as that of Fatima, we need only recall the words of Vladimir Soloviev to Mgr Strossmayer at the end of the 19^th century: «We Russian Orthodox, and indeed the whole of the East, can do nothing until we have expiated the sin of ecclesiastical schism and rendered papal authority its due.» Look carefully at the photograph of the private meeting between John Paul I and Nikodim (English CRC n^o 335, Nov-Dec 2000, p. 1): the posture of the Metropolitan of Leningrad says precisely this, with an expression of modesty and trust which highlights the abandonment of his hands into those of the Pope, as though in an act of liege homage. And the Holy Father seems to answer him in the same way that the great Croatian bishop replied to Soloviev: that the Russians do not seem to him to be in any way responsible for the separation of the Churches, of which they are rather the victims, and that they are called to follow their tsar and to work for reunion.

That is why the Immaculate Heart of Mary will save Russia: for this task has been entrusted to Her from the beginning. As Brother Peter recalls in number 82 of La Renaissance catholique au Canada (Nov 2000), referring to a magisterial study by our Father (English CRC n^o 153, December 1982), «the history of Holy Russia commences with a defeat. The Russians of Kiev who had come in 860 to lay siege to Constantinople were repulsed by the intervention of the Theotokos.» A happy defeat! which marked their first encounter with the Blessed Virgin Mary Mother of God.

Under pressure from the Mongol invasions, Christian civilisation left what is today known as Ukraine and took refuge in the impenetrable forests of the North to be reborn at Novgorod, Rostov and finally Moscow where the Metropolitan established his primatial see for all Russia in 1325. It was then that the Blessed Virgin intervened a second time by appearing to Saint Sergius of Radonege in the fourteenth century, as we saw last summer (English CRC n^o 331, June-July 2000, p. 30-31) when we highlighted numerous similarities between this apparition and the apparitions of Fatima. Nothing is missing, not even the presence of Saint Peter, the first «Bishop dressed in White»! Nor the promise of the Immaculate to remain always with the seer, or the seeress, to be a refuge that would lead them to the Father.

The real question then is not whether the Pope will go to Ukraine this coming June, but whether he will finally consent to consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Why not this May? If it were done during the Consistory, it would be a beautiful surprise, on earth as in Heaven! a striking miracle of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, triumphing over the Pope’s resistance. Let us pray for this.

METROPOLITAN NIKODIM AT FATIMA

We reproduce the following article from the American review Soul, a moving testimony by the archpriest John Mowatt regarding Metropolitan Nikodim’s visit to Fatima. It is well known that the latter was long the most influential ecclesiastical personality in Russia, and that many people judged him to be too visibly in the pockets of Moscow. It is also known that he had the privilege of dying in the arms of John Paul I while he was being received at the Vatican. But let us now hand over to Mgr Mowatt, for many years the Rector of the Eastern Rite Catholic Church of Our Lady of the Assumption in Fatima.

WITHOUT announcing his visit or any kind of fanfare, on the morning of 22 May 1975, Metropolitan Nikodim took a taxi to Lisbon and went to Fatima. He went straight to the “Domus Pacis” (the International Centre of the Blue Army) where he asked to see the archpriest John Mowatt. The priest in question was myself, the author of the present article.

Metropolitan Nikodim spent six hours with me. In the Russian chapel of the International Centre of the Blue Army, he celebrated a Moleben in honour of the Most Blessed Holy Mother of God and of Saint Nicholas of Myra (according to the Russian calendar, it was in fact the Feast of the Transfer to Bari of the Relics of Saint Nicholas, the patronal feast of Nikodim’s cathedral in Leningrad). Afterwards, he joined us for lunch. Then we made a pilgrimage visit to all the sites: Cova da Iria, Aljustrel, the Loca de Cabeço, Valinhos and the parish church of Fatima.

But he especially loved the place where the Angel gave Holy Communion to the three little seers: Lucia, Francisco and Jacinta. He spent a long time in prayer there, going methodically over every inch of ground.

When I asked him whether he wanted to meet one of the sanctuary dignitaries, he replied that he had made this journey as a simple pilgrim solely to honour Our Lady.

Before he left Fatima, Metropolitan Nikodim gave me several gifts, including a golden pectoral cross set with turquoises.

This illustrious Russian, a pilgrim to Fatima, saw his earthly pilgrimage come to an end on 8 September 1978, in Vatican City, at a private audience with the Pope. The Holy Father administered Extreme Unction and gave him absolution. Then the body of the dead Metropolitan of Leningrad and Novgorod was carried to the Church of Saint Anne close by and deposited at the entrance to the Porta di Sant’Anna where it lay in state for two days. Requiem Masses were celebrated by both Catholics and Orthodox. Metropolitan Juvenally, from the Bureau of Foreign Religious Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate, came to Rome, accompanied by other Orthodox ecclesiastics. Before the coffin was shut, the Metropolitan offered a solemn Requiem service in the Church of Saint Anne, then he accompanied the body back to Leningrad, Metropolitan Nikodim’s archdiocese. A large Catholic delegation, headed by Cardinal Willebrands, also made the journey.

What remains me with me as an indelible impression is the profound interest shown by the Metropolitan in the Catholic Church. Despite the thousand year old rift which separates Orthodoxy from Catholicism, Metropolitan Nikodim seems to have had a consuming love for Rome, the Pope and the Catholic Church. On Christmas Eve 1971, he attended midnight Mass in Saint Patrick’s Cathedral, while on a visit to the United States, a visit that was completely ignored by the public. In 1975, at Fatima, he took great pleasure in translating the Latin inscriptions in the Basilica of Fatima and he asked me whether his translations were correct. He also spoke with a deep interest about the worship and ceremonies of the Latin rite. One month later, that same year, following a meeting with Pope Paul VI, he requested and received permission to offer Mass at the tomb of Saint Peter, and he remained at Rome for the election and enthronement of John Paul I.

Then he died between the arms of the Pope. A few weeks later, John Paul I himself joined the Lord at night without anyone by his side. John Paul I and Metropolitan Nikodim are now reunited in the Kingdom of Heaven. They are now “one” in and through Christ. And I have no doubt that they will help us restore unity and peace. May their memory last for ever!

Jean Mowatt, archpriest

As a conclusion to the beautiful testimony of Mgr Mowatt, and also as striking confirmation of its truth, let us recall the very words of John Paul I after Metropolitan Nikodim’s death:

«Never before had I heard such beautiful words on the Church as those which Metropolitan Nikodim uttered. I cannot repeat them, they remain secret.»

(The Call of Our Lady, n^o 98, April-May-June 1980)