Warsaw -
The first-ever visit by a Russian Orthodox Church head to deeply Catholic Poland begins on Thursday, but the landmark trip risks being overshadowed by a verdict due in Moscow in the controversial Pussy Riot trial.
Invited by Poland's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill is expected to co-sign an historic call for reconciliation with his Catholic counterpart, visit the holy mountain of Grabarka - a revered site of Orthodox worship - and meet with Poland's President Bronislaw Komorowski and legislators.
But his arrival comes amid international outcry over the prospect of three years of prison for all-girl Russian band Pussy Riot as punishment for their anti-Putin “punk prayer” in Moscow's Orthodox Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February.
Verdicts for lead singer Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, and her mates Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Maria Alyokhina, 24, are expected Friday - the second of Patriarch Kirill's four days in Poland - when a global day of support is planned for the three women.
They were charged with “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” after Kirill denounced them as an affront to all religious Russia and demanded the most severe punishment possible under the law.
Their cause has already mustered support from more than a dozen prominent Polish artists and academics, including film directors Andrzej Wajda, Agnieszka Holland and Marcel Lozinski.
Polish feminists are also planning a protest march and rally in front of the Russian embassy in Warsaw for Friday.
Despite the outrage over the case, Alexander Volkov, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church, insists the patriarch's visit to Warsaw has no political overtones.
“Patriarch Kirill will come to Poland for a brotherly and friendly visit,” he told AFP recently.
Marred by four centuries of conflict, Polish-Russian ties have been indelibly marked by imperial Russia's 19th century occupation of eastern Poland and the Soviet Union's imposition of communism on the country for nearly half a century after World War II.
With a population of 38.2 million, the homeland of the late pope John Paul II is overwhelmingly Roman Catholic but counts some half a million Orthodox faithful.
Relations between the two churches have also suffered. For years, the Polish-born pope dreamt of visiting Russia to forge reconciliation between Rome and Moscow prior to his death in 2005.
But having grown close to the Kremlin after the demise of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Orthodox Church was vehemently opposed.
According to Volkov, circumstances have changed.
“Relations between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church are now at a very high level, marked by ongoing dialogue and exchange,” he said.
In the run-up to Kirill's arrival, Poland's Roman Catholic episcopate also stressed its desire for reconciliation.
“Our message is a call to the faithful and all who support soul searching followed by a mutual asking for forgiveness,” said Archbishop Jozef Michalik, head of Poland's Roman Catholic Church.
Despite centuries of frosty ties, the two churches share a strong common point: both vehemently reject Western liberal values.
“Today, the Western world is systematically abandoning certain fundamental ethical values of morality, goodness and natural law,” Michalik said recently, insisting Orthodox Church fathers shared his viewpoint. - Sapa-AFP