I totally agree with him that the Divine Liturgy must certainly have helped those under the yoke of Communism perservere. It maintains a sense of mystery much as the Older Form of the Traditional Latin Mass does.
Also, it doesn’t take a Liturgist to see that the two forms of the Liturgy are much closer than the Kumbaya Masses we often see (even from each other)
That said, while I am always glad to see a thawing of relations he seems to overlook the joint Catholic-Orthodox statement on Uniatism and overlooks the fact that the Eastern Ukraine was intentionally depopulated of Ukrainian Catholics by the Soviet government.
Unfortunately, while things seem to be going well with the Greek Church and the Ecumenical Patriarch, there may not be any similar progress made under the current Russian Patriarch.
Commentary on the liturgical practice is one thing ( I agree with the Patriarch), but the issue of the Uniates is another. It was part of the politics of the time in the region. Those Orthodox bishops were under pressure from the Polish and Hapsburg rulers in the late 1500’s and 1600’s to unite with Rome. Was it right what happened?—I don’t think so, but Ukrainian Eastern Rite Catholics have lived united with Rome for 400 years and are content as they are....the Patriarch should have some sense of this!