The Russian Orthodox Church ruled out Tuesday any prospect of a meeting between its head and the Pope -- something long-sought by the Catholic pontiff -- just weeks before a Vatican envoy was due to visit Moscow.
The frail 83-year-old Pope has long had his sights set on a visit to Moscow to help reconcile the two churches, divided since the Great Schism of 1054.
"The Patriarch cannot meet the Pope," said Metropolitan Kirill, who is in charge of the Russian Orthodox Church's external relations, at a Moscow ceremony.
He repeated his Church's complaint that Catholic missionaries were trying to poach Orthodox souls.
"If the leaders meet they have to kiss. They have to embrace each other and this would be a false picture. This would serve the needs of those who are conducting missionary activities against our people. They would say, 'Look, the Pope and Patriarch are kissing. There are no differences'."
Catholic leaders deny proselytising and say Catholic Church activities in Russia are strictly to serve the faithful.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, head of the Vatican's department in charge of Christian unity, will meet Patriarch Alexiy II during a visit to Russia from Feb. 16-20.
Alexiy has consistently refused to meet the Polish pontiff, who helped inspire the end of communism in eastern Europe and has visited several ex-Soviet states.
"Do your work, fight your fight," Kirill said. "But don't interfere in Russia, where the Russian Orthodox Church has for a thousand years fulfilled its responsibility before God, before history, before its own people."
Under communism, Russians were discouraged from going to church although Orthodoxy was officially tolerated. Many churches became factories or were turned into museums.
Since 1991, it has made a strong comeback and is very prickly about other churches operating in its sphere of influence.
Tensions have spilled over into other ex-Soviet states. Georgia put off signing a pact with the Vatican in September after strenuous objections from the local Orthodox Church.