Patriarch
Bartholomew: Christian martyrdom makes unity urgent
(Vatican Radio) Calling Pope Francis his “beloved brother in
Christ,” the head of the Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on
Sunday recalled their gathering last May at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in
Jerusalem on the fiftieth anniversary of the historic ecumenical meeting of
their predecessors, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras.
Welcoming the Pope
after a celebration of the Divine Liturgy at the Patriarchal Church of St.
George in Istanbul, Patriarch Bartholomew said “the path toward unity is more
urgent than ever for those who invoke the name of the great Peacemaker.”
Citing the “diverse
divisions, conflicts and animosities, frequently even in the name of God,” the
Patriarch said Christians have a “great” responsibility “before God, humankind
and history.”
He noted that the
Orthodox Church is preparing for its Great Council planned for 2016 and
asked Pope Francis to pray for its success. The Patriarch expressed
satisfaction that members of both Churches are present as observers in each
other’s synodal life and said he hoped that once full communion is restored,
“the significant and special day” of holding a joint Great Ecumenical Council
will “not be prolonged.”
In concluding, the
Patriarch said “the challenges presented to our Churches by today’s historical
circumstances oblige us to transcend our introversion in order to meet them
with the greatest degree of collaboration. We no longer have the luxury
of isolated action. The modern persecutors of Christians do not ask which
Church their victims belong to. The unity that concerns us is regrettably
already occurring in certain regions of the world through the blood of
martyrdom.”
Below,
please find the complete text of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I’s address
to Pope Francis:
Your Holiness Pope
Francis, beloved brother in Christ, bishop of Senior Rome,
We offer glory and
praise to our God in Trinity for deeming us worthy of the ineffable joy and
special honor of the personal presence here of Your Holiness on the occasion of
this year's celebration of the sacred memory of the First-called Apostle
Andrew, who founded our Church through his preaching. We are profoundly
grateful to Your Holiness for the precious gift of Your blessed presence among
us, together with Your honorable entourage. We embrace you wholeheartedly and
honorably, addressing you fervently with a greeting of peace and love:
"Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ" (Rom. 1.7). "For the love of Christ controls us" (2 Cor.
5.14).
We still vividly
preserve in our heart the recollection of our encounter with Your Holiness in the
Holy Land for a joint pious pilgrimage in the place where the pioneer of our
faith was once born, lived, taught, suffered, was risen and ascended as well as
for a thankful remembrance of the historical event of the meeting there by our
predecessors, the late Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras. As a
result of their meeting in the Holy City fifty years ago, the flow of history
has literally changed direction: the parallel and occasionally conflicting
journeys of our Churches have coincided in the common vision of restoring our
lost unity; the cold love between us has been rekindled, while our desire to do
everything in our capacity so that our communion in the same faith and the same
chalice may once again emerge has been galvanized. Thenceforth, the road to
Emmaus has opened up before us – a road that, while perhaps lengthy and
sometimes even rugged, is nonetheless irreversible – with the Lord as our
companion, until He is revealed to us "in the breaking of the bread"
(Luke 24.35).
This way has since
been followed – and is still being followed – by all of the successors of those
inspired leaders, in turn establishing, dedicating and endorsing the dialogue
of love and truth between our Churches in order to lift a millennium of burdens
amassed in our relations. This dialogue is one that befits friends and not, as
in former times, adversaries, inasmuch as sincerely seek to be rightly dividing
the word of truth and respect one another as brothers.
In such an atmosphere
fashioned by our aforementioned predecessors with respect to our common
journey, we too fraternally welcome Your Holiness as bearing the love of St.
Peter to his brother, St. Andrew, whose sacred feast we celebrate today. In
accordance with a holy custom established and observed for decades now by the
Churches of Senior and New Rome, official delegations exchange visits on the
occasion of their respective patronal feasts in order to demonstrate by this
manner as well the fraternal bond between the two chief Apostles, who together
came to know Jesus Christ and to believe in Him as God and Savior. These
Apostles transmitted this common faith to the Churches founded by their
preaching and sanctified by their martyrdom. This faith was also jointly
experienced and articulated into doctrine by our Church Fathers, who assembled
from East and West in ecumenical councils, bequeathing it to our Churches as an
unshakable foundation of our unity. It is this same faith, which we have
together preserved in both East and West for an entire millennium, that we are
once again called to deposit as the basis of our unity in order that,
"being in full accord and of one mind" (Phil. 2.2), we may press on
with Paul "forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies
ahead" (Phil. 3.13).
After all, Your
Holiness and dear Brother, our obligation is surely not exhausted in the past
but primarily extends to the future, especially in our times. For what is the
value of our fidelity to the past unless this denotes something for the future?
What is the benefit of boasting for what we have received unless these
translate into life for humanity and our world both today and tomorrow?
"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and to the ages" (Heb.
13.8). And His Church is called to keep its sight fixed not so much on
yesterday as on today and tomorrow. The Church exists not for itself, but for
the world and for humanity.
Therefore, in
directing our sight toward today, we cannot avoid being anxious also for
tomorrow. "There is fighting without and fear within" (2 Cor. 7.5) –
This recognition of the Apostle Paul about his age is indisputably valid also
for us today. Indeed, even as we are preoccupied with our own contentions, the
world experiences the fear of survival, the concern for tomorrow. How can humanity
survive tomorrow when it is severed today by diverse divisions, conflicts and
animosities, frequently even in the name of God? How will the earth's wealth be
distributed more equitably in order for humanity tomorrow to avoid the most
heinous slavery ever known in history? What sort of planet will future
generations inherit when modern man is destroying it so mercilessly and
irrevocably through greed?
Nowadays many people
place their hope on science; others on politics; still others in technology.
Yet none of these can guarantee the future, unless humanity espouses the
message of reconciliation, love and justice; the mission of embracing the
other, the stranger, and even the enemy. The Church of Christ, who first
proclaimed and practiced this teaching, is compelled to be the first to apply
this teaching "so that the world may believe" (John 17.21). This is
precisely why the path toward unity is more urgent than ever for those who
invoke the name of the great Peacemaker. This is precisely why our responsibility
as Christians is so great before God, humankind and history.
Your Holiness,
Your hitherto brief
tenure at the helm of Your Church has already manifested You in people's
conscience today as a herald of love, peace and reconciliation. You preach with
words, but above and beyond all with the simplicity, humility and love toward
everyone that you exercise your high ministry. You inspire trust in those who
doubt, hope in those who despair, anticipation in those who expect a Church
that nurtures all people. Moreover, You offer to Your Orthodox brothers and
sisters the aspiration that during Your tenure the rapprochement of our two
great ancient Churches will continue to be established on the solid foundations
of our common tradition, which always preserved and acknowledged in the
constitution of the Church a primacy of love, honor and service within the
framework of collegiality, in order that "with one mouth and one
heart" we may confess the Trinitarian God and that His love may be poured
out upon the world.
Your Holiness,
The Church of
Constantinople, which today for the first time receives You with fervent love
and honor as well as with heartfelt gratitude, bears upon its shoulders a heavy
legacy, but also a responsibility for the present and the future. In this
Church, through the order instituted by the holy Ecumenical Councils, divine
providence has assigned the responsibility of coordinating and expressing the
unanimity of the most holy local Orthodox Churches. In the context of this
responsibility, we are already working very assiduously for the preparation of
the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church, which – as decided – will
convene here, God willing, in 2016. At this time, the appropriate committees
are laboring feverishly to prepare this great event in the history of the
Orthodox Church, for whose success we also implore Your prayers. Unfortunately,
the Eucharistic communion of our Churches that was interrupted one thousand
years ago does not yet permit the convocation of a joint Great Ecumenical
Council. Let us pray that, once full communion is restored, this significant
and special day will also not be prolonged. However, until that blessed day,
the participation in one another's synodal life will be expressed through the
involvement of observers, as we observe now, with Your gracious invitation to
attend Synods of Your Church, just as we hope will also occur when, with God's
grace, our Holy and Great Council becomes reality.
Your Holiness,
The challenges
presented to our Churches by today's historical circumstances oblige us to
transcend our introversion in order to meet them with the greatest degree of
collaboration. We no longer have the luxury of isolated action. The modern
persecutors of Christians do not ask which Church their victims belong to. The
unity that concerns us is regrettably already occurring in certain regions of
the world through the blood of martyrdom. Together let us extend our hand to
people of our time; together let us extend the hand of Him, who alone can save
humankind through His Cross and Resurrection.
With these thoughts
and sentiments, once again we express our joy and thanks at the presence here
of Your Holiness, even as we pray that the Lord – through the intercessions of
the one we celebrate today, the First-called Apostle and brother of the Chief of
the Apostles Peter – may protect His Church and direct it to the fulfillment of
His sacred will.
Welcome among us,
dearly beloved brother!
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