Pope’s message to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
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| Pope Francis (L) greeting Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I in Jerusalem on May 25, 2014.- AFP |
Pope Francis is encouraging Catholics and Orthodox not only
to further theological dialoguebetween them, but also to promote
joint initiatives on issues such as caring for the environment,
peaceful coexistence among peoples and the presence of Christians
in the Middle East, without waiting for the day of full and visible
communion.
The Pope, who is on an apostolic visit to Myanmar and
Bangladesh, made the exhortation in a message to Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I of Constantinople (today’s Istanbul), on the occasion of
the Nov. 30 feast of St. Andrew, the patron of the
Patriarchate. The Ecumenical Patriarch is widely regarded as the
“first among equals” in the Eastern Orthodox Church, and as the spiritual
leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians worldwide.
The first major split within Christianity took place over
900 years ago. The growing estrangement from the 5th to the 11th
century between the Byzantine Church based in Constantinople and the
Rome-based Catholic Church came to a head with the Great Schism of
1054, that split the followers of Christ into Eastern Orthodoxy
and Western Catholicism.
The desire to heal the past, came from the
Catholic Church in the 20th century with the Second Vatican Council, 1962
to ‘65. However, it took the courage, openness and foresight of two
great leaders from either side to dismantle the shame and scandal of over 900
years. This historic event took place on January 5, 1964, when Pope
Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of
Constantinople met and embraced each other in Jerusalem.
Since then the two Churches have been in dialogue towards
communion. The Catholic-Orthodox Joint International Commission for
Theological Dialogue has been meeting periodically. They also send
delegations on the feasts of their respective patrons.
Please find below the full text of the message of Pope
Francis to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew:
To His Holiness Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople
Ecumenical Patriarch
Though away from Rome on my Pastoral Visit to Myanmar and
Bangladesh, I wish to extend my fraternal best wishes to Your Holiness and to
the members of the Holy Synod, the clergy, the monks, and all the faithful
gathered for the Divine Liturgy in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George for
the liturgical commemoration of Saint Andrew the Apostle, brother of Simon
Peter and first-called of the Apostles, the patron saint of the Church of
Constantinople and of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. When the deacon invites
those gathered during the Divine Liturgy to pray “for those who travel by land,
sea, and air”, I ask you, please, to pray also for me.
The Delegation I have sent is a sign of my spiritual
solidarity with your prayer of thanksgiving and praise for all that our
Almighty and Merciful God has accomplished through the witness of the Apostle
Andrew. In like manner, the Delegation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate welcomed
in Rome last June demonstrated its spiritual closeness to us as we celebrated
the wonderful deeds that God, the source of all good, accomplished through the
Apostles Peter and Paul, patron saints of the Church of Rome.
The Apostles proclaimed to the ends of the earth, through
their words and the sacrifice of their lives, what they themselves had seen,
heard and experienced - the Word of Life, our Lord Jesus Christ, who died and
rose for our salvation. Making our own this proclamation enables us to enter
into communion with the Father, through the Son, in the Holy Spirit, which is
the very foundation of the communion that already unites those baptized in the
name of the Most Holy Trinity (cf. 1Jn 1:1-3). Catholics and Orthodox, by
professing together the dogmas of the first seven Ecumenical Councils, by
believing in the efficacy of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and by
preserving the apostolic succession of the ministry of bishops, experience
already a profound closeness with one another (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 15).
Today, in thanksgiving to the God of love, in obedience to the will of our Lord
Jesus Christ and in fidelity to the teaching of the Apostles, we recognize how
urgent it is to grow towards full and visible communion.
It is a source of joy to learn that on the eve of the feast
of Saint Andrew, during a meeting attended by Your Holiness, the fiftieth
anniversary of the visit of Pope Paul VI to the Phanar on 25 July 1967 was
commemorated. That historic moment of communion between the Pastors of the
Church of Rome and the Church of Constantinople brings to mind the words of
Patriarch Athenagoras in welcoming Pope Paul VI to the Patriarchal Church of
Saint George, where you are gathered today. I believe that these words can
continue to inspire the dialogue between our Churches: “Let us join together
what was divided, wherever this is possible, by deeds in which both Churches
are involved, giving added strength to the matters of faith and canonical
discipline which we have in common. Let us conduct the theological dialogue
according to the principle [of] full community in the fundamentals of the
faith, liberty both in theological thought, where this is pious and edifying
and inspired by the main body of the Fathers, and in variety of local customs,
as was favoured by the Church from the beginning” (Tomos Agapis, Vatican-Phanar
(1958-1970), pp. 382-383).
I offer my heartfelt gratitude to Your Holiness for the
generous and warm hospitality extended by the Metropolis of Leros of the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, under the pastoral care of His Eminence Paisios, to
the members of the Coordinating Committee of the Joint International Commission
for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. I
wish to encourage anew this theological dialogue. The consensus reached
by Catholics and Orthodox on certain fundamental theological principles
regulating the relationship between primacy and synodality in the life of the
Church in the first millennium can serve to evaluate, even critically, some
theological categories and practices which evolved during the second millennium
in conformity with those principles. Such consensus may enable us to
envisage a common way of understanding the exercise of the ministry of the
Bishop of Rome, in the context of synodality and at the service of the
communion of the Church in the present context. This sensitive task needs to be
pursued in an atmosphere of mutual openness and, above all, in obedience to the
demands that the Holy Spirit makes of the Church.
Your Holiness, beloved brother in Christ, in recent months I
have followed with great interest your participation in significant
international events held throughout the world regarding the care of creation,
peaceful coexistence among peoples of different cultures and religious
traditions, and the presence of Christians in the Middle East. Your Holiness’s
commitment is a source of inspiration, support and encouragement for me
personally for, as you well know, we share these same concerns. It is my
fervent hope that Catholics and Orthodox may promote joint initiatives at the
local level with regard to these issues, for there are many contexts in which
Orthodox and Catholics can already work together without waiting for the day of
full and visible communion.
With the assurance of my continued remembrance in prayer, it
is with sentiments of warm affection that I exchange with Your Holiness a
fraternal embrace of peace.
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