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Most Orthodox in the West are unaware of the great scandal the Orthodox - Catholic Dialogue in Cyprus (16-23 October) is causing throughout the Church of Greece. Since the Church of Greece has no real voice in America, most Greeks being subject under the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I feel it is my duty to bring awareness to this very important issue that affects world Orthodoxy.
Thanks to the highly informative www.oodegr.com website, many of the most important texts circulating over this issue have been translated into English. The links are provided below with some of my own commentary.
It was announced back in June that the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between Catholic and Orthodox would be meeting between October 16-23 in Cyprus "to examine a crucial aspect of relations between East and West: The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church During the First Millennium". It is to be represented by 30 Orthodox and 30 Catholics.
What differentiates this dialogue from others is the topic of the role of the papacy. It is this topic which is a cause of concern to many Orthodox as there can be no compromise on this subject either from an Orthodox or a Catholic perspective. This concern is best expressed in the following article:
On the Recognition of Universal Primacy for the Pope of Rome During the First Millennium
When this dialogue was announced, the Holy Synod of Bulgaria immediately made its disapproval known:
A Bulgarian "NO" to the Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue
Together with the announcement of this dialogue, the following document was circulating throughout Greece to various clergy and theologians and was fairly well-received:
A CONFESSION OF FAITH: Against Ecumenism
Rumors began circulating that there was a secret intention behind the dialogue in Cyprus. It is believed by some that a statement of union will be signed sort of like that of Balamand back in the 1990's which caused a great disturbance in the Church. One particular hierarch responded:
Announcement by Metropolitan Andrew Regarding the Committee for the Dialogue with the Latins in Cyprus
An official position was also taken by the entire Athonite community:
The Sacred Community of the Holy Mountain on the Dialogue with the Papists
Between the Confession of Faith being circulated and widely accepted, together with the rumors and the protests of clergy and hierarchs, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew responded with a stern letter:
Your Holiness, WHAT "pan-Orthodox decision"?
Among the hierarchs mentioned by Patriarch Bartholomew was the vocal Metropolitan of Piraeus Seraphim. To understand his views on the matter, here is a link of his recent letter to the Archbishop of Athens:
Metropolitan Seraphim's Letter to Archbishop Hieronymos: Regarding the Committee for the Dialogue with the Latins in Cyprus
To prevent schism and encourage the proper and concentual ordering of this dialogue, at least one Metropolitan proposed the dialogue be postponed:
Metropolitan Seraphim of Ioannoupolis Proposes the Postponement of the Cyprus Convention
Greek theologians were also expressing concern:
The Pancyprian Union of Greek Theologians Expresses Its Concern Regarding the Dialogue with the Latins in Cyprus
Together with the stern letter of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, a letter was also sent by Metropolitan John Zizioulas from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to all the Metropolitans of Greece regarding the ecumenical dissent of many throughout Greece:
The Letter by Bishop John Zizioulas of Pergamon to all Metropolitans of the Church of Greece
Finally, just last week, eminent clergy throughout Greece responded by drafting a statement and censured both Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Metropolitan John Zizioulas for encroaching on their right to dissent.
A Letter by the Clergy to the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece Concerning the Letter by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
With heated tensions, the dialogue is set to begin today. Let us pray that our leaders be given the wisdom to guide us into all truth, and avoid all compromises and schism for the sake of the unity of the Body of Christ and our witness to the world.
It's good to read that the Greek Holy Synod has sent people to the Cyprus event who will be watching things, and will speak up when necessary. I'm less worried, hearing that they're doing this.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post, John!
How did the papists succed in swaying the Orthodox to admit as valid and worthy of discussion the principal point of contention? The Primacy of the Pope. It never existed, but in the heads of the papists. It could have perhaps made a point if the Pope would have retained the title of Patriarch of the West, as it was in the system of the Pentarchy. But recently he "renounced" this title, retaining modestly only the one of "supreme pontiff of the universal church"!
ReplyDeleteI suspect what they mean is the primacy of honor rather than authority. In the pentaurchy, this primacy did exist. Today this primacy belongs to Constantinople. But I think a better topic of discussion would have been "The Equality of ALL Bishops in the First Thousand Years of Chrstianity."
ReplyDeleteYou are right. It cannot be put otherwise. But the problem, which remains actual, is that Rome fell from the Pentarchy because of heresy. It was eradicated and the place remained vacant. It was filled, in an attempt to restore the Pentarchy, by the Moskow Patriarchate, which was given nevertheless the last place. The system of the Pentarchy was upset by the reforms of Peter the Great, who abolished the Patriarchy. The restoration of the Russian Patriarchy and the perspectives of a new Pentarchy have been quashed eventually by the Masonic-Bolshevik revolution. The criterium should be the faithfulness to Tradition. Papacy remains obdurately heretical, not only that it sticks to the papal primacy in whatever form, but that it sticks to the complete corruption of every aspect of the Paradosis of Christ, that it embraced openly and emphatically anti christian "religions" like Judaism and Islam. This is the problem that should be discussed, emphatically, without the fear that it might be denounced as "fundamentalist". If we cannot reach a "compromise", so be it. God will judge us, not EU, not the WCC, and least of all the Pope.
ReplyDeleteAlmost no informations about this exists in French, only official pro-vatican Orthodox are being published on official websites of european French-talking Orthodoxy (Switzerland, France, Belgium). So to give an hint to our readers, we linked to you here :
ReplyDeletehttp://stmaterne.blogspot.com/2009/10/chypre-vatican.html
Don´t undrstand, all words here ar written in Latin letters,Why so much hate to latin culture?
ReplyDeleteI don't think the issue is about hate towards Latin culture, but a disagreement on essential matters of faith between Orthodox and Catholics.
ReplyDeleteI have read some of the articles, letters from bishops an priests you have posted, to my particular point of view they ar crying before knowing the substance of dialogue, I am a Catholic, and from my point of view, we catholics should be more aware of ortodoxy to come to us, if that means a division of church as orthodoxy is now a days, where there is no authority, only well wishes and nationalism, Ukranians Vs Russians, Stonian Vs Rusians, and so on.
ReplyDeleteCatholic Church, though its rigidity, is more disciplinated, despite 100,000 Lefevre followers, those who really don't want to see any orthodox nor in a picture, we are 1,100'000,000 catholics who follow Peter, as lord commanded him until He comes back. And if Peter feels we must go to you despite he losses some of authority among all of us, we certainly will follow him, as Peter he is.
Inmaculate Conception, Filioque, and some of those dogmas, are not to divide Church, if we set them aside to make it easier to you to acept our Brotherhood ¿What would you do?
I know that major issue about Eventual Communion fo Catholics and Orthodox is the fear of Bishops to losse power under Peter's see. But that is far to happen. We catholics will remain following Peter, and you orthodox will still be ruled by Autonomous Patriarchs in communion with Rome, but with independence of administration. That is what I can see as a solution to the seak of unity.
“What Christ has joined together, no one should separate!”
ReplyDeleteHTTP://SLAVXRIST.ORG
Well, I'm Roman Catholic, but I have a lot of respect for the Orthodox Church. Yes, there are many difference but also many similarities...such as we worship the same Lord Jesus Christ and to me that should be good enough for either Catholic or Orthodox. Just FTR...not all Catholics agree 100% with the Pope on every little thing, and as far as the Apostle Creed is conerned, there's nothing in there that says Catholic have to agree with the Pope without questioning anything.
ReplyDeleteNabil Wakim said:
ReplyDeleteI am Catholic (my father was catholic and my mother was orthodox) and I totally agree with what anonymous (December 7,2009) said. In addition, some orhtodox brothers label the catholic believers as papists which in my opinion is derogatory.
For Papists to call themselves Catholics is derogatory to Orthodox, since we claim that title for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteOrthodox and Catholics share the same beliefs in the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, the Scriptures, the sacraments; both Orthodox and Catholic churches can trace unbroken succession of the episcopacy (and hence the priesthood) directly to Peter. The filioque? The Bishop of Rome himself omitted it when praying the Apostles’ Creed in an ecumenical gathering of Christians in Assisi some years ago, out of deference to the Orthodox, so that can’t truly be an obstacle that should continue to divide Orthodox and Catholics. We are one religion, one faith, with different rites and traditions. Let’s put aside petty differences that arose in historical circumstances that no longer have such relevance. The witness of a united Church is much more important to the world today. Давайте будем жить дружно!
ReplyDelete