Compare these stories:
Vatican, Mar. 6, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Pope Benedict XVI (bio - news) and Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople met and prayed together at the Vatican on March 6.
After a brief conversation, the Pope and the Ecumenical Patriarch went to the Urban VII chapel of the apostolic palace for a time of prayer, saying the Lord's Prayer together in Latin.
The Orthodox patriarch was in Rome to join in ceremonies marking the 90th anniversary of the Pontifical Oriental Institute. Patriarch Bartholomew was a student there in the 1960s, earning a doctorate before his ordination to the Orthodox priesthood in 1969.
Pope Benedict and Patriarch Bartholomew, who have pledged their joint efforts toward the restoration of full Christian unity, were meeting for the 3rd time since the Pope was elected to Peter's throne in 2005. Their first meeting was in November 2006 when the Pope traveled to Istanbul to join with the Orthodox leader in celebrating the feast of St. Andrew, the patron of the Constantinople see. (Patriarch Bartholomew had issued an invitation for such a papal visit immediately after Benedict's election as Roman Pontiff.) They met again in October 2007 when the Orthodox Patriarch traveled to Italy to participate in the International Meeting for Peace in Naples. (Also, longer version here and video here.)
Moscow, Mar. 5, 2008 (CWNews.com) - A leading spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church has recommended against ecumenical prayer initiatives, the AsiaNews service reports.
Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, the deputy director of external affairs for the Moscow patriarchate, tossed cold water on hopes for restored Christian unity, telling the newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta that "nowadays no one speaks seriously about reunification."
The Orthodox cleric made it clear that he was giving his own opinion, not presenting an official policy of the Moscow patriarchate. And he said that "visiting Protestant and Catholic churches, taking part in religious functions by other confessions, or praying before relics considered holy by all Christians are acceptable." But he recommended against common prayer.
The archpriest said that the World Council of Churches has a valid purpose in promoting shared Christian interests in public life. But the idea that that body could represent a unified Christian Church, he said, is "increasingly distant."
Posts
The Russian and Greek parties represent very different interests and realities on this matter... (obviously)
ReplyDeleteThe PoM enjoys state support, re-birth of Orthodoxy in his homeland, even the financial benefit of special concessions for the ROC to sell duty free tobacco and alcohol (Thanks Czar Vlad P!)
Contrast that with the situation in Turkey today and the state of the Phanar... By the accounts of some who have visited, there are some small suburban Catholic boutique colleges in better repair and more impressive than the ghetto the Turkish gov has forced the Greeks into. It is sickening how the "secular gov" is treating them. It has gotten to the point where the Patriarchate has secured property OUTSIDE of Istanbul (Switzerland & NYC, I believe)in case of or in the eventuality of eventually simply being forced out by Turkey where, in all irony, Bartholomey is a citizen by birth.
Great way to treat a citizen who is widely respected the world over, isn't it?