Σάββατο 6 Δεκεμβρίου 2014

Αμερικής Δημήτριος: Ο διάλογος Βαρθολομαίου - Φραγκίσκου ενισχύει τη συνεργασία


«Ο διάλογος του Πατριάρχη Βαρθολομαίου με τον Πάπα Φραγκίσκο δεν αποτελεί "συνθηκολόγηση" ή "υποταγή" της Ορθοδοξίας. Αντίθετα, ενισχύει τη δυνατότητα συνεργασίας και την αναζήτηση λύσεων σε άμεσα προβλήματα που αφορούν τη φτώχεια, τη βία (τρομοκρατία) και τη νεολαία» δήλωσε ο αρχιεπίσκοπος Αμερικής Δημήτριος, ο οποίος συμμετείχε στις συναντήσεις και τις θρησκευτικές τελετές που πραγματοποιήθηκαν στο Πατριαρχείο, στη διάρκεια της πρόσφατης επίσκεψης στην Κωνσταντινούπολη του προκαθημένου της Ρωμαιοκαθολικής Εκκλησίας.

Αποτιμώντας το αποτέλεσμα της επίσκεψης του Πάπα Φραγκίσκου και τις συζητήσεις που είχε με τον Οικουμενικό Πατριάρχη Βαρθολομαίο, ο αρχιεπίσκοπος Δημήτριος τόνισε:

«Είναι πράγματα που είναι οφθαλμοφανή και δεν χρειάζονται ιδιαίτερη σοφία. Πρώτον, τέτοιου είδους συναντήσεις ενισχύουν την επικοινωνία. Κι όταν συμβαίνει κάτι τέτοιο, αυτομάτως ενισχύεται ο διάλογος. Κι αυτή είναι η πρώτη σοβαρή επίπτωση της συνάντησης. Επίσης, αυξάνεται η δυνατότητα συνεργασίας για αντιμετώπιση γενικότερων θεμάτων. Και να αναφέρω ένα παράδειγμα: Ο Πάπας είπε -και ο Πατριάρχης είναι ακριβώς στην ίδια γραμμή- ότι αντιμετωπίζουμε ένα μεγάλο θέμα, τη φτώχεια με όλες τις συνέπειές της. Και φτώχεια με την πλατύτερή της έννοια: στέρηση δυνατοτήτων, καταστάσεις καταπίεσης κλπ. Επομένως, η φτώχεια είναι ένα θέμα στο οποίο πρέπει να εργαστούμε. Δεύτερο, είναι το θέμα που λέγεται βία στον κόσμο και η οποία εκφράζεται σε ακραίες μορφές, ακόμη και από θρησκευτικές κοινότητες. Και το τρίτο, είναι η νεολαία. Δεν θέλουμε να δούμε μια νεολαία η οποία δεν θα έχει μέλλον».

Ο κ. Δημήτριος σημείωσε ότι «αυτά τα ζητήματα, λοιπόν, μπορούν να προωθηθούν από πλευράς συγκεκριμένων μορφών αντιμετωπίσεως και δράσεως όταν υπάρχει μια αυξημένη συνεργασία». «Αυτά δεν έχουν καμία σχέση και καμία σύνδεση με τους φόβους ορισμένων ακραίων ανθρώπων περί "συνθηκολόγησης" ή "υποταγής" της Ορθοδοξίας. Τίποτα απ' αυτά. Διάλογος σημαίνει δυνατότητα συνεργασίας με σκοπό να αναζητηθούν λύσεις, με αποτελεσματικό τρόπο, σε άμεσα προβλήματα, κοινωνικά και διεθνή, που αφορούν την φτώχεια, τη βία και τη νεολαία και τα οποία δεν θίγουν το δόγμα, γιατί υπάρχουν πολύ σαφείς τοποθετήσεις. Και δεν αποτελεί "συνθηκολόγηση" ή "υποταγή" της Ορθοδοξίας», τόνισε.

Ακόμη, ο αρχιεπίσκοπος Αμερικής ανέφερε ότι «η συνάντηση έγινε σε πνεύμα εγκαρδιότητας» και σημείωσε: «Ο Πάπας είναι ένας άνθρωπος που δείχνει ταπείνωση, δεν δείχνει έπαρση. Ενώ είναι σαφής σε ορισμένες πολύ ισχυρές ιδέες, από την άλλη μεριά, είναι ο άνθρωπος που είναι πολύ ανοικτός σε συνεργασία. Αυτή η επικοινωνία έχει αυξήσει την ευκολία επικοινωνίας με τον Πατριάρχη. Δηλαδή, είναι άνετοι και οι δυο όπως συζητούν, πράγμα το οποίο δεν είναι εύκολο να γίνει. Επομένως, αυτό είναι μεγάλο πλεονέκτημα, γιατί πολλές φορές αυτή η άνεση επικοινωνίας λύει προβλήματα τα οποία δεν λύνονται εύκολα. Μπορεί να ασχολούνται με κάτι για χρόνια και όταν πουν "κοιτάξτε, κλείστε το θέμα", κλείνει, γιατί υπάρχει αυτή η ανεπτυγμένη επικοινωνία που βοηθάει πάρα πολύ σε αντιμετώπιση θεμάτων για τα οποία υπάρχουν ανάγκες. Ο Χριστιανισμός είναι η κατεξοχήν θρησκεία της αγάπης, της φροντίδας για τους ανθρώπους και θέλουμε με κάθε τρόπο να έχουμε αυξημένες δυνατότητες προς αυτή την κατεύθυνση».


Πηγή:

ethnos

Πέμπτη 4 Δεκεμβρίου 2014

Dialogue over Pope-Patriarch meeting thwarted by Greek Catholics’ actions in Ukraine – patriarch’s spokesperson


Moscow, December 3, Interfax – The Moscow Patriarchate is still not ruling out a possibility of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia meeting with Pope Francis, but pointed to the factors that impeded dialogue on this matter.
“The subject of a meeting between the Patriarch of Moscow and the Pope is on the agenda of the two Churches, and the Holy Patriarch highly values the balanced and genuinely Christian position of Pope Francis on many problems faced by present-day society,” Patriarchate spokesman Deacon Alexander Volkov told Interfax-Religion.
This makes both Churches “strategic partners” in the attestation to the Christian moral values, the need to preserve peace and mutual understanding between people of various faiths and nationalities, in defending the rights of Christians in the Middle East, the spokesperson said.
The view of the leader of the Roman Catholic Church on the difficult situation in present-day Ukraine largely overlaps with that of the Russian Orthodox Church, he said.
“Like Patriarch Kirill already said on multiple occasions, the only service the Church can conduct in this conflict is a peacekeeping one that would exclude any political preferences. And in this sense, we have to acknowledge once again that the line pursued by the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church is a significant factor thwarting normal development of the relations between the Churches,” he said.
Another factor is “the overt support for one of the parties to the conflict, and public association with schismatics in Ukraine,” Deacon Volkov said.
“We would like to hope that the voice of our Church will be heard and the involvement of the Greek Catholics in the political conflict in Ukraine will decrease, thereby creating favorable conditions for maintaining a proper dialogue between the Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches, including on the subject of a possible meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope,” he summed up.
One of these days the Pope expressed a wish to meet with Patriarch Kirill. “I signaled to the Patriarch Kirill that I would like to meet him. He backed the idea. I told him: ‘Invite me, and I will come over.’ He too expressed such a desire,” the pontific said on the Italian television.
At the same time Pope Francis said that the current international situation is not conducive to such a meeting. “Recently, the problem of the war (in Ukraine) and many other difficulties have pushed the subject of a meeting with the Pope to the back burner. Nevertheless, both of us want to meet and move forward,” he added.
The Uniates, or Greek Catholics, are part of the Roman Catholic Church; however, they conduct church services according to the Byzantine ritual which is identical to the Orthodox one. The Uniates’ positions are particularly strong in Western Ukraine which saw a number of serious conflicts between the Uniates and the Orthodox Christians in the 1990s.
Tensions in the relations between the Orthodox believers and the Uniates in Ukraine is among the factors which have for years prevented a meeting between the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Pope.
Source: Interfax

Τετάρτη 3 Δεκεμβρίου 2014

Francis and Bartholomew issue Resounding, Historic calls for Church Reunification



by Joshua J. McElwee, National Catholic Reporter
Pope Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leaders of the millennium-long separated Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, have issued resounding and historic calls for the reunification of their global communities.
Speaking to one another after a solemn Orthodox divine liturgy in St. George, an historic Christian center, Sunday, both leaders pledged to intensify efforts for full unity of their churches, saying such unity already exists among Christians dying in conflicts in the Middle East.
For his part, Francis made what appears to be the strongest and most encompassing call yet from a Catholic pontiff for unity. Seeking to assure Orthodox leaders that restoration of full communion between the churches would respect Eastern traditions, he said reunion would “not signify the submission of one to the other, or assimilation.”
“I want to assure each one of you here that, to reach the desired goal of full unity, the Catholic church does not intend to impose any conditions except that of the shared profession of faith,” said the pope.
Continuing, Francis said: “The one thing that the Catholic church desires, and that I seek as Bishop of Rome, ‘the church which presides in charity,’ is communion with the Orthodox churches.”
Bartholomew called the process for reunification of the two churches — started by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras with a meeting in Jerusalem 50 years ago — “irreversible” and said the two communities have no option but to join together.
“We no longer have the luxury of isolated action,” said Bartholomew. “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.”
The addresses by Bartholomew and Francis came on the last day of the pope’s stay in Turkey, which the pontiff has been visiting since Friday. They spoke to one another at the patriarchal church of St. George, where Bartholomew and the ecumenical patriarchate are centered.
The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, which together are estimated to have some 2 billion adherents, have been separated since the year 1054. Serious efforts for reconciliation between the traditions did not start until the 1964 meeting of Paul and Athenagoras, which eventually led to the opening of joint theological dialogues on reunification in 1980.
Francis and Bartholomew also issued a joint declaration following the liturgy Sunday, pledging “to intensify our efforts to promote the full unity of all Christians, and above all Catholics and Orthodox.”
But the strongest words of the day came in the leaders’ earlier speeches to one another, in which they both stressed the similarities between their persons and the focus of their communities and made poetic and serious commitments to seeking unity.
Saying that as a result of the Paul and Athenagoras meeting “the flow of history has literally changed direction,” Bartholomew said until then “cold love” between the churches had been rekindled and their desire to reunify “galvanized.”
“Thenceforth, the road to Emmaus has opened up before us – a road that, while perhaps lengthy and sometimes even rugged, is nonetheless irreversible,” said the patriarch.
Asking a series of rhetorical questions, Bartholomew then seemed to pick up on a key phrase of Francis’ papacy so far, that the church “cannot be self-centered, revolving around itself.”
“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?” asked Bartholomew. The church, he said, “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,” he continued.
“Even as we are preoccupied with our own contentions, the world experiences the fear of survival, the concern for tomorrow,” said the patriarch. “How can humanity survive tomorrow when it is severed today by diverse divisions, conflicts and animosities, frequently even in the name of God?”
“Nowadays many people place their hope on science; others on politics; still others in technology,” he continued. “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.”
“This is precisely why the path toward unity is more urgent than ever for those who invoke the name of the great Peacemaker,” said Bartholomew. “This is precisely why our responsibility as Christians is so great before God, humankind and history.”
Francis took a similar theme, saying that in today’s world “voices are being raised which we cannot ignore and which implore our churches to live deeply our identity as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
The pontiff mentioned particularly the voices of:
  • The poor, “who suffer from severe malnutrition, growing unemployment, the rising numbers of unemployed youth, and from increasing social exclusion.””As Christians we are called together to eliminate that globalization of indifference which today seems to reign supreme, while building a new civilization of love and solidarity,” he said.
  • Victims of conflicts, saying: “We hear this resoundingly here, because some neighboring countries are scarred by an inhumane and brutal war.””The cry of the victims of conflict urges us to move with haste along the path of reconciliation and communion between Catholics and Orthodox,” said the pope. Citing Paul VI’s encyclical Evangelii Nuntiandi, he asked: “Indeed, how can we credibly proclaim the message of peace which comes from Christ, if there continues to be rivalry and disagreement between us?”
  • Young people, many of whom “seek happiness solely in possessing material things and in satisfying their fleeting emotions.””New generations will never be able to acquire true wisdom and keep hope alive unless we are able to esteem and transmit the true humanism which comes from the Gospel and from the church’s age-old experience,” said Francis. “It is precisely the young who today implore us to make progress towards full communion.”
Bartholomew also took a personal tone with Francis, saying his brief papacy had “already manifested you in peoples’ 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,” Bartholomew told Francis. “You inspire trust in those who doubt, hope in those who despair, anticipation in those who expect a church that nurtures all people.”
Mentioning that the Orthodox are preparing for a Great Council of their bishops in 2016, Bartholomew also expressed hope that once the Orthodox and Catholics reunified they could host a Great Ecumenical Council together.
“Let us pray that, once full communion is restored, this significant and special day will also not be prolonged,” he said.
In their joint declaration together, the patriarch and pope also expressed “common concern” for “Iraq, Syria, and the whole Middle East.” While not mentioning specifically any particular group such as the Islamic State, the two lamented the estimated hundreds of thousands who have been forced to flee violence in the region.
“Many of our brothers and sisters are being persecuted and have been forced violently from their homes,” said the two leaders.
“It even seems that the value of human life has been lost, that the human person no longer matters and may be sacrificed to other interests,” they continued. “And, tragically, all this is met by the indifference of many.”
Because of the violence against Christians, they said, “there is also an ecumenism of suffering.”
“Just as the blood of the martyrs was a seed of strength and fertility for the church, so too the sharing of daily sufferings can become an effective instrument of unity,” they continued.
Bartholomew and Francis also called for renewed efforts at Christian-Muslim dialogue, saying “we also recognize the importance of promoting a constructive dialogue with Islam based on mutual respect and friendship.”
“Muslims and Christians are called to work together for the sake of justice, peace and respect for the dignity and rights of every person, especially in those regions where they once lived for centuries in peaceful coexistence and now tragically suffer together the horrors of war,” they said.
The two leaders also mentioned continued turmoil in Ukraine, where some 30 percent of the population is estimated to be Orthodox, calling on “all parties involved to pursue the path of dialogue and of respect for international law.”
Francis was to depart Istanbul for the Vatican Sunday afternoon, after meeting with a group of Syrian refugees living in Turkey after fleeing violence in their home country.
During his three-day trip to Turkey, in which Francis visited the capital of Ankara on Friday before heading to Istanbul Saturday, the pontiff also met with Turkish leaders, toured a mosque and the historic Hagia Sophia, and said Mass for Istanbul’s small Catholic community.
The pontiff’s visit to the continent-straddling nation was keenly watched both for its significance to ecumenical relations and to western outreach to the Middle East, where many have been the victim of violence from the Islamic State group.
Speaking to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Friday, Francis said military solutions cannot stop violence in the Middle East and instead called for a “solidarity of all believers” to counter religious fundamentalism.
To Istanbul’s small Catholic community Saturday, the pontiff called on the church to leave its “comfort zone” and to “throw off defensiveness” to overcome misunderstanding and division.

Experts skeptical about outlook for Patriarch-Pope meeting in near future



MOSCOW, December 2. /TASS/. A meeting between Pope Francis and Patriarch Kirill, of Moscow and all Russia, is unlikely to take place in the near future, contrary to repeated declarations of intent on both sides, Russian experts believe. They see the main reason in the anti-ecumenical sentiment of most Orthodox Christians in Russia.
Pope Francis says he holds the Russian Orthodox Church and its spiritual traditions in high esteem.
“The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Kirill and myself would like to hold a meeting and both of us are making preparations for it. We are moving in this direction with a sense of responsibility and good will and the determination to eliminate all obstructions,” Pope Francis told a TASS correspondent on board a papal plane on the way from Istanbul to Rome.

In Istanbul Pope Francis met with Patriarch Bartholomew I, of Constantinople, and called upon the Catholics and Orthodox Christians for unity.
The chief of the external relations department of the Russian Orthodox Church, Metropolitan Hilarion, has said that “today there exists a real interest on both sides in a fruitful bilateral dialogue,” so a meeting of the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church “is quite possible, but it requires thorough preparations.”
“I don’t see any reason why it could not take place during Pope Francis’s tenure,” he added.
The President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, told Radio Vatican in an interview he hoped the Pan-Orthodox Congress due in 2016 would promote greater unity among the Orthodox churches.
“This is very important, and it will be a significant step forward in advancing the dialogue between us and the Orthodox churches,” Koch said.
The possibility of a meeting between the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia and the Pope for decades, but it has not materialized to this day although the declarations of intent by the heads of both Christian confessions have been many. The Moscow Patriarchate is unhappy about proselytic efforts by the Catholic Church in the historically canonical territory of the Russian Orthodox Church and about the expansion of the Uniat Greco-Catholic Church in the West of Ukraine and theological disagreements.
Russian experts also remark that the Russian Orthodox Church leaders are determined to avoid annoying those many believers who dislike the idea of ecumenism in general and the Catholics in particular, not without certain historical reasons.
A prominent Orthodox theologian, Senior Deacon Andrey Kurayev, formulated the attitude back in 2013 in these words: “The Pope is free to come there where he is welcome by all – not only Catholics, but the secular society and the members of the country’s religious majority.”

At this point it is worth recalling a story I heard from a Russian guide in the Italian town of Bari, where the relics of St. Nicholas – one of Russia’s most revered saints, are kept inside the Basilica of San Nicola church. Groups of Russian pilgrims have regularly visited the wholly shrine over the past few years. “Our woman guest told me she was very curious how come the Catholics have the relics of our saint on their soil,” the guide said. “And another woman worshiper got very nervous at the entrance, hesitant whether it would be appropriate for her to get inside a Catholic church.”
The preparations for a meeting between the Pope and the Russian Patriarch have continued for years. They began long ago, during the tenures of a different patriarch and a different pontiff, but the event is unlikely in the foreseeable future, says the first deputy president of the Political Technologies Centre, Aleksei Makarkin. “The Russian Orthodox Church leaders are in a very complex situation,” Makarkin told TASS. “The Uniats in Western Ukraine are not the sole problem. The conservative wing of the parishioners and clerics of the Russian Orthodox Church are very suspicious and their attitude to Catholicism is negative. For the Orthodox public the word ecumenism is a negative label frequently used in intra-church disputes,” Makarkin said.
Catholics are in the habit of having contacts with Protestants, while in Russia many believers still see Catholicism as a threat and part of the globalization process.
Patrairch Kirill, just as his predecessor Alexy II, is obliged to respect the opinion of most parishioners.

“Prevention of a schism at home – this is the main reason why there has been no meeting between the Patriarch and the Pope to this day,” Makarkin believes.
“If one looks back on the church split in Russia in the 17th century, it happened for reasons that might seem insignificant by modern standards: minor changes to the texts in religious books and church services introduced contrary to the opinion of the flock,” Makarkin said. “This split has not been overcome to this day, though.”
He doubts that the Pan-Orthodox Congress of 2016 will be able to bring about a fundamental change to the relations between Catholics and Orthodox Christians, because all decisions require unanimity and the Russian Orthodox Church has the power to block any initiative it finds wrong or inappropriate.


Source: Tass Russian New Agency

Τρίτη 2 Δεκεμβρίου 2014

Διαθρησκειακή συνάντηση στο Βατικανό κατά της σύγχρονης δουλείας-Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders Against Modern Slavery

 

 

Kοινή Χάρτα για την απάλειψη της σύγχρονης σκλαβιάς και της εμπορίας ανθρώπων ως το 2020, υπέγραψαν σε ειδική τελετή στο Βατικανό πνευματικοί ηγέτες των μεγάλων θρησκειών, με τη συμμετοχή του Πάπα Φραγκίσκου.

Εκ μέρους του Οικουμενικού Πατριάρχη Βαρθολομαίου, την χάρτα κατά της δουλεμπορίας υπέγραψε ο μητροπολίτης Γαλλίας Εμμανουήλ. Ο Οικουμενικός Πατριάρχης απέστειλε επίσης μαγνητοσκοπημένο μήνυμα για τη στήριξη της πρωτοβουλίας.



Την κοινή αυτή διακήρυξη υπέγραψαν επίσης ο αρχιεπίσκοπος του Καντέρμπουρι Τζάστιν Γουέλμπι, εκ μέρους των αγγλικανών, εκπρόσωποι των ινδουιστών και των βουδιστών, ο αρχιραβίνος Ντάβιντ Ρόζεν και οι μουσουλμάνοι λόγιοι αγιατολάχ Μοχάμαντ Τάκι αλ Μονταρέσι και Σέιχ Μπασίρ Χουσάιν Ελ Τάγιεμπ.

Στόχος της πρωτοβουλίας  είναι να καταβληθεί κάθε δυνατή προσπάθεια για να απαλειφθεί η εμπορία ανθρώπων, η εκμετάλλευση της πορνείας, το εμπόριο οργάνων, η καταναγκαστική εργασία και κάθε άλλη σύγχρονη μορφή σκλαβιάς, η οποία παραβιάζει την αρχή βάσει της οποίας όλοι οι άνθρωποι πρέπει να χαίρουν της ίδιας ελευθερίας και να έχουν την ίδια αξιοπρέπεια.

Οι θρησκευτικοί ηγέτες στην κοινή τους αυτή διακήρυξη, τονίζουν ότι θα πράξουν ό,τι είναι δυνατόν για να εμπνεύσουν την πνευματική και πρακτική δράση  των θρησκειών και των ανθρώπων καλής θελήσεως, σε όλο τον κόσμο, ώστε να μπορέσει να ξεριζωθεί η σύγχρονη σκλαβιά.

"We pledge ourselves here today to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored."


Rome,   


Here is the Vatican-provided translation of the Joint Declaration of Religious Leaders Against Modern Slavery:

We, the undersigned, are gathered here today for a historic initiative to inspire spiritual and practical action by all global faiths and people of good will everywhere to eradicate modern slavery across the world by 2020 and for all time.I n the eyes of God*, each human being is a free person, whether girl, boy, woman or man, and is destined to exist for the good of all in equality and fraternity. Modern slavery, in terms of human trafficking, forced labour and prostitution, organ trafficking, and any relationship that fails to respect the fundamental conviction that all people are equal and have the same freedom and dignity, is a crime against humanity. We pledge ourselves here today to do all in our power, within our faith communities and beyond, to work together for the freedom of all those who are enslaved and trafficked so that their future may be restored. Today we have the opportunity, awareness, wisdom, innovation and technology to achieve this human and moral imperative.

*The Grand Imam of Al Azhar uses the word “religions”.

Pope Francis

Her Holiness Mata Amritanandamayi (Amma)

Venerable Bhikkhuni Thich Nu Chan Khong (representing Zen Master Thích Nhất Hạnh)

The Most Ven. Datuk K Sri Dhammaratana, Chief High Priest of Malaysia

Rabbi Dr. Abraham Skorka

Rabbi Dr. David Rosen

Dr. Abbas Abdalla Abbas Soliman, Undersecretary of State of Al Azhar Alsharif (representing Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar)

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi al-Modarresi

Sheikh Naziyah Razzaq Jaafar, Special advisor of Grand Ayatollah (representing Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Basheer Hussain al Najafi

Sheikh Omar Abboud

Most Revd and Right Hon Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury

His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel of France (representing His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew)






Sourse: Zenit

Δευτέρα 1 Δεκεμβρίου 2014

Πάπας Φραγκίσκος: Έκκληση για Συνάντηση με τον Πατριάρχη Ρωσίας





Ο Πάπας Φραγκίσκος  έχει προβεί εδώ και αρκετό διάστημα σε ενέργειες έκκλησης συναντήσεως ή εμβάθυνσης των σχέσεων της Ρωμαιοκαθολικής Εκκλησίας με την Ορθόδοξη. Στην Ομιλία του στον Πατριαρχικό Ναό του Αγίου Γεωργίου, ανέφερε χαρακτηριστικά: «το μόνο πράγμα που η Καθολική Εκκλησία επιθυμεί και εγώ αναζητώ ως Επίσκοπος Ρώμης" της Εκκλησίας της προκαθημένης της αγάπης", είναι η κοινωνία με τις Ορθόδοξες Εκκλησίες. Μια τέτοια κοινωνία θα είναι πάντα καρπός της αγάπης «που εκκέχυται εν ταις καρδίαις ημών δια πνέυματος αγίου του δοθέντος ημίν» (Ρωμ 5,5), αγάπης αδελφικής που δείνει έκφραση στο πνευματικό και υπερβατικό δεσμό που μας ενώνει ως μαθητές του Κυρίου».

Χαρακτηριστική περίπτωση τυγχάνει η πραγματοποίηση μιας συνάντησης με το Πατριάρχη Ρωσίας κ. Κύριλλο. Ο ίδιος ο Φραγκίσκος αναφέρει στους δημοσιογράφους στο αεροπλάνο κατα την επιστροφή απο την Κωνσταντινούπολη: ''σε οποιοδήποτε μέρος, και ακόμα και απο το τηλέφωνο να μου πεί, θα πάω και έχει επίσης και ο Πατριάρχης Κύριλλος την ίδια επιθυμία'', σε οποιαδήποτε στιγμή την συνάντηση αυτή. Για τον ίδιο οι συγκρούσεις και οι διωγμοί των χριστιανών στη Μέση Ανατολή, είναι ανάγκη για μια ποιο στενότερη σχέση μεταξύ των δύο Εκκλησιών: «..είμαστε ήδη εν πορεία προς την πλήρη κοινωνία και ήδη μπορούμε να βιώσουμε σημαντικά σημεία μιας πραγματικής ενότητας, έστω και αν αυτή είναι ακόμα μερική», σημείωσε ιδιαίτερα.
Η εναπόθεση στην συμφωνία και τα αποτελέσματα του Θεολογικού Διαλόγου, δεν ξέρει και ο ίδιος πότε και άν οδηγήσουν ποτέ στην ενότητα στο άμεσο χρονικό διάστημα. Εκείνο που χρήζει ιδιαίτερης προσοχής, τόνισε ο Πάπας Φραγκίσκος είναι η συνεργασία για την επίλυση των σύγχρονων προβλημάτων. 


Lombardi: Pope and Patriarch providing inspiration for unity





(Vatican Radio) Sunday morning in Istanbul was dedicated to ecumenism with the celebration of the Divine Liturgy in the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the signing of the Joint Declaration by Pope Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and then lunch in which the two leaders participated together with their respective delegations.  
Vatican Radio’s Philippa Hitchen, who is travelling in Turkey with the Pope, spoke briefly to Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Director of the Holy See Press Office about the ongoing push for unity.
Father Lombardi says that “Every time you pray together you do something that is very important, because we believe that unity is a gift of God” and – he says – “if you don’t pray very much you will never succeed in achieving unity”.
“I think in the atmosphere and also in the tone of the speech there was the expression of a very strong will to go forward” he continued.
Lombardi says that these two leaders – Pope Francis and the Patriarch Bartholomew are really willing to go forward and “I think they are trying to force the resistances’ that be, and also to encourage the progress of reflection and theological studies” he says.
Lombardi points out that theological reflection can take a long time, but one can press it to go faster if there is really is the inspiration and the mutual will to listen and to find solutions. “In this sense there is a very important impulse driven forward by these two men” he says.
And he says there are also other steps that can be taken, like the work of the Theological Commission the preparation of the Pan orthodox Council.
Lombardi concludes that even the crisis in the world today has awakened a new common sensibility giving us “many occasions in which we can go forward ecumenically”.
 Source:vatican radio

Pope seeks meeting with Russian Orthodox leader



Associated Press

ABOARD THE PAPAL PLANE (AP) — Pope Francis said Sunday he is ready to go anywhere, anytime to meet with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church — even while acknowledging that he doubts the day will ever come that Catholic and Orthodox theologians will agree to end the 1,000-year schism.

Francis spoke to reporters Sunday en route home from Turkey, where he made a remarkable gesture of deference to the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians by bowing down to receive his blessing. Francis also assured Turkey’s Orthodox community that the Catholic Church wouldn’t force the Orthodox to give up their patrimony on the path to unity.

Asked about prospects of meeting with Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Francis said both wanted to meet.

“I said I’ll go wherever you want — you call me and I’ll go. And he also has the same desire,” Francis said. “But with the problems of the war, the poor guy has so many problems, so a meeting with the pope will have to wait. But we do want to meet. We want to go forward.”

Earlier Sunday in Istanbul, Francis and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I issued a joint statement saying they were praying for peace in Ukraine “while we call upon all parties involved to pursue the path of dialogue and of respect for international law in order to bring an end to the conflict and allow all Ukrainians to live in harmony.”

The Russian Orthodox Church has largely backed Russian President Vladimir Putin’s position on Ukraine.

The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in 1054 over differences on the primacy of the papacy. The two churches have grown closer together in recent decades, but long-running tensions in Russia between Orthodox faithful and Catholics in Russia prevented Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and before him St. John Paul II from achieving their long-sought dreams of a meeting with the Russian patriarch.

Francis said that Catholics and Orthodox are on a path toward unity that must be traveled. “We’re on this path, but we must wait until the theologians agree among themselves. We’ll never get to that day, I assure you. I am skeptical.”

But he said individuals — not just theologians — can work for unity, sharing their experiences, doing charity work together, praying together and working together.

“Unity is a path, a path that we must take and one that we must take together,” he said.
 Source: http://orthodoxmag.