Is it a sign from the « Holy and substantial and life-giving and indivisible Trinity » [Byzantine Matins, Orthros] that we are gathered today to recall and celebrate the encounter of Pope Paul VI, head of the Roman Catholic Church with the Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople ? Great Lent has just started for all the Christians who live in Jerusalem, the Holy Land till the farthest places of the world. The Orthodox continuous prayer states : « Κύριε Ἰησοῦ Χριστέ, Υἱὲ τοῦ Θεοῦ, ἐλέησόν με τὸν ἁμαρτωλόν/ Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, the sinner ». We all turn to the « Only One Lord » (stanza repeated during Great Lent) to highlight the significant meeting that took place in the City of the Resurrection of the Lord and at the Mount of Olives, looking ahead of the Eschaton, the Second Coming of the Messiah.
We just celebrated, in 2013, the 1700th anniversary
of the Edict of Milan that so meaningfully reminds us of the official
recognition and tolerance of the Christian faith in the Roman Empire. We
are thus called to face history and cope with its length, its depth.
When John XXIII has been
elected as the Bishop of Rome, Patriarch Athenagoras sent his envoy,
Archbishop Iakovos of the Archdiocese of America, to greet the new Pope
at Rome. This was the first contact of this nature since May 1547.
The Eastern Orthodox Church is essentially inspired
by the power and the communion of the Holy Spirit. Patriarch
Athenagoras of Constantinople heard of the pilgrimage that Pope Paul VI
intended to do to Jerusalem and the Holy Land fifty years ago, namely in
1963, as the Second Council of the Vatican was on its way and would be
closed on December 8, 1965.
The anecdote is known : the Ecumenical Patriarch
decided to come to Jerusalem «to say 'Good Morning' to my beloved
brother the Pope. You must remember that it is five hundred years since
we have spoken to each other!", he declared. At the Mount of Olives,
they were welcomed by Patriarch Benediktos of Jerusalem, who had
participated in the three sessions of the Pan-Orthodox Meetings at
Rhodos.
The three heads of the Churches met on January 5th,
1964, on the eve of the Eastern Orthodox Feast of the Nativity. « We
did achieve something positive today » the Ecumenical Patriarch
declared.
The journey to the Holy Land gave a special impulse
to the Churches and this concerns all of the denominations that are
present in Jerusalem at the present. Looking backward into the past
fifty years, it is possible to say that the slow reconnection between
the Churches inside of the Roman Empire of the East and the West rose
from the dramatic events that had happened throughout 900 years of
estrangement, in particular after the two World Wars.
During the Second Vatican Council, the Church of
Rome positively considered the Eastern Orthodox traditions, especially
that of the Greek and Hellenistic sources that have constantly been
impacting the initial Church of Jerusalem and the nearby original
Pentarchy, the five first Patriarchates. Today, Constantinople,
Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem have been expanding all over the
Earth. In 1962-65, the Church of Rome reflected upon the importance of
different matters that have always been vivid in the Orthodox
Traditions : the recognition of the Local Churches, the role of the
Liturgies (Invocation to the Holy Spirit, Communion to both Body and
Blood of the Lord during the Eucharist), the discipline of the Church
(diaconate, role of the lay people), the Christian sources of the
Fathers of the Church, the use of the local languages, the icons.
The most important decision was taken on December
7th, 1965, with the lifting the anathemas dating of 1054, simultaneously
decreed by Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Rome. In this
respect, Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople acted as the « Primus
inter pares » of the Orthodox Churches at a time when most of these
Churches were not free or underground. Many things have been launched
after this « encounter in the name of Love ». They will further be
discussed as new times have shown only 20 years ago and the
re-deployment of the Eastern Orthodox Churches throughout the world.
Fifty years have passed. A glimpse of time and
still… On October 26, 1965, the relics of Saint Sabbas the Sanctified (–
a contemporary of Saint Benedict – ) the founder of the Palestinian
monasticism were returned to Patriarch Benediktos of Jerusalem by Pope
Paul VI. It caused a huge movement of joy and profound emotion among the
Christians of Jerusalem. The atmosphere was radiant and exceptional. On
November 12, 1965, the body of the Saint came to rest at Mar Sabbas
Monastery that he had initiated in 483 A.D. It has also a strong
« liturgical » meaning because the monastic Typikon of the « Byzantine
rite » as defined by Mar Sabbas became the primordial Church Order of
the Jerusalem Prayer Services that progressively spread among all the
Eastern Churches.
It is quite important that we can be present these
days in Jerusalem on the wake of the visit that Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomaios of Constantinople and Pope Francis of Rome will make to
the Church of the Resurrection, hosted by Patriarch Theophilos of
Jerusalem, the spiritual son and successor of Patriarch Benediktos of
Jerusalem.
(text of my "lecture" for the opening of the Franciscan exhibition on the the 50th anniversary of the visit of Pope Paul VI and his encounter with Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople at Jerusalem, with Patriarch Benediktos of Jerusalem).
Archpriest Alexander Winogradsky
Jerusalem, March 6, 2014
.jpg)
.jpg)
