If you haven't yet read the Ecumenical Patriarch's homily at the Holy Sepulchre, here's a link to it as reported by the Catholic news service Zenit.
In my view, the article got it exactly right in highlighting this quote from the homily:
Lastly, this sacred Tomb invites us to shed another fear that is perhaps
the most prevalent in our modern age: namely, fear of the other, fear
of the different, fear of the adherent of another faith, another
religion, or another confession.
Here in Finland we see these fears every day. The just-completed European parliamentary elections have shown us the power of fear of the other and the different. The Ecumenical Patriarch's homily speaks directly to us here in Finland. He challenges us as Orthodox Christians to give our society clear, courageous examples of freedom from these fears and freedom for living courageously in love towards all in our society.
27 May 2014
Acting with boldness
The conclusion of yesterday's post may have been a little opaque. ;-) What I mean is that I don't think that we must wait until God brings down the curtain on human history for the reconciliation of the churches to happen. I am convinced that God wants our reconciliation to happen now, not later. At the same time, that healing of divisions, hurts, and hatreds also has a larger meaning beyond the church. It would be a sign of God's loving work of reconciling the world to Godself in Christ.
But we must hear and act with boldness. Are we Orthodox able to do this on the macro level, so to speak? I don't think so. The local Orthodox churches, in their identity as public institutions in the world, are at this time incapable of such action. I would love to be wrong about this.
As you know, dear readers, there is more to the church's life than its functions as a public institution. I'm not talking here about some kind of ecclesiological dualism that divides the church into "visible" and "invisible." I mean simply that each of us who belong to Christ has the obligation to act for reconciliation boldly and with courage, in our own person. If it doesn't happen there, it won't happen anywhere else.
But we must hear and act with boldness. Are we Orthodox able to do this on the macro level, so to speak? I don't think so. The local Orthodox churches, in their identity as public institutions in the world, are at this time incapable of such action. I would love to be wrong about this.
As you know, dear readers, there is more to the church's life than its functions as a public institution. I'm not talking here about some kind of ecclesiological dualism that divides the church into "visible" and "invisible." I mean simply that each of us who belong to Christ has the obligation to act for reconciliation boldly and with courage, in our own person. If it doesn't happen there, it won't happen anywhere else.
26 May 2014
Ecumenical Patriarch and Pope Francis in the Holy Land
From the very beginning of his papacy, Pope Francis has demonstrated a fundamental openness to Orthodoxy. This openness has come in the form of large public gestures such as his insistence on the title "Bishop of Rome," the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch at his investiture, and now in his meeting the Ecumenical Patriarch in the Holy Land and issuing with him a joint statement declaring their commitment to the reconciliation of Catholics and Orthodox begun by their predecessors fifty years ago.
As many observers have noted, Pope Francis can be seen simply as continuing the commitment to the reconciliation of the churches in the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. At the same time, such things as the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch at Francis's investiture could also indicate a desire to deepen the Catholic-Orthodox relationship in new ways.
When St. John Paul II died I wondered if the moment for Orthodox-Catholic reconciliation had passed. He had done more to address the "healing of memories" between the two churches than any pope since the Great Schism. I think it's fair to say that Orthodox responses to his reaching out to them were lukewarm. Yes, there were isolated exceptions. However, St. John Paul II died with his vision for Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation unrealized.
Although his papacy is still relatively young, I think it is already possible to say that with Francis we Orthodox have another chance to respond boldly, courageously, and creatively to God's call to reconciliation. Yes, there is the ongoing theological dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics, to which both Bartolomeos and Francis recommitted their churches in a joint communique issued on 25 May.
But reconciliation involves so much more than dogmatic agreement. Is there scope for a groundbreaking gesture by either side on, say, the fraught question of papal primacy? Yes: God is capable of surprises! However, sometimes when I look at the contemporary theological dialogues between Catholics and Orthodox, I find it hard not to side with Soloviev and say that the unity of the churches will not happen until the end of the world is at hand.
In the end, though, I can't embrace Soloviev's view that the unity of the church has to do with apocalyptic eschatology. Instead, I would say it has to do the kind of eschatology we find in the Gospel according to John, the gospel in which we find Christ's prayer that his disciples be one. That is, the unity of the church is something Christ intends for us now, as the fruit of his Resurrection. At the same time, the unity of the church also has profoundly to do with the end of the world. It points to the reconciliation of all the world with God in Christ, and it gives the world a sign of the defeat of hatred and separation. It is both realized and apocalyptic.
As many observers have noted, Pope Francis can be seen simply as continuing the commitment to the reconciliation of the churches in the pontificates of St. John Paul II and Benedict XVI. At the same time, such things as the presence of the Ecumenical Patriarch at Francis's investiture could also indicate a desire to deepen the Catholic-Orthodox relationship in new ways.
When St. John Paul II died I wondered if the moment for Orthodox-Catholic reconciliation had passed. He had done more to address the "healing of memories" between the two churches than any pope since the Great Schism. I think it's fair to say that Orthodox responses to his reaching out to them were lukewarm. Yes, there were isolated exceptions. However, St. John Paul II died with his vision for Catholic-Orthodox reconciliation unrealized.
Although his papacy is still relatively young, I think it is already possible to say that with Francis we Orthodox have another chance to respond boldly, courageously, and creatively to God's call to reconciliation. Yes, there is the ongoing theological dialogue between Orthodox and Catholics, to which both Bartolomeos and Francis recommitted their churches in a joint communique issued on 25 May.
But reconciliation involves so much more than dogmatic agreement. Is there scope for a groundbreaking gesture by either side on, say, the fraught question of papal primacy? Yes: God is capable of surprises! However, sometimes when I look at the contemporary theological dialogues between Catholics and Orthodox, I find it hard not to side with Soloviev and say that the unity of the churches will not happen until the end of the world is at hand.
In the end, though, I can't embrace Soloviev's view that the unity of the church has to do with apocalyptic eschatology. Instead, I would say it has to do the kind of eschatology we find in the Gospel according to John, the gospel in which we find Christ's prayer that his disciples be one. That is, the unity of the church is something Christ intends for us now, as the fruit of his Resurrection. At the same time, the unity of the church also has profoundly to do with the end of the world. It points to the reconciliation of all the world with God in Christ, and it gives the world a sign of the defeat of hatred and separation. It is both realized and apocalyptic.
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