AP News: Syria Christians hold first prayer in years in ravaged church

Agence France-Presse / via INQUIRER

Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch, Ignatius Aphrem II, holds mass at the heavily damaged Syriac Orthodox church of St. Mary in Syria’s eastern city of Deir Ezzor on February 3, 2018. AFP

DEIR EZZOR, Syria — A solemn group of Christians held their first prayer service in years on Saturday in the ravaged church of St. Mary in Syria’s eastern Deir Ezzor city.

Stones, strips of wire, papers and remnants of rockets were strewn across the church floor, and bright sunlight streamed in from the blown-out windows.

Holding thin white candles under pockmarked archways, the congregation of less than two dozen worshippers relished their first service in nearly six years.

Fighting has gripped Deir Ezzor since rebels captured part of the city in 2012, and grew worse when the Islamic State jihadist group shot to prominence there in 2014.

Syrian troops recaptured the entire city in November and residents have slowly begun to trickle back.

Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete is in Crisis?

Afraid of being too friendly with Rome, Pan-Orthodox Council may not push through... Let's keep praying for our separated Orthodox brethren that they may soon recognize the Bishop of Rome as our 'Apostle Peter' in our present generation. -CD2000


Article Source: Catholic Herald
By Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith
Posted Thursday, 16 Jun 2016

Deep fears about modernity lie behind the unravelling of the Pan-Orthodox Council

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, left, and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill (AP Photo)

For some even the slightest change in relations with Rome will end up with tradition being swept away

The fate of the Pan-Orthodox Council, which is due to start its deliberations in Crete this Sunday, hangs in the balance. At present it seems that the Bulgarians will definitely not be there, neither will the Antiochenes, and it looks as if the Serbs, Georgians and the Russians are pulling out as well. There is a useful summary of what is going on in this article at the Guardian website.

The trouble, for us outsiders, is that it is very difficult to understand why this is happening. The Council has been over five decades in preparation, so the idea that it needs more time to prepare really seems unreasonable. Again, the Bulgarian objections to the seating plan look like a pretext. Again, the objection to the way the documents of the Council were drawn up, being made now, when the way they were drawn up was supposedly approved by all parties, seems suspect at this late stage. But one thing is clear: five out of the 14 Orthodox churches do not want to meet. And one of those five, Russia, is the biggest of the Churches, which means that a meeting, if it does take place, will hardly be able to speak for all Orthodox.

But why don’t they want to meet? Trawling round the many Orthodox websites, what emerges, it seems to me, is a fear that the Council, if it meets, will open some sort of floodgate to modernity, which will result in the sweeping away of tradition. In fact, as observers have noted, the tone and content of the documents is extremely conservative, clearly designed to calm any such fears; but the slightest hint of change – and in particular rapprochement with Rome, and ecumenism in general – is clearly enough to make many parties cry halt even before the Council begins.

Certain Orthodox Churches are happy to be ecumenical, such as that of Constantinople, but this is clearly not shared by Bulgaria or Georgia, or the monks of Mount Athos. Of course, ecumenism is an “iceberg issue”, only one 10th of which is above the surface, and which masks much deeper matters at stake.

Incidentally, at the Second Vatican Council, Archbishop Lefebvre’s supporters made a great play of defending the traditional liturgy, as their headline stance, but the real problem for them was the declaration on religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae. Similarly, the radical Orthodox traditionalists are known as Old Calendarists, but the Julian calendar issue is the rallying cry for a deeper concern with ecumenism, which they regard as the great “pan-heresy”.

For the Orthodox Churches ecumenism is the great divider: for some a good and necessary thing, for others, the thin end of the wedge, leading to a collapse of tradition.

At this point it may be useful to remember why the Catholic Church and others embarked on our current ecumenical endeavours. The first reason was theological, because Christ founded only one Church, and wanted that Church to be one. So, to work for unity is to do the work of the Lord. The second reason was because divided churches do not give a coherent witness to the Lord. And thirdly, when faced with so many external threats, such as atheism and secularisation, the various Christian churches needed to unite against the common threat rather than squabble amongst themselves.

These reasons have not gone away in the last few decades, indeed they have become more pressing, and to their number has been added Islamic terrorism in the Middle East. The ancient but numerically tiny Orthodox Churches in the Middle East now face extinction, thanks to the threat of ISIS.

That the 14 autocephalous Churches cannot even meet does not bode well for their co-operation with each other, let alone with Catholics, in the face of all these threats, and hardly gives a good example to the world of Christian harmony and charity. Now is clearly not the time to be quarrelling over seating plans, rather it is the time for getting ready for mission to the world.

Of course we have been here before. There were many reasons for the fall of the Byzantine Empire, but one contributing factor was the way the Empire fatally weakened itself through internal religious strife, rather than facing the external threats of the time. History, sadly, seems to be repeating itself.

Orthodox Christians celebrate Easter

Pope Francis Visiting Refugees in Lesbos, Greece

Evading dialogue with Catholic Church is wrong – Patriarch Kirill

Source: Pravmir.com through InterFax

Cooperation with “the largest Christian Church,” the Catholic one, could help protect Christians and prompt the revival of Christianity “on global scale,” the church leader said.

Moscow, December 14, Interfax - Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia sees dialogue with the Catholic Church as an opportunity to reduce persecutions of Christians across the world.

“Evading dialogue with the Catholic Church now would be wrong: we defend the same values both in public and in private life. We need to establish such cooperation in the face of the non-Christian world as would enable us to multiply our own forces. Including what, I think, deserves positive treatment – our shared position on the situation in the Middle East,” the Russian Orthodox Church leader said at a meeting with representatives of the Youth Public Chamber and the Chamber of Young Legislators.

The ousting of Christians from the region where their “whole villages are being either slaughtered or chased out” will lead to imminent radicalization of the Muslim population.

“The presence of Christians in Islamic states forced their leaders to try to strike balances and provide rights for minorities; but if there are no Christians, there will no such concern either,” Patriarch Kirill said.

Christians are becoming a minority in the world: as a result of serious conflicts in Pakistan, in Asia and Africa, with one Christian dying in this world every hour for his convictions, while in the West “church and religion are being ousted from public life” under the influence of “ruling liberal doctrines,” Patriarch Kirill said.

Cooperation with “the largest Christian Church,” the Catholic one, could help protect Christians and prompt the revival of Christianity “on global scale,” the church leader said.

Nevertheless, cooperation cannot abolish the theological differences between the two churches, he said. Even assuming that such differences suddenly disappear and “theologians will sign everything,” even that is unlikely to change anything, because such agreements will have to be accepted by everyone who considers themselves an Orthodox Christian, and that is highly unlikely, Patriarch Kirill said.

In the Middle of a Triangle – Conversion Story of Najib Nasr

Conversion Story from COMING HOME NETWORK

I was baptized Greek Orthodox (after my father) in Lebanon, where I lived the first 60 years of my life. My mother was an Evangelical Christian on account of the American missionaries who came to Lebanon in the early nineteenth century. I read the New Testament once in my teens and thought I knew everything. I ended up living somewhat in ignorance for decades.

I lived a secular existence, going to church only on feast days. I was in the choir at the Evangelical church, but only in the summertime when we would be at our summer place in the mountains overlooking Beirut. That was as far as it went on the religious side. I did lead a chaste life, though, guided by my memory of what I had retained of the Word of God.

My father was an Arabic and history teacher at a boarding school who was home on weekends. My mother was a music teacher and was in Saudi Arabia at the time, tutoring the daughter of the crown prince. The younger of my two sisters took care of me.

Taking flight

Without much guidance, I was a collage freshman dropout from the American University of Beirut (AUB). During my freshman year (1956-57), my physics class was at the School of Agriculture building and I was by the window overlooking the beautiful football field. Planes, including jet fighters, would pass over the radio beacon situated at the AUB swimming beach on their final approach to land at Beirut International Airport. That did it. From that point on, I wanted to become a pilot.

I could not afford to pursue training abroad, so it was a long, pioneering endeavor, waiting for the ground school to open and for the Aero Club of Lebanon (ACL) to commence operations. I started flying in 1961 and was the first made-in-Lebanon, private and commercial pilot; all other pilots studied abroad.

I borrowed on my life policy and got my Assistant Instructor’s Rating from the UK. I later passed my Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) written and flying exams through the American Embassy in Beirut and got all my FAA licenses and eventually took over ACL operations. The ACL was a dead end. By then, I had trained one of my students as a flight instructor and he succeeded me when I joined Middles East Airlines (MEA), next door, as an airline pilot. It was a 27-year rewarding career. I flew Sud Aviation Caravelle 6N, Boeing 707, and 720 and Airbus A310 jet aircraft. I was a Route Training Captain for Trainee First Officers and for Trainee Captains.

I joined MEA in 1972 and married my charming wife, Therese, in 1975. She is a Maronite Catholic. There are twenty-three rites in the Catholic Church; one Roman rite and twenty-two Eastern rite churches. The Maronite Church never split with Rome. [For more information on the different rites in the Catholic Church we suggest you go to EWTN Catholic Rites and churches —Ed.]

Caught in a religious triangle

I started reading the Bible in a serious manner some five years before my mandatory retirement at age sixty. Looking back now, all along, the Holy Spirit has been preparing me. First, I had Mr. Yorkie, a talented American for an English teacher during high school. I turned out to be good at English. I read American books extensively. Then again, my experience as an instructor and the resumption of the reading of Scripture all contributed to what was to come and helped me to reformulate my sense of justice. Philippians 1:6 was being applied in my life: “I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus” (I am quoting from the New American Bible for best rendering). Anyway, I could not remember where things were in the Bible, so I gradually developed an 18-page, selected Bible readings index that is unlike any other around.

Circumstances of war and work requirements gradually squeezed us out of Lebanon, and we ended up in America. My family left ten years before I retired, while I left just weeks after retiring in 1999. My second conversion took place in those last weeks. It was the Sunday after Easter, as I attended my first confession ever, during which, without crying, tears came streaming down my face at the thought of lost time away from God. (My first conversion was a pledge I wrote on a Protestant pamphlet a year earlier.)

In the United States, we would attend Sunday Mass at the Roman Catholic Church near our place in Los Angeles or at Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon Maronite Church. Weekdays, I would listen to Protestant pastors on the radio while waiting to pick up one of our three daughters from college. I saw inconsistency in their preaching and, when I realized that there were 33,000+ denominations/churches — to borrow from my training as a pilot — I applied full brakes, like there was not enough runway left! Matthew 16:18-19 figured prominently as the main factor, especially, since Jesus uttered the word “church” in the singular. In my simplicity, I believed Him. Did I do wrong? No way (Matthew 10:16)!

My father was Orthodox, my mother Protestant, and my wife a Catholic. I was in the middle of a religious triangle, and I did not like it one bit. Now, where in the name of heaven was God’s Church? I started a serious search for Her.

Searching for the one Church

The process was time consuming. The hurdle was the stagnation that followed after realizing that there wasn’t enough time in this life to experience all 33,000 Protestant/evangelical/non-denominational entities. After a (Holy Spirit) while, the Catholic Church became my target for investigation, since Peter was in the middle of things there. Of course, no entity can survive without a visible head and an organization to support it. Imagine two first officers flying a jetliner on a regular basis! I reasoned that if we need a head to institute an entity, then we do need a head to keep it going. And Jesus had already chosen to appoint Peter with authority over the Church.

I stumbled on typology (a study that examines the way in which Christian beliefs are prefigured or symbolized by people, places, events, or things in the Old Testament). Jesus employed typology: the “keys” in Matthew 16:19 which refer back to Isaiah 22:22; and Peter also: “let another take his position of overseer” (Acts 1:20 and Psalm 109:8). Next was Apostolic Succession through the laying on of hands: (Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 34:9; and Hebrews 6:1-2; 1 Timothy 4:14; 2 Timothy 1:6).

I read the works of St. Ignatius of Antioch. He was the first on record to have called the Church, the “catholic Church.” So, how was this man connected to the Church that Jesus Christ instituted? The answer was that he was the disciple of the Apostle John and was ordained by Peter. That was the connection that cannot be repudiated, considering that he lived for some 30 to 35 years concurrently with John.

When I perceived that Peter did not write about his travels, nor did John, I saw how God wanted Paul’s endeavors to stand out, but only as a sampling of what was going on. The other Apostles were doing the same. Therefore, I could not expect St. Ignatius to be mentioned in the Bible, nor his colleague in the “School of John,” St. Polycarp. St. Ignatius was the equivalent of Timothy and Titus, an apostolic man whose words help us discover the truth. By God’s providence, we have his writings here with us; his seven letters. [To read these letters, you may do a simple Internet search for “seven letters of St. Ignatius” or purchase a copy of Ignatius of Antioch and Polycarp of Symrna: A New Translation and Theological Commentary by Dr. Kenneth Howell, available at www.chresources.com—Ed.]

The Eucharist is present in his early writings (Letter to the Smyrnians 8:1-2); the position of the priest is also present — the Bible mentions the bishop, the deacon, and presbyters (Letter to the Smyrnians 7:1); the Blessed Virgin Mary is present (Letter to the Ephesians 19:1; and Tralles 3:1); the status of the bishop is present (Letter to Trallians 3:1); and, words concerning schisms and reverts are present (Letter to the Philadelphians 3:2).

Again, that did it. When I converted, I had to get my baptismal certificate, because the Catholic Church, in conformity with the Scriptures, recognizes only one baptism and accepts Orthodox and Protestant baptisms if performed in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:5). I had no one except my (now deceased) sister in Lebanon to secure a copy of my baptismal certificate. She was much older than I am and would be very upset to know that I was converting. In the Middle East, this thing was just not done. I told her I wanted to be under the Pope. She misunderstood me. The word Baba in Arabic means Pope or father.

The Maronite Catholic Church

I chose to be a Maronite because I considered that the Maronites saved Lebanese Christianity by coming from Northern Syria and evangelizing the rugged Lebanese mountains, thus, eradicating the well entrenched organized pagan worship there, left over by the Christians who had only evangelized the coastline. With access to their ships, the Phoenicians could have spread their religion far and wide. Lebanon meant a lot to the Maronites, and I am of Lebanese descent. It was only natural for me to want to choose the Maronite Church.

Then again, the Maronite liturgy is very rich. There are prayers in a poetic setting, shedding light on the Scriptures from a different angle. The liturgy requires continuous active participation by the faithful. The Liturgy (the Mass) is part of the sacred oral Word (which was there plenty before the written Word). Thus, one gets insights into the revelations of the Holy Spirit to the Apostles. If one pays attention, one comes to realize, for example, that Mary, not just Joseph, is from the House of David; and that Jesus actually laid hands on the Apostles, minutes before His Ascension and did not just raise His hands to bless them, as we may imagine referring to Luke 24:50.

Here in America, I found myself engaged in Catholic apologetics, trying to convert my Protestant cousins back home, in England, in Australia, and here in America. Not succeeding there, I ended up evangelizing Catholics. I wrote numerous apologetics articles in our quarterly magazine and I now give a monthly, 5-minute apologetics presentation to members of our Knights of Columbus council at the Roman Catholic Church near our home in Los Angeles, where I am the sacristan for the Vigil Mass. I also attend daily Mass (Liturgy) at Our Lady of Mt. Lebanon Church.

Moscow Patriarchate’s “non-interference” to a possible Serbian Orthodox invitation for the pope

by Nina Achmatova 

Metropolitan Hilarion reiterates Moscow’s position but, for months, rumours say the Russian Orthodox Church is opposed to Benedict XVI’s presence in Niš in 2013 to mark the anniversary of Constantine’s edict because it could provide an opportunity for a meeting between the Russian patriarch and the pontiff.

Moscow (AsiaNews) – The Moscow Patriarchate is trying to stop the Serbian Orthodox Church from inviting Pope Benedict XVI to celebrations in 2013 marking the 1,700 years since Constantine’s edict, this according to international commentators, following an interview by the Serbian daily Politika with Metropolitan Hilarion, head of the Patriarchate’s Department of External Church Relations.

Church' Two Lungs Breathing Together

Patriarch Bartholomew I and Pope Benedict XVI (Source: Taylor Marshall's Blog)

ROME, JUNE 23, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople will send a delegation to Rome on June 29, feast of Sts. Peter and Paul.

The visit takes place as part of what has become a traditional exchange of delegations between the Orthodox Church and the Vatican for the respective feasts of their holy patrons.

The Holy See always sends a delegation to Istanbul on Nov. 30, feast of St. Andrew.

The Orthodox delegation will be made up by Metropolitan Emmanuel of France and director of the Orthodox Church's office in the European Union; Bishop Athenagoras of Sinope, auxiliary bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate serving in Belgium; and Archimandrite Maximos Pothos, the vicar-general in Switzerland.

On June 28, Benedict XVI will receive the delegation in audience, and on June 29, it will attend the Eucharistic celebration presided over by the Pope in St. Peter's.

The delegation will also meet with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.

The exchange of delegations between Rome and Constantinople began in 1969, with Cardinal Johannes Willebrands' visit to Constantinople for the feast of St. Andrew. At the time, the cardinal was president of the Secretariat for Christian Unity.

Vatican's top ecumenist heads to Moscow for meeting with Orthodox Patriarch

Cardinal Kurt Koch

VATICAN CITY, Catholic Culture News - Cardinal Kurt Koch, the new president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, travels to Moscow this weekend for his first meeting with leaders of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Cardinal Koch will meet with Patriarch Kirill, who was the chief ecumenical spokesman for the Moscow patriarchate prior to his election in January 2009 as the head of the Russian Orthodox Church. Their meeting follows just after a visit to the Vatican by Russia’s President Dimitri Medvedev, which had prompted speculation that the Russian leader might carry an informal message from the Moscow patriarchate.

Coptic Church Ecumenical Day of Prayer and Solidarity for Christians Suffering in Egypt

Our Coptic brothers and sisters are asking for our prayers on December 4, 2010 at 10:30 am. Let us remember those suffering Christians in Egypt, as well as those persecuted Christians in Iraq, in Iran, in Pakistan, in India, in Sudan and elsewhere and remember to pray for the souls of those who went ahead of us.  In particular let us pray for the Church of Christ that we may soon become ONE CHURCH. -Catholic Defender. (visit copticchurch.net)

His Holiness Pope Shenouda III of the Coptic Church

As the world follows the unfortunate events affecting Christians in Egypt and experiences the pain and injustice they face because of their faith, the Coptic Orthodox bishops of the United States, including Their Graces Bishop Serapion, Bishop Youssef, Bishop Macarious, Bishop David, and Bishop Michael have called for a Day of Prayer and Solidarity on Tuesday, December 14, 2010 at 10:30 a.m.

Hariri: Maintaining Christian Presence in Mideast is Wealth for Arabism, Islam

Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri

Beirut, Lebanon , Naharnet - Prime Minister Saad Hariri said on the occasion of the conclusion of the Synod held in Rome under Pope Benedict XVI that maintaining Christian presence in the Middle East is "wealth for Arabism and Islam."

Patriarch: Jordan Supplying 80% of Seminarians

Emphasizes Nation's Importance for Christian Community

By Mariaelena Finessi

ROME, OCT. 19, 2010 (Zenit.org).- When Benedict XVI made his pilgrimage to the Holy Land in May 2009, Jordan was his first stop.

But many pilgrims overlook Jordan, excluding it from official Holy Land tours. Still, it is one of the nations that falls under the jurisdiction of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and according to the patriarch, the importance of Jordan needs to be recognized.

Archbishop Fouad Twal, himself of Jordanian birth, spoke of his homeland at the exhibit "A Look at Christians of the Middle East," being sponsored by the Custody of the Holy Land during the synod on the Middle East, which is under way through Sunday.

The archbishop said that in Jordan "is the most consistent portion of our local Christian community, grown numerically with the addition in 1948 and in 1967 of so many Palestinian refugees."

The result is that today the country has 65 parishes and 77,000 faithful.

In fact, Archbishop Twal noted, "80% of our seminarians are of Jordanian origin."

The patriarch asserted that Christians of the Holy Land must be at the center of the Church's attention: They are "descendants of the first community formed by Jesus Christ himself," he reminded, and never before has it been so much the "Church of Calvary" such that the presence of Christians in the Holy Land can be read as "a mission, a vocation," called by God to "bear this cross."

For its part, Jordan is an example of dialogue and religious coexistence, Archbishop Twal continued. He pointed to the charitable work done by the Christian community there, though it is a minority. Jordan assists something like 500,000 refugees, especially Iraqis, and aspires to be a model for the whole of the Middle East area, he said.

It was also in Jordan, the prelate continued, that the best reactions to the Pope's Regensburg address could be found. There, there was an openness that culminated in Benedict XVI's visit to the mosque of Amman, where he was received explicitly as Successor of Peter.

Addressing issues

Archbishop Twal was accompanied during his address by a leader of Caritas-Jordan, Monsignor Sayegh e a Huda Muhasher.

The decisive role of Christians in Jordan's civil society is found in that which Benedict XVI defined as "the dialogue of works," Muhasher said. "There are so many, and as laity we have a great role in them."

He said Caritas has addressed all the most serious national emergencies, including that of the immigrants.

"We have two charitable fronts," the Caritas director said, "one for Jordanians, for whom Caritas was founded, and one for all the foreigners who arrive in the country and are in need of help."

And being a laboratory of coexistence between Christians and Muslims, between citizens and foreigners, "the greater part of funds received in the last years has been allocated to Iraqi refugees and not to Jordanians," he added.

Among Caritas' many projects -- it is the only organization that can enter prisons, for example -- there is one that Muhasher highlighted: a care center for disabled children and their families.

There, he said, parents are "taught how to address and live with handicaps."

The Caritas leader spoke of beginning every activity with prayer, "without showy gestures but each one in the silence of his heart."

Pope Urges Eastern Churches to Conserve Identity

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 10, 2010 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI is encouraging the Eastern Catholic Churches to conserve their identity, patrimony and traditions.

The Pope stated this Saturday in an audience with participants in a congress marking the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the Code of Canons of Eastern Churches.

The congress was organized by the Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity the Pontifical Oriental Institute, and the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts.

The Pontiff affirmed that "the 'sacra canones' of the ancient Church, that inspire the Oriental codification in force, stimulate all the Oriental Churches to conserve their own identity, which is simultaneously Eastern and Catholic."

"In preserving the Catholic communion the Eastern Catholic Churches did not at all intend to deny their own tradition," he added.

"As has been many times repeated," the Holy Father said, "the full union of the Eastern Catholic Churches with the Church of Rome that is already realized must not lead to a diminution of the consciousness of the unique authenticity and originality of those Churches."

"For this reason," he continued, "it is the task of all the Eastern Catholic Churches to conserve the common disciplinary patrimony and nourish their own traditions, which is a treasure for the whole Church."

Benedict XVI noted that "the same 'sacri canones' of the first centuries of the Church constitute to a large extent the same basic patrimony of canonical discipline that also regulates the Orthodox Churches."

"Thus the Eastern Catholic Churches can offer a peculiar and relevant contribution to the ecumenical journey," he said.

"In the context of the Church's current effort for a new evangelization," the Pope affirmed, "canon law, as the peculiar and indispensable ordering of ecclesial fellowship, will not fail to contribute to the life and the mission of the Church in the world, if all the components of the People of God know how to interpret is wisely and apply it faithfully."

Pope Says Church Is Instrument of Unity in Mideast

Requests Prayers for Synod of Bishops

Participants in the opening Liturgy of
the Synod of Bishops of the Middle East.

VATICAN CITY (Zenit.org) - Benedict XVI is pointing out that the Church is called to be a sign and instrument of unity in the Middle East, amid all of the division present in that region.

The Pope affirmed this today before praying the midday Angelus together with those gathered in St. Peter's Square.

He said: "I have just come from St. Peter's Basilica where I presided at the opening Mass of the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops.

"This extraordinary synodal gathering, which will last two weeks, will see the meeting in Rome of the pastors of the Church that lives in the Middle East, a very diverse reality. In that land, in fact, the one Church of Christ expresses herself in all the wealth of her ancient traditions."

The Pontiff noted, "We will be reflecting on the following theme: 'The Catholic Church in the Middle East: Communion and Witness.'"

"In fact," he added, "in those countries, unfortunately marked by profound divisions and lacerations by age-old conflicts, the Church is called to be the sign and instrument of unity and of reconciliation, on the model of the first community of Jerusalem, in which 'the multitude of those who had become Christian were of one heart and one soul' (Acts 4:32)."

"This is an arduous task," the Holy Father observed, "since the Christians of the Middle East often find themselves having to endure difficult conditions of life at the personal, familial and communal levels."

He continued, "But this should not be discouraging: It is precisely in this context that the perennial message of Christ becomes more necessary and urgent: 'Convert and believe in the Gospel' (Mark 1:15)."

Benedict XVI concluded by inviting everyone to pray for the synod assembly, "invoking from God an abundant outpouring of the gifts of the Holy Spirit."

Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Predicts Christian Springtime, Healing of Divisions

(Catholic Online), Dynamic Leader Urges Return to the Church Fathers

"A Christian spring is just about to arrive. The 21st century will see the divisions between Christians healed and a rebirth of the faith, gift of God, just as it was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers." The prelate described as "erroneous" the consideration of the present time as a "post-Christian" era, and those claims that Christianity will disappear from the religious map in the third millennium and be absorbed by Islam.

Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk
Photo Source: Catholic Online

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BARCELONA, Spain (Zenit.org) - Orthodox Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev of Volokolamsk is expressing the conviction that the 21st century will see a flowering of Christianity, without divisions between the followers of Jesus.

The chairman of the Department of External Affairs of the Moscow Patriarchate made these comments Thursday in a ceremony in which he was given an honorary doctorate by the faculty of theology of Catalonia, which is under the patronage of the Gregorian University of Rome. The ceremony took place in the Conciliar Seminary of Barcelona.

"A Christian spring is just about to arrive," he said. "The 21st century will see the divisions between Christians healed and a rebirth of the faith, gift of God, just as it was preached by the Apostles and preserved by the Fathers."

The prelate described as "erroneous" the consideration of the present time as a "post-Christian" era, and those claims that Christianity will disappear from the religious map in the third millennium and be absorbed by Islam.

"I am sure that Christians will resist together and preserve their teachings, their Church and their tradition," he said.

The archbishop expressed gratitude for the doctorate and acknowledged that it is not as much a tribute to his personal accomplishments as a recognition of the importance of Orthodox theology and as a sign of respect toward the Russian Orthodox Church.

He centered his address on the timeliness of the legacy of the Fathers in today's world, a topic he often treats in his books and public interventions.

"Knowledge of the Fathers enables the Christian not to lose his way amid the multitude of tendencies of modern philosophy" or to "let himself be drawn by complicated and strange doctrines," Archbishop Hilarion said.

Firm relationship with God

He added that "knowledge of the Fathers helps Christians to understand themselves, to build a firm relationship with God, to order their spiritual life."

He continued, "Contrary to the recipes of modern teachings such as psychoanalysis, the advice of the Fathers exhales a healthy spirit, founded as it is on the solid understanding of the human spirit, and the need to combat one's own sinful tendencies and put goodness into practice."

"The counsels of the Fathers are much more universal than the basic postulates of Freudianism, and can be applied to people who live in the most diverse cultural and temporal contexts," the archbishop said.

He added that "the works of the Fathers will never be irrelevant, given that they treat questions, the answers to which are decisive for humanity's destiny."

The investiture ceremony was presided over by the archbishop of Barcelona, Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, and included the intervention of the dean of the faculty, Armand Puig.

Puig explained that the ceremony was "an act of recognition of Orthodox theology as a whole but, above all, it is a tribute to one of its most qualified representatives."

Moreover, he added, it is "a favorable moment for our faculty and the rest of the ecclesial academic institutions of the Catholic Church to reaffirm their commitment to study and appraise the Fathers of the Eastern Church" in studying theology "in the present moment and in the concrete context of 21st century Europe."

Archbishop Hilarion is the author of works on the Fathers of the Church and topics of present-day Orthodox theology, and he maintains a firm and constant commitment and presence in the ecumenical realm.

Arabic Prayer for Lent

Thanks to Dar Al-Masih for the link.

"The Pope Is the First Among the Patriarchs."

"The Pope Is the First Among the Patriarchs." Just How Remains to Be Seen (Article Source: Sando Magister
With Benedict XVI, for the first time in history, the Orthodox have agreed to discuss the primacy of the bishop of Rome, according to the model of the first millennium, when the Church was undivided. Never before seen: the outline of the dialogue

ROME, January 25, 2010 – This evening, with vespers in the basilica of Saint Paul's Outside the Walls, Benedict XVI is closing the week of prayer for Christian unity.

There are some who say that ecumenism has entered a phase of retreat and chill. But as soon as one that looks to the East, the facts say the opposite. Relations with the Orthodox Churches have never been so promising as they have since Joseph Ratzinger has been pope.

The dates speak for themselves. A period of chill in the theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches of Byzantine tradition began in 1990, when the two sides clashed over so-called "uniatism," meaning the ways in which Catholic communities of the Eastern rites duplicate in everything the parallel Orthodox communities, differing only by their obedience to the Church of Rome.

In Balamond, in Lebanon, the dialogue came to a halt. It hit an even bigger obstacle on the Russian side, where the patriarchate of Moscow could not tolerate seeing itself "invaded" by Catholic missionaries sent there by Pope John Paul II, who were all the more suspect because they were of Polish nationality, historically a rival.

The dialogue remained frozen until, in 2005, the German Joseph Ratzinger ascended to the throne of Peter, a pope highly appreciated in the East for the same reason he prompts criticisms in the West: for his attachment to the great Tradition.

First in Belgrade in 2006, and then in Ravenna in 2007, the international mixed commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches started meeting again.

And what rose to the top of the discussion was precisely the question that most divides East and West: the primacy of the successor of Peter in the universal Church.

From the session in Ravenna emerged the document that marked the shift, dedicated to "conciliarity and authority" in the ecclesial communion.

The document of Ravenna, approved unanimously by both sides, affirms that "primacy and conciliarity are mutually interdependent." And in paragraph 41, it highlights the points of agreement and disagreement:

"Both sides agree that . . . that Rome, as the Church that 'presides in love' according to the phrase of St Ignatius of Antioch, occupied the first place in the taxis, and that the bishop of Rome was therefore the protos among the patriarchs. They disagree, however, on the interpretation of the historical evidence from this era regarding the prerogatives of the bishop of Rome as protos, a matter that was already understood in different ways in the first millennium."

"Protos" is the Greek word that means "first." And "taxis" is the structure of the universal Church.

Since then, the discussion on controversial points has advanced at an accelerated pace. And it has started to examine, above all, how the Churches of East and West interpreted the role of the bishop of Rome during the first millennium, when they were still united.

The basis of the discussion is a text that was drafted on the island of Crete at the beginning of autumn in 2008.

The text has never been made public before now. It is in English, and can be read in its entirety on this page of www.chiesa:


> The Role of the Bishop of Rome in the Communion of the Church in the First Millennium


The international mixed commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches started discussing this text in Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, from October 16-23, 2009.

It has started to examine the preaching of Peter and Paul in Rome, their martyrdom and the presence of their tombs in Rome, which for Irenaeus of Lyons confers preeminent authority on the apostolic Roman see.

From there, the discussion continued by examining the letter of Pope Clement to the Christians of Corinth, the testimony of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who identifies the Church of Rome as the one that "presides in charity," the role of popes Anicetus and Victor in the controversy surrounding the date of Easter, the positions of St. Cyprian of Carthage in the controversy over whether or not to rebaptize the "lapsi," meaning the Christians who had sacrificed to idols in order to save their lives.

The intention is to understand to what extent the form that the primacy of the bishop of Rome had in the first millennium can act as a model for a rediscovered unity between East and West in the third millennium of the Christian era.

In the middle, however, there has been a second millennium in which the primacy of the pope was interpreted and lived, in the West, in increasingly accentuated forms, far from the ones that the Churches of the East are willing to accept today.

And this will be the critical point of the discussion. But the delegations from the two sides are not afraid to face it. Benedict XVI himself said this last January 20, explaining in the general audience to the faithful the meaning of the week of prayer for Christian unity:

"With the Orthodox Churches, the international mixed commission for theological dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches has begun to study a crucial theme in the dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox: the role of the bishop of Rome in the communion of the Church in the first millennium, meaning the time in which the Christians of the East and West lived in full communion. This study will be extended afterward to the second millennium."

The next session already has a preset place, Vienna, and a date, from September 20-27, 2010.

For all these years, the head of the Catholic delegation has been Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the pontifical council for the promotion of Christian unity.

As head of the Orthodox delegation for years has been metropolitan of Pergamon Joannis Zizioulas, a theologian of recognized value and of great authority, the "mind" of ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I, and highly respected by pope Ratzinger, with whom he has a relationship of deep friendship.

Relations have also improved with the patriarch of Moscow. In Ravenna, the Russian delegates had abandoned the work because of a disagreement with the patriarch of Constantinople on whether or not to admit Orthodox representatives from the Church of Estonia, which is not recognized by Moscow.

But in Paphos, last October, the tear has been patched up. And now the patriarchate of Moscow has friendly relations with Rome as well. Proof of this came a few months ago, the publication by the patriarchate of a book with writings by Benedict XVI, an initiative without precedent in history.

The initiative will soon be reciprocated by Rome, with writings by patriarch Kirill collected in a volume published by Libreria Editrice Vaticana.

A meeting between the pope and the patriarch of Moscow is now also in the realm of possibility. Maybe sooner than one might think.

Unity of the Church

Two great Traditions in One Church! I am missing this wonderful sight. (Photo Source: Boston Theological Institute)