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An ecumenical Easter for Catholics and Orthodox in Greece, a year after the Pope’s visit: a symbolic gesture of the bishop of Crete May 4th marked the first anniversary of the proclamation, at the Areopagus in Athens, of the joint declaration of John Paul II and Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece, on the Christian roots and soul of Europe. The anniversary fell on the vigil of the Orthodox Easter, celebrated on Sunday 5 May. We asked Bishop Francis Papamanolis of Syros-Santorini and Crete to describe an ecumenical experience in the celebration of Easter this year. Finally we too in Greece have celebrated Easter. For us here in Syros it was an occasion for an ecumenical gesture, in line with the long and patient journey which will lead us to Christian unity. Each year, on the morning of Holy Saturday, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem enters the Holy Sepulchre carrying a quenched candle in his hand, and after reciting some prayers, it is said that the candle lights itself. Orthodox believers regard this as a demonstration that the date of their Easter is the true date, because, they affirm, the candle does not light itself when the other Patriarchs, the Catholic and Armenian ones, enter the Holy Sepulchre. I don’t know what truth there is in this, but that’s what they say. The Greek air company Olympic makes a plane available to bring the flame from the Holy Selpulchre back to Athens, where it is received in the Orthodox Cathedral, and distributed to the faithful who take it home with them. Other planes then take the flame to various other dioceses in Greece. This year it was also brought to Syros. This year the new Orthodox bishop of Syros wished the Catholic Church also to share in the Holy Light. At the beginning of the Easter vigil I presented the flame to my faithful; I blessed the flame and, carrying in my hand two lighted candles, one lit from the flame blessed by me, and other from the flame of the Holy Sepulchre, I then lit the paschal candle, saying: “May the light of Christ that rises again in glory scatter the shadows of the heart and of the spirit”, and I added on my own initiative the words “and as the flames of the two candles are fused into one, may all Christians be fused into unity”. These are small symbolic gestures, but it is also by similar gestures that we construct, day after day, Christian unity. At Syros the Orthodox bishop and I succeeded in creating together a climate of brotherhood and reciprocal respect. We don’t of course want to stop there. We would like to become pioneers on the ecumenical road to Christian unity. Daniele Rocchi
