The Patriarch of Dialogue

The Patriarch of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, Teoctist I (Toader Ar?pa?u), died in Bucharest at the age of 92 today, at about 5 pm, after undergoing a prostate operation. Teoctist had been the first head of the Orthodox Church allowing the visit of his country by a Pope of the Roman Catholic Church. In 1999, he actually invited John Paul II to Bucharest. The journey was considered an important stage for ecumenical dialogue. “With joy, I recall the first visit which Your Blessedness made to Rome in 1989, and my journey to Bucharest in 1999”, said Pope Wojtyla on meeting His Blessedness Teoctist in Rome, on 12 October 2002, recalling the “fruitful exchange” between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. “Should there be problems or misunderstandings – added John Paul II in relation to the “dialogue for truth” between the two churches, – it is necessary to face them through a brotherly and frank dialogue, looking for solutions to which the two parties may commit themselves mutually”. Now, the synod of the Church will have to elect a new patriarch, the sixth one ever since it was acknowledged “autocephalous”. SOME HISTORY. The Rumanian Orthodox Church is the only Church of a Neo-Latin people with Byzantine traditions. In this respect, it belongs to the Christian Orient through its ecclesial life, and to the Christian West by means of its ethnical sensitivity. Its history is mixed with the history of the Rumanian people, born from the fusion of the soldiers and colonists taken there by Emperor Trajan and his successors after the year 106 AD: North Danube Dacia was conquered and became a Roman Province; the autochthonous people remained under Roman administration until 271. After the Second World War a persecution period started, which would last until 1989. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the suppressed dioceses opened, and other were established; about forty seminars also opened, on the secondary school level, as well as almost twenty faculties of theology, all of them part of state teaching. Religion teaching was introduced in schools: suppressed lay associations were set up again; women’s, students’ and youth associations were also established. Today, the Rumanian Orthodox Church works as patriarchate: it is organized in five metropolises and 22 dioceses, plus the metropolises abroad. The supreme organ is the Holy Synod, while the central executive organ is the permanent Synod, headed by the Patriarch. The Rumanian Orthodox Church holds brotherly relationships with the other 14 official faiths in the country. CHARITY DIALOGUE. On the international level, the Rumanian Orthodox Church cultivates brotherly relationships with the other Orthodox Churches, and with the old Oriental Churches. Together with the other Orthodox Churches, it takes part in the international dialogue with the Roman Catholic Church. The Orthodox Church of Romania is the first Church of a people with Orthodox majority receiving the visit of His Holiness John Paul II, in 1999. During his greetings in front of the patriarchal cathedral, His Blessedness Patriarch Teoctist stated: “In the person of Your Holiness, we receive and honour the Roman Church of Christ, established on the martyrdom of Apostles Peter and Paul, the venerable Apostolic Church taking part in the big events and the council decisions of the non-divided Church of the first millennium”. In a period in which the relationships with the Orthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church were not so good, His Blessedness the Patriarch expressed the position of the Rumanian Church with clear words, during the speech delivered at the patriarchal palace on May 8th, 1999: “For sure, on the path towards full communion, there are some wounds of the past which did not definitely heal, but our decision to safeguard the elements of unity between the two churches, and to profess the same faith together, was firm and constant”. At the Third European Ecumenical Assembly, taking place in his land (Sibiu, 3-9 September), he would have been one of the “great protagonists” for the ecumenical path: he will be a great protagonist nevertheless, through his “other presence”.