ECUMENISM
Greece: the last farewell to ChristodoulosOn January 31st, Greece and Europe bid the last farewell to Most Blessed archbishop Christodoulos of Athens, Primate of the Orthodox Church in Greece, who died on January 28 after 7 painful months of suffering. He was given full honor State funerals. Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I led the funeral service which was attended by 6 primates of Orthodox churches, top prelates from throughout the Orthodox world and representatives of Christian Churches in Europe. Having arrived in Athens on the previous evening, His Eminence Cardinal Paul Poupard, President emeritus of the Pontifical Council for Culture, and Msgr. Brian Farrel, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, were received in the airport and then accompanied to the cathedral where they prayed “on behalf of the Holy Father” on the casket of S.B. Christodoulos. His Eminence Card. Poupard, Msgr. Farrel and the Apostolic nuncio Msgr. Patrick Coveney were part of the Holy See delegation. They carried the message of condolences of the Holy Father to Seraphim, metropolitan bishop of Karystia Skyros. Also Greece’s political world- from the President of the Republic Karolos Papoulias to Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis, party leader, along with foreign embassy representatives, paid their last respects. Worldwide condolence messages included those of U.S. President George W. Bush, of Russian President Vladimir Putin and of Queen Elisabeth II. Large crowds followed the funeral from loudspeakers placed all around Athens’ Cathedral. The end of the funeral service was marked by 21 gunshots. The corpse was carried to the first cemetery of Athens where it will rest in peace. The Orthodox Church made known that the Holy Synod will hold elections of the new primate on February 7th in Athens’ Metropolitan Cathedral. Russia: meeting with President BarrosoOn January 24, the President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso met with the representatives of the Orthodox Churches at the European Union. The meeting was attended by Metropolitan Bishop Emmanuel from France (Patriarchate of Costantinople), Bishop Hilarion from Wien and Austria, (Moscow’s Patriarchate), Bishop Porphyrios from Naples (Church of Cyprus) and Metropolitan Athanasios from Akhaia (Church of Greece). In his address to President Barroso, Bishop Hilarion described the discriminations undergone by representatives of Christian Churches in Europe: “We often hear talk about anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, but very little is said of the discrimination suffered by Christianity in many European Countries. It exists in different forms, from the removal of Christian symbols in the public sphere, to the denigration of Christianity and the refusal to recognize Europe’s Christian heritage, but also the persecution of those who openly express Christian beliefs and chose to live a life based on Christian values.” Metropolitan Bishop Athanasios from Greece underlined the contribution given by the Church to the population hit by the terrible fires which burned out last summer in Greece, the activities in favour of immigrants and the promotion of religious tourism in the Country. He asked President Barroso for the support and encouragement of political authorities at national and European levels. The same day, bishop Hilarion (Russia) met with the President of the European Popular Party Wilfried Martens.Anglicans: “Europe, culture and faith”Christianity understood as the cultural foundation of the basic features of modern man. This was the topic addressed by Rev. Rowan Williams, Primate of the “Church of England” and theological leader of seventy million Anglicans throughout the world, in a lecture called “Europe, culture and faith, held in the past days in the Anglican cathedral of Liverpool, Europe’s capital of culture for the year 2008. Rev. Williams said that the typically European view of man as master of the universe in which he lives and creator of his own destiny, originates in Christianity. The human rights doctrine, democracy, freedom of choice and individual strength are the most important features of European conscience and cannot be understood outside the history of the Church. “Christianity was the first to tell the faithful that nothing should be taken for granted, conveying the message that their choices could lead them astray, in a direction that would affect the entire universe”, the Anglican Primate affirmed, “this tension remained even when in society and in the cultural world Christianity started to represent the majority viewpoint, the normal state of things in Europe”. “Church and State still argue on who decides the borders of public morality, while the monastic movement introduced tension within the very heart of the Church”.
