The common duty

One of the leading themes of the journey of the archbishop of Athens and all Greece, Christodoulos, in Rome, where on 14th December he met Benedict XVI, has been Europe. The Old Continent, undermined by laicisation and relativism, is for the leader of the Orthodox Church of Greece a care and a concern that he shares with Benedict XVI. The two religious leaders committed themselves to follow a path of reconciliation “to reinstate full communion” as they have seen in Europe “a field to grow mutual pastoral and cultural cooperation”. The common Declaration signed after the meeting goes like this: “We hope in a fruitful cooperation to make our contemporaries rediscover the Christian roots of Europe that have shaped the different countries and contributed to the development of more and more harmonious bonds among them”. “We come full of expectations and hopes. We intend to proclaim in unison that we oppose to the laicisation of the Christian message … to join forces to establish the kingdom and the justice of God on earth but first and foremost in Europe, our common house, the multicultural continent that thirsts for Christ … As the humble servants of the great Orthodox family, we have come to our Roman Catholic brethrens to bear witness to our hope in a better common future in Europe and in the world”. (Christodoulos in meeting card. Walter Kasper) “The conditions that are shown by the face of the world and of Europe in particular demand that we be vigilant and timely point out all that threatens the values and the structures of the European civilisation, deeply imbued with the Christian faith: the de-Christianisation of Europe, the exclusion of the Church from public life, migration, the gap between the rich and the poor, the risk of conflicts between different civilisations and religions, religious extremism and the debasement of the human being”. (Christodoulos’s speech to Benedict XVI) “Several European countries work at building a new Europe that cannot be a merely economical entity. The Catholic and Orthodox devotees are called to offer their cultural and above all their spiritual contribution. They have the duty to defend the Christian roots of Europe and enable the Christian tradition to keep manifesting itself and work with all its might to protect the dignity of the human being, the respect of minorities, while steering clear of the cultural standardisation that would risk causing the loss of its immense wealth of civilisation: we have to work at protecting the human rights that include the principle of personal freedom, especially religious freedom. These rights must be promoted and defended within the European Union and in all the member states. Likewise, we have to develop cooperation among the Christians of all countries within the European Union, so as to be able to stand up to the new risks that challenge the Christian faith, the increasing laicisation, relativism and nihilism that opens the way to behaviours and laws that attack the dignity of people and question such fundamental institutions as marriage. It is urgent that we implement shared pastoral actions that will be a common testimony for our contemporaries”. (Benedict XVI’s speech to Christodoulos)