A day for Sibiu

“Unity among Christians must be promoted in every way: with prayer, with dialogue, with cooperation on the basis of the themes of justice and peace”, said Monsignor JOHN A. RADANO , head of chancery at the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, in introducing the “day of Romanian ecumenical spirituality” on Monday 6 November. Promoted by the Romanian Embassy to the Holy See, together with the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, and sponsored by the Congregation for the Oriental Churches, the meeting was held at the Pontifical Urbanian University. “Seeking Christian unity – added Radano – means responding to Christ’s prayer: ‘May they all be one'”. BETWEEN SIBIU AND EU. “There are three great enemies of ecumenism: suspicion, apathy and impatience”, said DIANA BUBENEK TURCONI , chargée d’affaires at the Romanian Embassy to the Holy See, citing an expression of the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Murphy-O’Connor. The recipe for avoiding these risks consists in “understanding each other better”, “practising ecumenism in small daily gestures” and “not letting oneself be discouraged if the hoped-for results are not achieved in the short term”. In 2007 Romania will experience two great events; the European ecumenical assembly of Sibiu and entry into the European Union. Both are occasions “that give proof of the country’s openness”: “Already in 1999 – pointed out Bubenek Turconi – Romania was the first country with an Orthodox majority to open its doors to the Pope, whereas now it will host over 3,000 delegates for the ecumenical assembly, sign of an open way of understanding dialogue”. Entry into the EU, on the other hand, “is awaited by the whole population as a need and a relief, especially at the economic level”, underlined Father MIHAI FRATILA , Rector of the Pio-Romanian College in Rome. “As far as the integration of values is concerned – he added -, that will only come later, but it is desirable that there should be reciprocal integration between Romania and the rest of the Union”. SPIRITUAL ECUMENISM. In the view of the Orthodox priest CONSTANTIN BALAUCA “European society needs a Church that can respond to its anxieties, and only a catholic, i.e. universal, Church is able to indicate clearly the path of the Gospel: so long as the problem of division remains, the Christian cannot give himself body and soul to the sanctification of men”. Father Balauca pointed out that “the Romanian Orthodox Church has played an active part in this dialogue to heal a millenarian rift and wishes to make a contribution in the consciousness that what man has destroyed in the past, namely Christian unity, can be restored today with the help of the Spirit”. It is essential, however, that “ecumenism descends from the pulpit and enters the life of all the faithful: there must be reciprocity – he concluded – between theology and life”. This conviction was shared by another Orthodox priest present at the meeting, GABRIEL IONITA , who underlined the importance of prayer in the ecumenical process: “prayer, he said, is “as indispensable to man as water is to fish”. “Spiritual ecumenism, prayer and the sanctification of life – he said – represent the heart of the ecumenical movement, as Pope Benedict XVI also recalled at Cologne in August 2005”. THE POPE’S COMMITMENT. “Working tirelessly for the unification of all the followers of Christ” was the commitment made by Benedict XVI at the start of his pontificate, recalled ANTON LUCACI , head of the Romanian section at Vatican Radio. It was a commitment assumed in continuation with that of his predecessor John Paul II, who made “concrete gestures” in this field, and it was made, stressed Lucaci, with a quite precise aim, since “we cannot communicate with the Lord unless we can communicate among each other”: so we need to start out by learning “the great lesson of forgiveness”. “Real communication takes place by listening”, remarked Father Fratila, and “charity is the life itself of the Christian and the guideline for the ecumenical process”, he added, recalling the first encyclical of Benedict XVI, “Deus caritas est”: a document that “recalls the primacy of the Christian’s witness” and “wishes to arouse a renewed impetus in man’s devotion to divine teaching”. “In his first encyclical – he concluded – Benedict XVI traces the path of each Christian, who must seek to love his neighbour with the love of God, and to see not with his own eyes but with those of God”.