Christian roots

“At the top of the agenda of the visit of Chrysostomos II to the Vatican is the theme, very important, of Europe and Christianity”, said Monsignor VINCENZO PAGLIA , Bishop of Terni-Narni-Amelia, in a briefing to SIR. In his role as chairman of the bishops’ Commission for ecumenism and dialogue, Msgr. Paglia participated in the meeting between the President of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), Archbishop Angelo Bagnasco, and the Orthodox Archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II on 13 June (cf. SIR Europe 43/2007). “The Christian roots of Cyprus are also those of Europe – declared the bishop, whose dedication in the ecumenical field was praised by the Orthodox representative – and I think this visit to the CEI also helps to re-launch this issue at a time when discussion on the future European constitutional treaty is being revived”. As regards the intention, reaffirmed in recent days by Chrysostomos II himself, to broker a possible meeting between the Pope and Alexei II of Russia, Bishop Paglia called it “hopeful”. On this matter, card. WALTER KASPER , president of the Papal Council for the Unity of Christians, during the ceremony for the awarding of the honorary degree in missiology by the Pontificia Università Urbaniana to Chrysostomos II, primate of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus told SIR that “there’s hope that Benedict XVI and Alexius II may meet within one year”. It was said this morning to SIR by. “It will largely depend – added card. Kasper – on some external circumstances and on the internal situation of the Russian Church. The Pope would like to have this meeting, and Alexius II too is open to that. No one is against the meeting, not even the Orthodox believers”. “REACHING FULL COMMUNION”. “The Italian Church guarantees its will to do anything possible to cultivate dialogue and brotherly relationships, with the aim of reaching full communion and, contingently, working together through sympathetic pastoral strategies, so that the Gospel is preached by any creature”. Those words were spoken by Msgr. ANGELO BAGNASCO while he welcomed the Orthodox archbishop of Cyprus, Chrysostomos II, paying official visit. “We thank God for the faith and the beautiful Christian token of our peoples”, stated Msgr. Bagnasco in his greeting speech. “We share the dreams of peace of the Cyprus people – he added. – Such peace and development hopes, in harmony, further grew with the entry of Cyprus into the EU”. “The establishment of love relationships between communities – he concluded – fosters us to be more united to fight division, evil, violence and injustice, tormenting the lives of the people in our countries. Beginning common pastoral actions, upholding the principle of freedom and democracy together, is a coral token for the sole Gospel. It is also the reason for the hope within us”. HERITAGE IN DANGER. “Our heritage is constantly robbed, mistreated, sold abroad by those who are occupying one part of our island”: this denunciation by Chrysostomos II was made during the visit paid to Msgr. Angelo Bagnasco. Answering the greeting by the president of CEI, CHRYSOSTOMOS II asked for the support of the Italian Church “for our right intention to restore our occupied monuments, destroyed or left in ruin, since the Catholic, Maronite, Armenian, Hebrew and Orthodox sacred places of Cyprus, all of them belonging to the cultural heritage of humanity, are liable to disappear for ever”. Moreover, the Orthodox archbishop looked at Europe, too: “it is our common House, a place too often becoming a cause for despair, as well as of hope for a common destination, such as the Kingdom of God! It is a territory where the family is danger of extinction because of people neglecting God’s law, by now. It is a land with Christian roots, where Christianity is nevertheless threatened, persecuted, hurt”. “It is time to act – he concluded. – We must join our efforts, our exertions, our Christian token, so that the world will believe us”. MAN AND THE SACRED. “To this world, stripped of the sense of sacredness and impelled by secular agnosticism, the Church addresses her message: man must live with the sacred and the divine. This can be achieved through the divine liturgy, a mystical practice at once human and supernatural”. This is a passage from the lectio magistralis given by Chrysostomos II during the ceremony in which the Pontifical Urbanian University awarded him an honorary doctorate in missiology. “The Church – he said – is perennially in expansion, since she is catholic, and aims to incorporate everyone. Her aim is to enact Christ’s commandment to his disciples: ‘go therefore and make disciples of all nations’ ( Mt 28:19). Missionary action forms one her innate characteristics”. The principal aim of mission, explained the Primate, “is to ensure the active participation of the faithful in the ‘divine liturgy’, at the centre of which is the Eucharist. It teaches us to widen our horizons, and speak the language of love despite differences and contrasts”. This is the message that “the Orthodox Church sends out to the world through the divine liturgy” and this is the reason why “we are witnessing a growing participation of the young in the Orthodox liturgy, despite the fact that a desecration and secularisation of life remains, especially in Western societies”.