Like the Carpathian Mountains

On the occasion of the Third European Ecumenical Assembly now being held at Sibiu (Romania), until 9 September, Claudia Stanila, on behalf of SirEurope, has interviewed Father CONSTANTIN NECULA, adviser of the Metropolitan Church of Transylvania and Professor of Catechetics at the Orthodox University of Theology in Sibiu. What are the characteristics of Romanian Orthodox ecumenism? “I think Romanian Orthodox theology is very similar to the morphology of our country, whose central backbone is formed by the Carpathian Mountains. Our theology preserves something of the nature of the Carpathian chain: equilibrium, great openness and, at the same time, rigorous edification on rock, the bedrock of faith. The strength of Romanian Orthodox ecumenism consists in its ability to give birth to saints who by their witness ensure the continuing vitality of Orthodoxy”. What does Orthodoxy bring in the battle against secularism and relativism? “Orthodoxy opposes the false forms of humanism of our time with its own liturgical resistance. While today man raises himself to the rank of God, Orthodoxy, by preserving its commandment to be the ‘salt of the earth’, keeps alive this paradoxical dynamic construction of the liturgy: a liturgy that, despite the fact that it is celebrated within the Church, reverberates outside her walls. So, in its dimension as ‘salt of the earth’, Orthodoxy has the obligation to preserve its gifts, its talents. Preserving means resisting the temptations of the modern world. I prefer to be considered a reactionary because I preserve the word of the Gospel rather than a modernist who debases it. It’s very difficult, however, to preserve the intrinsic, most sacred content of our tradition. Our crisis consists in the fact that many have transformed the patristic tradition into local traditions that have nothing in common with it”. What hopes do you have in the Third Ecumenical Assembly in Sibiu? “Christian unity will be achieved not by conferences but by the will of God, especially if it be ‘provoked’ also by the will of men. What could Orthodoxy do in this sense? Reinforce itself on its dogmatic and theological positions, precisely in order to present them to its Catholic brothers in a genuine way. And this with the aim of offering alternatives to the great liberalism that has taken hold of Western society in recent decades”. What can Orthodoxy offer Catholicism in this sense? “The good will and the strong paschal joy that have marked the essential moments of its history. Orthodox Christians must in turn learn from their Catholic brothers the rigour and determination to revive their traditions. I cannot be blind to the serious problems that afflict parish communities in the West today: abandonment of the Church, disintegration of the family, the crisis of declining birth rates and the increase of divorces. This crisis of Western Christianity also sends out signals of alarm for us Eastern Christians. The negative values of de-christianization are also threatening our lands. And the Catholic experience can offer us solutions in this sense”. There are also those who tend to demonise ecumenism… “Ecumenism has sometimes been seen as a form of maximum opening to dialogue with those of other confessions. It’s also true to say that ecumenism has also been exploited to the point of being considered a privileged means of promoting sexual licence or the practice of abortion. But if we demonise the other person who comes to meet us, that means we have ‘deified’ our own being too much. It’s true that in the Orthodox Church it is only towards God that opening is possible. But an opening in the horizontal sense only becomes possible in dialogue, together with God in accepting our neighbour”. What do you think the assembly in Sibiu will bring to its participants? “It’s a chance to reflect together on how much Christ still remains a living presence in the Christian witness of Europe. I think the presence of ecumenism in social life and activities is one of the most important criteria for interpreting our present age, especially in a European continent debased by globalization and nationalism. This ecumenical event will only have an enduring meaning if we are able to preserve the spirit of Orthodoxy, make it dynamic, and cultivate the memory of the experiences we have shared with our brothers of other confessions. Sibiu is a European city; it reunites many different confessional and ethical creeds. Europe however can only be built on immutable moral foundations. And the fundamental moral truth must have Jesus Christ as its central model”. After the recent death of His Beatitude Teoctist, the Romanian Orthodox Church is experiencing a period of sede vacante . How do you see the future Patriarch? “I think he should be a man of high spiritual quality who turns the redemption of the Romanian Orthodox people into the mission of his earthly life”.