ECUMENISM
Greece: catholic Church non invited On Saturday, February 16, the new Orthodox archbishop of Athens and All Greece, His Beatitude Ieronimus II, took office. He was elected by the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece on February 7, after the death of His Beatitude Christodoulos. Representatives of the Catholic Church were not invited to take part in the ceremony, broadcast on national television. Sir collected this statement rendered “with a sad heart” by the President of Greek bishops, Msgr. Francesco Papamanolis. “In response to an invitation request, the Orthodox Church replied that representatives of other Churches were not invited at the installation ceremony. The Greek Catholic Church was represented by the parish priest of Athens’ Greek Catholic Cathedral of Saint Denis”. The fact the delegates of the Catholic Church were not invited to the enthronement of the new archbishop of Athens and primate of the Orthodox Church of Greece, Ieronimos II, which took place on Saturday 16th February, is not a sign of an “impediment to dialogue” or even less of “disrespect for the Catholic Bishops”. With these words, from Brussels the archimandrite Ignazio Sotiriadis, member of the delegation of the Orthodox Church of Greece within the European institutions, explains to SIR why last Saturday the Catholic Church was not invited to Ieronimos’ enthronement. Sotiriadis is keen on explaining that “there is no official interpretation” for the event and that, according to “his own interpretation”, the new archbishop of Athens simply wanted to keep a low profile and therefore he chose to invite, as per protocol, only the local communities, not the leaders of the other churches. That there is no “uncooperative behaviour” – goes on the archimandrite – is also proven by the fact “archbishop Ieronimos approved again, this year (for the fourth year on end), the plan of scholarships for about thirty Catholic priests and seminarians, who, in summer, will go to Athens for one month, to learn the language, culture and religiosity of the Orthodox Church”. In addition, “since his appointment, the archbishop has stated he will follow “in the footsteps of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I”, and “this means the openness of the Patriarchate in the ecumenical area will be respected by the new Primate of Athens as well”. Finally, another sign of good relations with Rome is “the very friendly letter of congratulations”, which the Pope sent through the apostolic nuncio.Geneve: The 60th anniversary of the WccThe 60th anniversary of the World Council of the Church, which was officially established on August 13th 1948 and which now gathers 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican Churches from 110 countries across the world, was celebrated on the 17th February in the Cathedral of St. Pierre in Geneva, with a solemn ceremony officiated by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I. The ceremony was attended – in addition to many leaders of the Churches that are members of the WCC – by mgr. Brian Farrell, secretary of the Papal Council for the Promotion of the Unity of Christians; Rev. Colin Williams, secretary general of the Conference of European Churches (Kek); and Ishmael Noko, secretary general of the World Lutheran Federation. “During these six decades of our life – said the Patriarch Bartholomew I in his homily -, the Council acted as an ideal platform, where the Churches, coming from different horizons and belonging to a wide variety of theological and ecclesiological traditions, could talk with each other and promote Christian unity, responding to the many needs of contemporary society”. Today, “the fast and deep changes that occur in the life of our Churches call the Ecumenical Council to review its ecumenical relations and take care of rearranging the Ecumenical Movement”. The homily ends with an appeal. “Let’s move on with hope along the walk that we began 60 years ago. Don’t let’s lose heart when the obstacles will make our walk tough”. Anglicans: towards the Lambeth Conference The Anglican Bishops of Uganda will boycott the “Lambeth Conference”, the meeting which every ten years gathers the 38 Anglican primates, t protest against the American Episcopal Church, which ordains gay pastors and blesses gay marriages. For the same reason, the bishops of the diocese of Sydney, Australia, of Nigeria and Rwanda, will not attend this year’s meeting in Canterbury from 16th July to 4th August. According to the British press, the diocese of Kenya will not go to Canterbury either, but the official announcement has been postponed due to the difficult political situation in the country. Nearly one quarter of the 880 Anglican Bishops will not attend the Lambeth conference, considered one of the four instruments of unity. The majority of the dissident Bishops will attend an alternative conference, the “Global Anglican Future conference”, organised by conservative evangelicals in Israel in June. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams did not invite to the “Lambeth Conference” the gay bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson, whose ordination in 2003 caused divisions about the problem of homosexuality between the Anglicans, in the attempt to calm down the most conservative dioceses.
