A European Testimony

Europe’s Orthodox Christian Churches jointly expressed their bereavement for the death of His Beatitude Christodoulos, archbishop of Athens and Primate of the Orthodox Church in Greece. It was unanimously described as a “tragic loss” not only for the Church in Greece but also for the ecumenical world and the life of Churches in Europe. These voices are a token of the popularity gained by His Beatitude inside and outside Greece’s borders, testifying to his commitment for dialogue between Churches. The profile of a great man. “During the nine months devoted to his capacity as the head of the Church in Greece, archbishop Christodoulos distinguished himself for his courageous stands on domestic affairs and social issues in Greece”, is written in a statement issued by “Sop”, the Orthodox press service. “A number of commentators said that if he had run for elections in his Country, he would certainly have gained a large number of votes, such was his popularity in different environments”. Following this wake of popularity, Sop equally mentions his commitment for dialogue with the Church of Rome. “Archbishop Christodoulos will pass down in history especially as the first head of the Church in Greece who received in Athens the Pope of Rome, John Paul II” and “for having paid official visit to his successor, Benedict XVI”, “despite strong opposition of a part of Greece’s episcopacy.” At this point Sop describes the last and painful year of the archbishop who was sick with liver cancer. He had returned home past 26 October after an attempted transplant in the United States. In these last months the archbishop had the opportunity of meeting ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew I, Patriarch Daniel from Romania, archbishop Anastasios from Tirana, Primate of the Church in Albania. There was a significant meeting with Patriarch Bartholomew after the 2004 crisis between the two Churches for the canonical statutes of Greece’s Northern dioceses. This had led to a temporary rupture in the relations between the two primates. Condolences from the Orthodox world. In his message, Alexis II, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, described the “tragic loss” suffered by the Church and “the People in Greece along with that of the entire Orthodox world” while the Department for External Relations of Moscow’s Patriarchate informed Russian agency Interfax that the Russian Orthodox Church will be represented at the archbishop’s funerals by metropolitan Filaret of Minsk, permanent member of the Holy Synod. Also France’s Orthodox Bishops expressed their “deep sorrow”, recalling Christodoulos’ commitment for the youth. “With his words and actions he managed to bring new life to the Church, despite criticism, placing it at the heart of contemporary society”, the Bishops declared. His commitment in the CEC. “We praise God for the way in which His Beatitude supported the ecumenical movement in general and the work of the Conference of European Churches in particular”, stated Colin Williams , Secretary General of the CEC. “His commitment in the field of ecumenical dialogue is visible also in the establishment of relations with the Roman Catholic Church, as testified by the visit of John Paul II in Athens”. ” CEC was part of the commitments of His Beatitude in the realm of contemporary questions. He understood how important it is for the Church to have a say in European affairs and for this voice to be heard also by European institutions”, Colin Williams affirmed. BiographyArchbishop Christodoulos, the primate of the Orthodox Church of Greece, was born in 1939 in Xanthi, he was ordained bishop in 1974, aged just 35, thus becoming the youngest metropolitan bishop in the Church of Greece. In 1998, he was ordained archbishop of Athens, replacing archbishop Seraphine, thus becoming again the youngest primate in the Orthodox Church of Greece. A religious conservative, extremely influential and popular in Greece, at the helm of the Orthodox Church for the last 10 years, Christodoulos boosted the renewal of the life of the Church, opening it up to modernity, by establishing some committees in charge of investigating the problems of biethics, drugs, abused women, single parents. In the ecumenical area, he was responsible for an important reconciliation with the Catholic Church when in 2001 he received Pope John Paul II. His great wish was to reciprocate Pope Wojtyla’s visit in Rome, but it wasn’t possible until 2006 – with the approval of the Holy Synod – on Benedict XVI’s invitation. There, the archbishop did something unprecedented again: he was the first primate in the Orthodox Church of Greece who went on an official visit to the Pope and the Roman Church. On that occasion, in the Basilica of Saint Peter’s, Benedict XVI and Christodoulos read a Joint Declaration, which stated, among other things: “We unanimously assert the need to persevere along the road to a constructive theological dialogue. Despite the difficulties found, this is actually one of the fundamental ways we have available to restore the longed-for unity of the ecclesial body around the altar of the Lord and at the same time to strengthen the credibility of the Christian message received”.