ECUMENISM
Crete: Orthodox-Catholic Dialogue CommitteeThe meeting of the Coordination Committee of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church, which took place in Crete from 27th September to 4th October, “stood out, first and foremost, for a strong spirit of commitment to the theological task, as well as by a clear feeling of mutual trust and friendship among its members”. Therefore, an optimistic opinion is contained in the final release, approved on 3rd October by the members of the Committee in Crete, which however has only been published on the website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the opening session – states the release -, the two co-chairmen of the Joint Commission for Dialogue, card. Walter Kasper, President of the Papal Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity, and the Metropolitan Bishop Ioannis Zizioulas of Pergamum (of the Ecumenical Patriarchate), “have expressed their joy and their gratitude to God for the continuation of the theological dialogue between the two Churches”. “The purpose of the dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church – said the two co-chairmen – is to reinstate a full communion between these two Churches. This communion, based on the unity of faith, in accordance with the primitive Church, will find its full expression in the common celebration of the Eucharist”.The purpose of the Crete meeting was to prepare a working document in the run-up to the forthcoming plenary meeting of the Joint Commission for Dialogue, due to take place in Cyprus in 2009, on the invitation of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus. The document – reads the release – is “consistent” with the work that has already been carried out by the latest plenary session of Ravenna (in 2007), which focussed on: “The role of the Bishop of Rome in the communion of the Church in the first millennium”. However, in Crete too – as it happened in Ravenna last year -, the delegates of the Patriarchate of Moscow did not appear in the list of participants. They did not take part in it, because the meeting was attended by the Orthodox Church of Estonia, whose “independence” is a debated and unsolved issue between the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Patriarchate of Moscow. The planned participation of the Patriarch of Moscow, Alexius II, in the meeting of the primates of the autocephalous Orthodox Churches, due to take place in Istanbul (where the Ecumenical patriarchate, and therefore Patriarch Bartholomew I, are based) on 11th and 12th October, is very promising. Romania: inauguration of the new seat in RomeThursday October 9 the new seat of the orthodox archdiocese will be officially opened in Rome, in via Ardeatina 1741. The inauguration will take place from 15.30 to 16.30. The event will be attended by Romanian premier Calin Popescu Tariceanu, and by the minister of Culture and Worship Adrian Iorgulescu, along with other members of the Romanian Government and official guests. Metropolitan Nifon, archbishop of Targoviste will attend as delegate of Patriarch Daniel. Msgr. Siluan (Span), bishop of the Romanian Orthodox faithful in Italy, (enthroned this year in the month of May), will take office in Rome’s seat where the secretariat and the new offices will gradually be established. The building was purchased with the contribution of the Romanian government and Patriarchate, Father Ioan Lupasten, spokesperson of the Romanian Orthodox diocese, told SIR. The seat was blessed past September 7 with the celebration of a liturgy attended also by the President of Romania Traian Basescu.France: Orthodox vespers in Notre-DameEach year, on the occasion of the feast of Saint Denis from Paris (Sunday October 12), the Orthodox celebrate the vespers in Paris’ Notre-Dame Cathedral. This fraternal tradition was undertaken by Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger and today his successor Cardinal André Vingt-Trois, archbishop of Paris, “mindful of the importance of ecumenical dialogue”, extended the invitation to the city’s Orthodox Community. The vespers will be presided over by Msgr. Gabriel de Comane from the Ecumenical Patriarchate. “One year after the visit of Patriarch Alexis II to Notre Dame’s Cathedral in Paris – the statement continues – we are all called to join this prayer, sign of peace and dialogue between Christians”. Choirs will accompany the celebration of the vespers in Orthodox parishes of Paris and Greece.
