The two candelabra

“The task of ecumenical commitment is even more urgent today, to give to our society, which is marked by tragic conflicts and lacerating divisions, a sign and an impulse towards reconciliation and peace,” said Benedict XVI at the Angelus of Sunday January 18 in the context of the “Week of Prayer for Christian Unity” that opened Monday 19 (until January 25) on the Biblical theme from the Book of the Prophet Ezekiel: “One in your hand” (Ezekiel 37:17). The Pope’s words take on a special meaning if applied to the Holy Land, to Gaza, which witnessed yet another tragic conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. To this regard Daniele Rocchi met renowned biblical scholar and Director Emeritus of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum in Jerusalem, father Frederic Manns.The Holy Land has always been defined an ecumenical laboratory. What are the current lights and shadows of dialogue?“The Holy Land is an ecumenical laboratory. As in all laboratories, every now and then there are explosions. Also in the Holy Land, in the Holy Sepulchre, every now and then there are clashes between the Armenians and the Greeks. This is no reason to be upset, since the police and television networks are informed well ahead. Until Christians remain divided, they don’t constitute a danger to others. Their life contradicts the message they proclaim, the Jews continue saying. It isn’t easy to address the question of the Christians in the Holy Land, since they are the suffering limbs of the body of Christ. The presence of this minority is a miracle. It continues to exist in spite of many difficulties, although their life in Bethlehem is in a cage and they experience the horrors of the war in Gaza. Western Christians ought to be humble when they speak of their Eastern brothers”. The divisions between Christians negatively impress those who visit the Holy Land…“Many pilgrims keep saying: Churches’ division in Jerusalem is a scandal, since in the cenacle Jesus prayed for unity. This is true, but they forget that major divisions didn’t spring in Jerusalem. These were imported from abroad. And Jerusalem bears the consequences. The number of Christians in the Middle East is decreasing at a steady pace. It’s a sociological fact: the faithful easily identify as Christians, while the clergy identify at confessional level with their own Church. What counts for the faithful is Christians’ solidarity to non-Christians. The war in Gaza bears evidence to this fact. The Orthodox and the Protestant cooperate in the framework of Caritas and youth movements. It is often said that unity is not an issue, since we are ‘only separated by the question of festivities’, over which our Patriarchs haven’t reached an agreement. While elsewhere there is agreement over joint Christmas and Easter celebrations. Jerusalem, which is viewed as everyone’s mother, is unable to unite her own children. Ecumenical relations are more natural and fraternal in Galilee, also at the level of Church leaders. Problems always concern individual relations. Some are more open while others are less. The grace of episcopate does not change one’s true nature”. Is ecumenism more developed at grass-root level or at the level of the hierarchies? “Grass-root ecumenism isn’t a problem. While at the level of hierarchies it isn’t an easy matter. Jerusalem has the sad advantage of having 13 churches plus a Custody of the Holy Land for a very small flock. But which bishop would be ready to renounce his mitre? It must be said that these bishops convene every two months since 1994 and the patriarchs meet almost every month during the Intifada, to the point that a number of Jews said ‘they will end up uniting against us’. Bishops and patriarchs jointly discuss the common problems affecting the small Christian minority. It’s an important step forward. Those who insist on ecumenism are the communities of the international Church represented in Jerusalem; the prayers for the Week of Unity are mostly attended by Christian foreigners. There’s no serious theological debate under way, since not all Churches have their theologians here. The Orthodox Church believes that the theological dialogue must be carried out by high-ranking authorities”. Most Christians in the Holy Land are Orthodox. Does this have a positive or negative influence in the dialogue with the Catholics? “The Orthodox accuse Catholics of proselytism, which is another problem of ecumenism. This claim was grounded in the past centuries. In fact, many faithful of Latin rite were originally Orthodox. Since the Latin Patriarchate was restored, a missionary movement gradually developed in the Holy Land. The missionaries did an excellent job and curbed the spread of Islam with Christian schools and social works. However, in the XIX century this restoration indirectly entailed the return of the “schismatics” to the Church of Rome. The Orthodox Church hasn’t come to accept that the Catholic Church took advantage of its temporary lack of people and means. This wound is still open. With Vatican II the Catholic Church changed its strategy. But in the Eastern world everyone has a good memory and they’re not willing to forget. It will take time to heal the wounds of the past”. Do the divisions between Christians negatively affect inter-religious dialogue with Muslims and Jews? “In the past 40 years ecumenism made great leaps forward, especially on the part of Catholics. The same cannot be said about inter-religious dialogue. For the time being, inter-religious dialogue doesn’t exist. War is a lack of dialogue. When be peace will be restored efforts will need to be made for the resumption of dialogue between Muslims and Jews. Only the small Christian minority can open up to the dialogue between the children of Abraham. Christians share the Bible with the Jews and the Arabic language with the Muslims. Who is in a better position to erect bridges and tear down the walls?” What do you believe will be the future of ecumenism in the Holy Land? “Christian unity is a gift of the spirit; a gift that can be accepted or rejected. It all depends on the Churches’ response to this gift. Those who are optimistic recall the prophecy of Isaiah: “Spears will be changed into pruning hooks”. Their decreasing number will compel Christians to unity. We are destined to unity; the alternative is to disappear from the Middle East. We have no other choice. Those who are pessimistic will recall that the Church of Jerusalem never experienced perfect unity, not even at the beginning. It always knew and accepted pluralism. Judeo-Christians didn’t accept Paul. The Judeo-Christian Church was divided into various groups, like first-century Judaism. The East prefers the freedom of the Sons of God to a unity that will enable the hierarchy to draw statistics and feel in peace. I would like to close with a symbol. In the Latin Church of Saint Salvatore, that hosts the Custody of the Holy Land, the faithful can admire two large candelabra placed in the choir. A friar told me the story. Bits and pieces of the candelabra that were remnants of the fights in the Holy Sepulchre between Catholics and Schismatics – as they were called at the time – were brought together in the sacristy. One day a sacristan decided to send all the pieces to a foundry in Italy that welded them into the large candelabra visible today. One day all our struggles will be parts of a beautiful mosaic representing the Christians of the Holy Land, with their quests, their doubts, and their fears. Greeks, Armenians, Latins, Copts, Syrians, Ethiopians and all the Protestant Churches will understand that the only Lord of history respects all cultures and understands all languages”.