Delegations of the Orthodox Church of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, of the Russian Orthodox Church, of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, of the Evangelical Methodist Church, of the Baptist Church have taken part this morning in the ecumenical prayer that opened the session of the third day of the IV National ecclesial meeting. The prayer was headed by mgr. Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Bishops Commission for ecumenism and dialogue of the Italian Bishops Conference (Cei). “A moment like this morning’s said mgr. Paglia to SIR is a sign of hope for the ecumenical journey because it proves that divisions do not reach heaven, actually they can be overcome by love and hope, a perspective that is shared by all Christians and projects us towards the future”. Meetings like today’s are “the mirror of a perspective that feeds on different relationships, meetings, initiatives: just think of the ecclesiastic edifices that the Italian dioceses offer to our Orthodox brothers”. From a European perspective, commented the bishop, “great is the contribution given by Italy to the third ecumenical assembly of Sibiu, because the liveliness of the Italian churches and ecumenism has substantial impact on other European countries as well”.
