"The Holy Eucharist is not a means and a stage towards the unity of the Christian Church, but the deepest manifestation of the unity of the Church, its highlight". It was stated by Daniel, Patriarch of the Rumanian Orthodox Church, in a speech to the members of the Holy Synod, published last night by the press agency "Basilica" of the Rumanian Patriarchate. With these words, the Patriarch meant to "reassert the fundamental principle of the Orthodox ecclesiology and implicitly of the Orthodox ecumenism", following the decision of the Holy Synod about the fate of the metropolitan bishop Corneanu, who "had taken Communion" during a Greek-Catholic Mass on May 25th. Such gestures of "so-called inter-communion" he explained "reduce the dogmatic differences between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church and undermine the unity of faith as the foundation of the reconstruction of the communion between the two Churches". In addition, the Patriarch recalled that it is forbidden to Orthodox people to receive the Eucharist in a different Church and added that with this decision "we do not mean to treat with arrogance or contempt the other Christians or interrupt the theological dialogue". "Through a sincere, deep theological dialogue concluded the Patriarch Daniel -, the dogmas that separate the Catholic Church from the Orthodox Church can be redefined".
