Resuming contacts
52.
With regard to the Church of Rome and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople,
the process which we have just mentioned began thanks to the mutual openness
demonstrated by Popes John XXIII and Paul VI on the one hand, and by the
Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I and his successors
on the other. The resulting change found its historical expression in the
ecclesial act whereby "there was removed from memory and from the midst of
the Church" 84 the remembrance of the excommunications which nine
hundred years before, in 1054, had become the symbol of the schism between Rome and Constantinople. That ecclesial event, so filled with
ecumenical commitment, took place during the last days of the Council, on 7 December 1965. The
Council thus ended with a solemn act which was at once a healing of historical
memories, a mutual forgiveness, and a firm commitment to strive for communion.
This gesture had been
preceded by the meeting of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras
I in Jerusalem,
in January 1964, during the Pope's pilgrimage to the Holy
Land. At that time Pope Paul was also able to meet Benedictos, the Orthodox Patriarch of Jerusalem. Later,
Pope Paul visited Patriarch Athenagoras at the Phanar (Istanbul),
on 25 July 1967,
and in October of the same year the Patriarch was solemnly received in Rome. These prayer-filled
meetings mapped out the path of rapprochement between the Church of the East
and the Church of the West, and of the re-establishment of the unity they
shared in the first millennium.
Following the death of Pope
Paul VI and the brief pontificate of Pope John I, when the ministry of Bishop
of Rome was
entrusted to me, I considered it one of the first duties of my pontificate to
renew personal contact with the Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios
I, who had meanwhile succeeded Patriarch Athenagoras
in the See of Constantinople. During my visit to the Phanar
on 29 November 1979,
the Patriarch and I were able to decide to begin theological dialogue between
the Catholic Church and all the Orthodox
Churches in canonical
communion with the See of Constantinople. In this regard it would seem
important to add that at that time preparations were already under way for the
convocation of a future Council of the Orthodox Churches. The quest for harmony
between them contributes to the life and vitality of these sister Churches; this
is also significant in view of the role they are called to play in the path
towards unity. The Ecumenical Patriarch decided to repay my visit, and in
December 1987 I had the joy of welcoming him to Rome with deep affection and with the
solemnity due to him. It is in this context of ecclesial fraternity that we
should mention the practice, which has now been in place for a number of years,
of welcoming a delegation from the Ecumenical Patriarchate to Rome for the
Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, as well as the custom of sending a
delegation of the Holy See to the Phanar for the
solemn celebration of Saint Andrew.
53.
Among other things, these regular contacts permit a direct exchange of
information and opinions with a view to fostering fraternal coordination.
Furthermore, taking part together in prayer accustoms us once more to living
side by side and helps us in accepting and putting into practice the Lord's
will for his Church.
On the path which we have
travelled since the Second Vatican Council, at least two particularly telling
events of great ecumenical significance for relations between East and West
should be mentioned. The first of these was the 1984 Jubilee in commemoration
of the eleventh centenary of the evangelizing activity of Saints Cyril and Methodius, an occasion which enabled me to proclaim the two
Holy Apostles of the Slavs, those heralds of faith, co-patrons of Europe. In 1964, during the Council, Pope Paul VI had
already proclaimed Saint Benedict patron of Europe.
Associating the two Brothers from Thessalonica with the great founder of
Western monasticism serves indirectly to highlight that twofold ecclesial and
cultural tradition which has proved so significant for the two thousand years
of Christianity which mark the history of Europe.
Consequently it is worth recalling that Saints Cyril and Methodius
came from the background of the Byzantine
Church of their day, at a
time when the latter was in communion with Rome. In proclaiming them patrons of Europe, together with Saint Benedict, it was my intention
not only to reaffirm the historical truth about Christianity in Europe, but also to provide an important topic for the
dialogue between East and West which has raised such high hopes in the period
since the Council. As in Saint Benedict, so in Saints Cyril and Methodius, Europe can
rediscover its spiritual roots. Now, as the second millennium since the Birth
of Christ draws to a close, they must be venerated together, as the
patrons of our past and as the Saints to whom the Churches and nations of Europe entrust their future.
54.
The other event which I am pleased to recall is the celebration of the
Millennium of the Baptism of Rus' (988-1988). The
Catholic Church, and this Apostolic See in particular, desired to take part in
the Jubilee celebrations and also sought to emphasize that the Baptism
conferred on Saint Vladimir in Kiev
was a key event in the evangelization of the world. The great Slav nations of Eastern Europe owe their faith to this event, as do the
peoples living beyond the Ural Mountains and
as far as Alaska.
In this perspective an
expression which I have frequently employed finds its deepest meaning: the
Church must breathe with her two lungs! In the first millennium of the history of
Christianity, this expression refers primarily to the relationship between Byzantium and Rome. From the time of
the Baptism of Rus' it comes to have an even wider
application: evangelization spread to a much vaster area, so that it now
includes the entire Church. If we then consider that the salvific
event which took place on the banks of the Dnieper goes back to a time when the Church in
the East and the Church in the West were not divided, we understand clearly
that the vision of the full communion to be sought is that of unity in
legitimate diversity. This is what I strongly asserted in my Encyclical Epistle
Slavorum Apostoli
85 on Saints Cyril and Methodius and in my
Apostolic Letter Euntes in Mundum 86 addressed to the faithful of the
Catholic Church in commemoration of the Millennium of the Baptism of Kievan Rus'.
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