VATICAN CITY, JUNE 3, 2010 thanks to Zenit.org
The forthcoming
preparation of a Pan-Orthodox Council is a reason for joy, says a subsecretary
of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
Msgr. Eleuterio Fortino, who follows relations with the Orthodox Churches for
the pontifical council, said this to the SIR news agency of the Italian
bishops’ conference after Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople
announced the preparation of a council that will include all of the
autocephalous Orthodox Churches.
“We decided to facilitate the process of convening the holy and great
Council of all Orthodox Churches,” said the patriarch in an interview with
Vesti 24 TV, which was recorded on Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia.
The announcement is the crowning point of a historic visit that the patriarch
made to the Orthodox patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Kirill I, a gesture
that has served to overcome distances and differences of past years between
both patriarchs.
Patriarch Bartholomew I referred to the council as one of the major objectives
of the Church in Constantinople and stated that its outcome would “have
the greatest impact on the entire Orthodox world.”
According to him, the event’s agenda “has been already been set up and is
well-known to the Orthodox community.” It covers 10 major points,
including the principles of self-governance and autonomy of the Orthodox
Churches, and a set of issues related to the diptych — the order of mentioning
Churches during service.
“Our Orthodox Church continuously seeks to keep up with the times,
avoiding giving up anything of its teaching, but at the same ti me, responding
to the spirit of the time, helping believers to stand up to the currents of the
real world,” Patriarch Bartholomew I said.
The preliminary work to convene the council was started as far back as the
1960s, although the idea had already arisen at the beginning of the 20th
century.
The All-Orthodox Council is preceded by the meetings of the Pan-Orthodox
Pre-Council Conference and the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission.
The council will discuss problems that have been accumulating over several
centuries, from the time of the last ecumenical council, issues that should be
addressed by the entire Church.
Kirill I also affirmed that relations between the Russian and Constantinople
Churches are moving forward.
The meeting of these two Orthodox leaders was decisive for the future
convocation of the Council because, although the Patriarchate of Constantinople
has a sy mbolic place among the Orthodox Churches, it has only 3.5 million
faithful. Worldwide there are 225 million Orthodox faithful, 140 million of
whom belong to the Russian Orthodox Church.
The rapprochement between Constantinople and Moscow is viewed favorably by the
Catholic Church, as it will also enable progress to be made in the dialogue
between Orthodox and Catholics.
Msgr. Fortino explained that a Pan-Orthodox Council “will make a decisive
contribution to the communion and cooperation of the Orthodox Churches of our
time.”
He noted that one of the items on the table at the council will be “the
question of the attitude of the Orthodox Churches toward the Christian
world.”
Msgr. Fortino affirmed: “As a Catholic I look with pleasure and interest
at all that happens between the Churches.
“The vitality of the Orthodox Churches is important for the Church of
Christ in the world. But it is also positive for the restoration between
Catholics and Orthodox, also for surmounting critical or reticent fringes,
present in several Churches, to ecumenical relations.”