13 Nov 2009/courtesy of Orthodoxie.com) Archbishop Hilarion Alfeyev, the Russian Orthodox Church’s top official for relations with other churches, has been busy this past week putting his revived church’s stamp on the world Christian scene. Over the weekend, he urged Catholics and Orthodox to join forces to defend their traditional version of Christianity. His comments, made during a visit to Paris to inaugurate his Church’s first seminary outside of Russia, come only days after positive remarks he made last week about how the Vatican and Moscow were slowly moving towards a meeting between Moscow’s Patriarch Kirill and Pope Benedict. Also last week, Hilarion indicated the Russian Orthodox might end their ecumenical dialogue with Lutherans after Germany’s Protestants elected a divorced woman, Bishop Margot Kässmann, as the new head of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD). After all this, he planned to take off for a visit to China.
(Photo: Saint Seraphin Russian Orthodox Church (Ecumenical Patriarchate) in a courtyard in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, 27 Sept 2009/Tom Heneghan)
At his news conference, the 43-year-old archbishop said the Catholic and Orthodox churches were “already working together in many areas. Their views are almost identical in matters of doctrine and social ethics. They could show all these values in secular society, nationally or internationally, for example regarding the concept of family, environment, economy, education etc.. Orthodox and Catholics should find a common language and speak with one voice to defend the values that derive from their faith. They could also work effectively in many areas of social and charitable work. This testimony and cooperation, I am sure, could help us take a different approach to the theological issues that divide us. They could make the question of unity more interesting to a wider audience, which is little concerned with theological issues such as the Filioque or primacy issues, but sensitive to questions that concern everyday life. I had the honour to raise these issues with His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI last September, during my visit to Rome.”
He also evoked this theme at the opening of the Russian Orthodox seminary in a former 17th-century Catholic convent in Epinay-sous-Sénart outside of Paris. “The opening of an Orthodox seminary of the Moscow Patriarchate in Paris is an unprecedented event,” he said. “The seminary is called among other things to become an important center of rapprochement between traditional Christian Churches in Europe … The primary task of Paris Seminary is to offer high-quality theological education. The seminary is also to become a link between the Russian Orthodox Church and Christians in France.”
Hilarion said Catholics and Orthodox were making progress in theological discussions on issues that split them in the Great Schism over a millennium ago. But he said the Moscow Patriarchate took a “prudent” approach to the “uncertain and distant results of theological dialogue … it knows that such a dialogue will probably take decades to come to a result.” On that dialogue with German Protestants, Hilarion was quoted last week as citing protocol problems arising from Kässmann’s election. “We can develop the dialogue, but there are lots of simple protocol questions. How will the Patriarch address her or meet with her?” the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying. This elicited a sharp reaction from Kässman and Bishop Martin Schindehütte, Hilarion’s counterpart in the EKD. In a joint letter to Patriarch Kirill, they expressed their “great surprise and incomprehension” at his “unsuitable” remarks on her election. They said there was a Christian commandment of mutual respect “im geschwisterlichen Umgang” (in brotherly and sisterly interchange) among churches despite theological differences and regretted that a planned ceremony on November 30 to mark 50 years of EKD-Russian Orthodox dialogue had to be called off.
__________________ "The greater the love, the greater the sufferings of the soul. The fuller the love, the fuller the knowledge of God. The more ardent the love, the more fervent the prayer. The more perfect the love, the holier the life." ~St. Silouan To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
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PRAY constantly to FIND GOD. LOVE greatly to KNOW GOD. PARTAKE of His Sacraments to EXPERIENCE GOD. ~ from my little Orthodox Prayer book
already working together in many areas. Their views are almost identical in matters of doctrine and social ethics.
social ethics? I can see that. doctrine? no.
ugh, here we go again.
__________________ "Everyone capable of thanksgiving is capable of joy and eternal salvation." -Fr. Alexander Schmemann
"The time of the end, though it seems to be near, we do not know. Let us then struggle while it is still day, with the time and the weapons which our All-merciful God has given us!" -Fr. Seraphim Rose
I agree with Vladyka's statements, and have full faith that our Orthodox Bishops will not compromise the Orthodox faith while increasing communication with our friends in Rome.
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"It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant, O ye peoples: Pascha, the Lord's Pascha; for Christ God hath brought us from death to life, and from earth unto Heaven as we sing the triumphal hymn."
__________________ I will [send you further doctrinal explanations] especially if the Lord should reveal to me all of you to a man, through the grace derived from the Name, join in the common meeting in one faith, and in Jesus Christ, who was of the family of David according to the flesh (2) the Son of Man and the Son of God,so that you may give ear to the bishop and to the presbytery with an undivided mind, breaking one Bread, which is the medicine of immortality, the antidote against death, enabling us to live forever in Jesus Christ. ~ St. Ignatius of Antioch
We must pray for other people with contrition and pain in our soul.
We can only achieve this, if, due to our humbleness, we consider
ourselves the cause of all the problems in the world.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. +Elder Paisios+ To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
I agree with Vladyka's statements, and have full faith that our Orthodox Bishops will not compromise the Orthodox faith while increasing communication with our friends in Rome.
We have to hope, even though many of our bishops have already compromised the Faith many times. I pray for an end to this ecumenism.
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"Let us love silence till the world is made to die in our hearts. Let us always remember death, and in this thought draw near to God in our heart--and the pleasures of this world will have our scorn." - St. Isaac of Syria
We have to hope, even though many of our bishops have already compromised the Faith many times. I pray for an end to this ecumenism.
It was division in Christianity that allowed Islam to be victorious in the crusades. If we continue to remain divided, Islam will be victorious once again in spreading throughout Europe and the US.
We must work to reconcile our differances and present a united front.
Do we compromise our faith? No. But to stop speaking to the RCC completely would be foolish.
We have to get over our own pride and look at the bigger threat at hand.
While you may quote St. Mark of Ephesus at me, the truth of the Sultan's turban ruling the world is closer at hand than you think.
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"It is the day of Resurrection, let us be radiant, O ye peoples: Pascha, the Lord's Pascha; for Christ God hath brought us from death to life, and from earth unto Heaven as we sing the triumphal hymn."
Has anyone read Archbishop Alfeyevs book on St Isaac yet? I plan to buy it soon. I'm so poor now that I have trouble buying books though . Think it's about time for the economy to turn around here in Michigan so I can get a job lol.
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We must pray for other people with contrition and pain in our soul.
We can only achieve this, if, due to our humbleness, we consider
ourselves the cause of all the problems in the world.
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