2013: Date of East-West “ecumenical” council?
The new Patriarch of the Serbian Orthodox Church is proposing the year 2013 – the 1700-year anniversary of the Edict of Milan – for a major meeting between the Pope and Eastern Orthodox leaders:
Patriarch Irinej said that a 2013 anniversary important to Christians would be a “good opportunity … to meet and talk.”
He added that “with God’s help this (dialogue) would continue to overcome what had happened in history and take a new, Christian road.”
The year 2013 marks 1700 years since Roman emperor Constantine the Great signed the Edict of Milan to establish religious tolerance for Christians.
Serbia’s patriarch has suggested that the ceremony to mark the anniversary could be held in the Serbian city of Nis, emperor Constantine’s birthplace, and include Pope Benedict XVI as well as key Orthodox Christian leaders.
That would be the first ever visit by a pope to Serbia, a rare European country not visited by the Roman Catholic Pope.
This is doubly significant because the Serbian Church is known as a “hard-line” Church when it comes to ecumenical relations. But Irinej, the new Patriarch, seems to be charting a new direction for his Church.
Not surprisingly, the Vatican is enthusiastic about the possibility:
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, director of the Vatican press office,…told the Belgrade paper Blic that this is a suggestion “we welcome with great joy.”
Referring to the predecessor of Patriarch Irinej, Father Lombardi added: “This is a sign that the dialogue that began at the time of Patriarch Pavle will be continued with the new patriarch.
“It would be nice if he would make a step further in order that we meet and see the possibilities for cooperation.”
It is amazing how quickly things have progressed in East-West relations in the past few years. We still have a long way to go, but the signs have been very encouraging lately.
St. Peter and St. Sava, pray for us!
My best “guess” as to the warming of relations is that in the former Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact, many of the Orthodox patriarchs were hand-picked because of their loyalties to the state or because they were Communist agents themselves.
So when the Iron Curtain fell, many, if not most, of these patriarchs were in a completely political realm that they never envisioned happening.
So as each one passed away, a more “engaging” patriarch would be appointed to deal with the new political realities such as Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church and Patriarch Kiril of the Russian Orthodox Church.
They recognize maybe that after a 1000 years it may be time to explore the possibility of re-unification. Especially now that secularism seems to have taken hold over most of the West in the same way communism had a hold on eastern Europe.
But that’s my two cents worth.
Praise be to God!
It would be wonderful if the schism were healed in our lifetime!
The Old Testament, at the end of the exile, describes God working through a pagan Persian – Cyrus the Great. Perhaps we could be aware of a parallel in the current times. The Holy Spirit is capable of working through human beings, even those unaware of the Spirit. Praise God!
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