CHAPTER TWO - TESTING THE SPIRITS | CHAPTER THREE - THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN | CHAPTER FOUR - ANALYZING THE MESSAGES CHAPTER 6 Attempts at Unity The first attempt at unity came at the Council of Clermont in 1095. The Byzantine Emperor Alexius Comnenus 1 asked for Western assistance to drive out the Moslem Seljuk Turks from his land. Pope Urban II truly hoped to help him and thereby create a common effort between East and West that would bring back the dream of unity. Failures Instead of helping the Eastern Empire, the crusaders of the West sacked Constantinople and the Church of Holy Wisdom in 1204 and further estranged the Byzantines from Rome. This was a mistake that is rightfully very hard for Easterners. to forget. These were fellow Christians, although separated, who had the same Jesus Christ. Pope Urban's dream to free the Holy Land deepened the split. There was an invitation to unity at the Lateran Council of 1215, but it was preceded with the uncharitable reminder of the faults of the East without mentioning the faults of the West. True love would have been to admit Rome's faults and to have not mentioned the others. Nonetheless, something good did come out of the Lateran Council. Rome admitted and renewed the ancient privileges of the patriarchal sees, invited them to return to unity without changing their customs and rites. There were other attempts at unity at the Councils of Lyons in 1274 and of Florence in 1438, but the capture of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453 broke up the Orthodox Church into several fragmentary, national, and autonomous churches. There now became many Orthodox elders to deal with. To make things worse, the Western Church split in 1530 into many fragmentary Churches. There were short-lived successes between Rome and England in those early years, but when unity is not done with love, forgiveness, and forgetfulness, it never lasts. Unity happens when one Church unites with another Church and teaches one doctrine. Their methods of teaching and worshipping need not be the same. The Oriental Churches (Greek or Eastern Rite Churches) have at times joined the Western Church (Roman or Latin) and at the same time have kept their customs and traditions. Successes The only lasting success in uniting one Church with another has been some Eastern Rite Churches with the Roman Catholic Church. Over the years different groups of these Eastern Rite Churches have united with Roman Catholics and at the same time have kept intact all their ancient customs. They are referred to as the Oriental Rite Churches and have equal status with the Roman Rite Churches. The Armenians reunited with Rome during the Crusades. It wasn't until 1595 that another group, the Ukrainians or Galician Ruthenians united with Rome. The following year the Ruthenians (Carpatho-Russians) united with Rome. In 1611 the Yugoslavs, Serbs and Croatians returned. and soon after, the Byelorussians (White Russians) joined them.. The Albanians joined Rome in 1628. The Hungarian Rite united with Rome in 1646. In the year 1697 Romanians joined Rome. In 1726 Melkites joined Rome physically, although had never left spiritually. In 1741 the Copts returned to Catholic unity, and in 1781 the Syrian Eastern Rite Churches in Greece and Turkey returned. Ethiopian Churches joined the Catholics in 1846. Bulgarians followed in 1861. Georgians (Russia) returned the same year. In 1905 Orientals of the Russian Rite returned. And as late as 1930 an Eastern Church known as Malankarese of India became part of the Roman Church. I have deliberately listed all these Eastern Block Churches because they pave the way for the Twentieth Century. There are almost no reunions outside these unions for good reason. The Protestants believe in diversity of belief. The Greek Orthodox believe in unity of belief, but diversity of authority. Therefore, there has been no call to unity. Pope John XXIII When Pope John XXIII became the Holy Father of the Catholic world, unity dominated his mind. He made a prediction about Damascus. He had already read the "Secret of Fatima." He called for an "Ecumenical Council." He (and his predecessors) met with all the leaders of the separated Churches. He invited all separated brethren to attend the Vatican II Council. Not only did he want them to come, but to participate actively and to advise the Church on everything it could do to break down the walls of separation. Many suggestions made by Protestant and Greek Orthodox leaders that did not violate the "Doctrine of the Faith" was enacted. Catholic Churches were stripped of unnecessary decorations. The Latin language was discarded. Language that did not foster a spirit of loving unity was eliminated. Bishops and priests were advised to admit the "mistakes Catholics made in the past, even to overstate them. It was the beautiful speech of the Melckite Patriarch of Antioch, Maximos IV Sayegh, that helped change the language of the Church: "Christ offered the first Eucharistic Sacrifice in a language which could be understood by all who heard him, namely, Aramaic. ..Never could the idea have come to them [the Apostles] that in a Christian gathering the celebrant should read the texts of Holy Scripture, sing psalms, preach or break bread, and at the same time use a language different from that of the community gathered there. ..because this language [Latin] was spoken by the faithful of that time, Greek was abandoned in favor of Latin. ..Why, then, should the Roman Church cease to apply the same principle today?" The Church listened to the Patriarch, and the language was changed. A fixed date for Easter, such as the first Sunday in April, was proposed provided that Eastern Orthodox, Protestant and civil authorities would agree. Dr. Kristen Skysgaard, of the Lutheran World Federation, expressed his desire, "that the visible union of Christians can be quickly achieved." Pope Paul VI voiced his "desire to receive you not only on the threshold of our house, but in the very intimacy of our heart." This reminds me of Mirna's words, "From my point of view, unity will not be achieved unless we unify our hearts and plant peace, love and faith in them." Pope Paul asked that we focus "not on what has been, but on what must be. We turn toward a new thing to be born, a dream to be realized." Cardinal Bea gave the true meaning of "loving toward unity" when he added, "We must welcome criticism with humility, with reflection, and even defend itself by turning a deaf ear to suggestions that come from honest voices, especially if the voices are those of friends and brothers:' Russian Orthodox observer-delegate, Archpriest Vitaly Borovoy said: The whole history of Christianity in our era is the history of the action of the Holy Spirit upon us and upon our churches, calling us to unity and helping us understand the necessity and urgency of this task. We are always ready to help our Roman Catholic brothers in anything which may contribute to harmony and unity among all Christians, so that, with a single tongue and a single heart, we may together glorify the most Holy Spirit." Breaking the Walls Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I, made a common declaration on Dec. 7, 1965, expressing their mutual regret for offenses the churches caused each other in the past and stated their intent to erase from memory the sentences of excommunication which followed them. Through justice and mutual forgiveness they hoped to overcome the differences between the churches with the help of the Holy Spirit, and that full communion of faith, brotherly concord and sacramental life would be restored. Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I again met on Oct. 27, 1967. They calleg for a dialogue of charity. They expressed their conviction' that the restoration of full communion between the churches would be found within fidelity to the traditions of the Fathers and to the inspirations of the Holy Spirit, who remains always with the Church. Pope Paul VI and Orthodox Catholic Patriarch of Armenians met on May 12, 1970 and called for a more profound unity. Pope Paul VI and Mar Ignatius Jacob III, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch met on Oct. 27, 1971 and declared that they had no difference in the faith they professed, and so promised to work together to remove all obstacles to complete unity. Paul VI and Shenouda III, Coptic Orthodox Pope of Alexandria met on May 10, 1973 and declared that they were: "determined and confident in the Lord to achieve the fullness and perfection of that unity which is His gift." Paul VI and Anglican Archbishop Donald Coggan of Canterbury declared on Apr. 29, 1977: "that goal which is Christ's Will-the restoration of complete communion in faith and sacramental life." Pope John Paul II and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch, Dimitrios I met on Nov. 30, 1970 and mutually stated their desire for "Purification of the collective memory of our churches is an important fruit of the dialogue of charity and an indispensable condition of future progress." John Paul II and Anglican Archbishop Robert Runcie of Canterbury met on May 29, 1982. They opened a commission to recommend practical steps towards a unity in faith and a full communion. Pope John Paul II and Ignatius Zakka I, Syrian Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch met June 23, 1984 and stated that there was "no real basis for the sad divisions which arose between us concerning the doctrine of the Incarnation." The norms of Vatican II encouraged common prayer services for Christian unity. Vatican II stated that all Churches of the East and West should be offered equal dignity, no matter what their different spiritual heritages, liturgies, or ecclesiastical disciplines. Under the heading above called "SUCCESSES" I listed a long list of Churches from the Eastern Block that joined the West in common unity. It was to these Eastern Rite Churches that the four Popes of Unity addressed their prayer that they would work hand in hand with the separated Eastern Churches in Charity, Love, mutual prayer, common Liturgies and shared sacraments. These Popes believed that it would be from the Eastern Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox that full unity would be achieved. It is in this background that Mirna and Nicolas married. It is in this background that the House of Soufanieh opened its doors. Probably the best example of attempts at unity is in the document of Pope Paul VI in 1972. For many years the Catholics and the Orthodox argued over the Holy Spirit. The Catholics saying "from the Son" and the Orthodox saying "through the Son." Thomas Aquinas insisted six hundred years ago that there was no difference in the two ways of understanding it. However, the wording remained the same for all these years. Finally, in 1972 in the document called "Declaration Regarding The Safeguarding of Faith In the Mysteries Of The Incarnation And Of The Most Blessed Trinity From Some Recent Errors" We read in Chapter Four: "The Holy Spirit who proceeds, from all eternity, from the Father and from the Son, or, in other words, from the Father through the Son:' The addition of, "or, in other words, from the Father through the Son." is a major concession towards unity that should not be overlooked, for now there is no difference between the two churches on this point. The Seats of Power Actually, what separates the East and West is not so much theology or Canon Law or differences in Liturgical Rites, but it is the POWER OF THE ELDERS. This was best expressed at the Vatican Council- by Archpriest Borovoy of the Russian Orthodox Church: "When I return to Russia, no one is going to ask me what the theologians said. But they will ask, 'Were some of the Eastern patriarchs there, and what places did they occupy?' Patriarch Maximos IV rightfully stated that it was illogical that the Council, while striving to break down the barriers between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, should at the same time seat the patriarchs of the Eastern Catholic Churches after the cardinals. One of the most cherished rights which the patriarchs had always enjoyed was their precedence in rank. In earlier centuries, the patriarchs had always followed immediately after the Pope, who himself was still called Patriarch of the West. In fact, ecclesiastical tradition from the earliest centuries consistently lists the rank of the Sees in the Universal Church in the following order: Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem." Again Patriarch Maximos IV stated, "the rank assigned to them by the canons of the earliest ecumenical councils, that is, the first place immediately after the Supreme Pontiff: In fact, the decisions of the earliest ecumenical councils in this matter had been respected at the Council of Florence in 1439, where, by order of Pope Eugene IV, the Patriarch of Constantinople, Joseph II, had occupied the first place after the Pope. "This question is a grave one and may constitute a nearly insurmountable obstacle to future union between the Orthodox and Catholic Churches. "The most serious problem of all is that of having bishops of different Eastern Catholic rites in the same See, with jurisdiction over the same territory." These are, the real things that separate and they always have been. Nowhere in the world is this more evident than in Damascus, where there are more bishops and Patriarchs than in all of Mexico. Charity means to give something. Someone has to have enough love, enough charity to give up his power, his seat, his position. If not, there will never be unity. Those who are well read in history will note that once, in the interest of unity, the Pope gave up his seat. I know of many saintly Cardinals, and I believe if it had to be, even the Pope, himself, would step down for the sake of a unified Kingdom. Nationalism is another cause of separation. Nationalism must be given up, at least in the Church of God. To have followers of Christ clinging to "their Church" on one side of the street because it was the church of their fathers; and followers of Christ clinging to "their Church" on the other side of the street because it is Polish, or Italian, or Syrian is stupid. Again I will give the last word to Mirna: "What God is asking of us is difficult. It won't come about unless the big ones give up their seats, their haughtiness, and their greed:' Meetings and Dialogue to Nowhere A Vatican Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity was set up in 1960. In the U.S., the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs was established in 1964, The World Council of Churches had started in 1954, The National Council of Churches in 1950, Consultation on Church Union in 1962, and The Graymoor Ecumenical Institute formed the same year. The American Baptist Convention met four times from 1967 to 1971 for unity dialogue. The Southern Ecumenical Institute of Baptists met 24 times from 1969-86. The Council on Christian Unity met 15 times from 1967-80. The Anglican-Roman Catholic Consultation had 31 meetings from 1965-85. The Lutheran World Ministries talked about unity at 47 gatherings from 1965-86. The United Methodists met 21 times from 1966-81. The Orthodox Conference of Cannonical Orthodox Bishops of America talked unity at 31 meetings from 1965-85. The Oriental Orthodox Churches met 11 times from 1978-84. The Polish National Catholics met four times from 1984-86. The Roman Catholic-Presbyterian Consultation Group worked on unity in 31 meetings from 1965-85. International Bilateral Commissions were set up. The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, The International Theological Colloquium between Baptists and Catholics, The Disciples of Christ-Roman Catholic Dialogue, The Evangelical-Roman Catholic Dialogue on Mission, The Joint Lutheran-Roman Catholic Study Commission, The Joint Methodist-Roman Catholic Commission, The International Catholic-Orthodox Theological Commission, The Pentecostal-Roman Catholic Conversations, and The Reformed-Roman Catholic Conversations. And what have these commissions, this dialogue, these studies, these conversations produced in the way of unity? Nothing except talk,' talk, talk and talk. Oh, I'm sure the Theologians and the Canon Lawyers will be angry with that statement. They will say that, "we came' to this agreement, or that understanding, or compromised on this and that point." This will not unite.
Unity will come when we refuse to repeat the mistakes of our fathers; when we refuse to remember the mistakes of our fathers; when we refuse to see national and ethnic differences; when we the people say we have had enough of this talk and walk en masse out of our respective Churches and meet in the streets, hugging, loving, giving, forgiving, and praying together. Then you will see the Power, and the Glory of the Holy Spirit. |