From the proceedings of the Inter-Orthodox Scientific Congress on 20-24 September 2004 at the Ceremonial Hall of the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Ecumenical Movement.
Ecumenism: Origin, Expectations, Disapprovals
Very limited time is provided for the development of such a big and significant topic which occupies in its entirety all the Orthodox Churches without of course having a common approach on the side of Orthodoxy, because each Autocephalous Orthodox Church, separately experiences and in different ways the consequences of the Ecumenical Movement, corresponding to the degree of interest of the heterodox in the geographic areas of our planet on which extends their jurisdiction.
For this I shall limit myself per force,
only on the general considerations of the topic as perceived by the martyric
Patriarchate of Jerusalem, quoting only the symptomatic events, characteristic
of the state of affairs on the "Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and
the Ecumenical Movement".
Above all I believe that we should dissociate
the terms "Ecumenical" and "Universality" from the things that unfortunately
are happening which with the passing of time become predominant. The Orthodox Church
as the only Church that holds in its bosom unadulterated the faith to the "in
Trinity One God" faithfully follows the command of her Divine Builder to teach
all the Nations the characteristic of the Universality (Ecumenicity) of the Church.
A property that cannot be removed by anyone. The Orthodox Church which besides
is the only infallible Christian Church, has as her basic constituent the
catholicity (universality). It cannot however nor should it be allowed to
confuse the meaning of Ecumenicity with the imposing effort of the syncretistic
Ecumenism which apart from the rest offends and tramples totally the rights of
man, such as that of the freedom of conscience.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem as an
Autonomous Church is active in the area of the Holy Lands, the greater Middle
East to the Persian Gulf and the Arab Emirates. The "Order of the Important
Ones" a development from which today is the "Hagiotaphitic Brotherhood"
(Brotherhood of the Most Holy Sepulchre) has shouldered the protection,
maintenance and care of the Most Holy Shrines, namely the places which are
associated with the presence and life of the Builder of our Faith, Jesus
Christ.
This property separates it from the rest of
the Churches. For the mission of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem is not only the
pastoral care and the looking after its rational flock through the religious,
social, educational and philanthropic activities but of the maintenance of the
unique inheritance and heritage, the care of the Most Holy Shrines which were
built and maintained through the centuries by the pious "Genus Romeans"
(Greeks). In Jerusalem and in the Holy Land the magnificence of "Romiosini" may have shrunk but never extinguished.
Our grievance however remains, for the
destructive polemic against the Church of Jerusalem has not come from foreign
religions but from the heterodox and sometimes even from the faithful. The
malicious polemics of the heterodox finds form in two prongs: 1. the draining
of the Patriarchate from its flock and 2. The acquisition of rights on the Most
Holy Shrines by adoption of illicit means which of course characterize the people,
who if nothing else, cannot be called brothers. Relative to the first part, the
Vatican played but also continues to play a dark role. And I ask you not to
consider the characterization as exaggerated.
The Latin do not have in their tradition
the term "Patriarchate" or "Patriarch" but the term "Cardinal". However when
they conquered Jerusalem, they built the "Patriarchate of Jerusalem" with
obvious intentions, the causing of confusion to the faithful and gradually
their predominance.
They began to build schools in different
cities and towns and created bethels (Welcoming houses), despite of the fact
that all the inhabitants were Orthodox. In their propaganda the settled
Franciscans used and continue to use the specially trained in this field Latin
nuns and through manipulation of the dialogue between Orthodox and Roman
Catholics at the various common Conferences and the informal or formal get
together, they planted in the simple people the saying "Koulou Ouahat", namely
that "we are all one" and there is no difference between the Christian Churches
since we all believe in the same Christ. This proselytizing activity intensified
ever more with the development and advance of the Unia, which is used as an
obvious by now "Trojan Horse" against Orthodoxy.
In the Latin schools the nuns force the
Orthodox children to make the sign of the Cross in the Latin manner and demand
that they attend Latin Churches on the threat of expulsion and deregistration
from the school.
The going around from house to house to
invite the little ones especially the children to teach them music and musical
instruments, a very enticing for this tender age, and when these children go to
these halls, they ask them to first make the sign of the Cross and any children
that make the Cross in the Orthodox way, they hit their hands and show them, as
if correct, the Latin manner.
They encourage the Latin children to attend
church with their Orthodox friends in the Orthodox Church and to have communion
from the Orthodox priests, only to advance in the eyes of the world the
syncretistic so called union but also to criticize the refusal of the Orthodox
priests to offer communion to the Latin, accusing at the same time the Orthodox
for lack of love and cultivating dissension between people.
The attire of the Uniates with the same
vestments of the Orthodox and the dishonesty of the ceremonial and Liturgical
services, in combination with the appearance of co-liturgy of the Uniates with
the Latins and the commemoration of the name of the Pope, has advanced to a
large degree the destructive work of proselytism.
Seeing all these, the Patriarchate of
Jerusalem and aiming the protection of its flock, decided in 1989 to leave the
World Council of Churches (WCC) and terminate generally any form of dialogue
with the heterodox. This decision became a point of friction at an
Inter-Orthodox level, for this stance of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem brought
stagnation to the theological dialogue between Orthodoxy and the heterodox, but
also caused the failure of signed agreements by the rest of the Orthodox
Churches because these agreements did not have Pan-Orthodox validation, not having
the acceptance of the fourth in order, first-born Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
Characteristically I mention the signing of
the Balamand agreement in Lebanon in 1992 between the Orthodox Churches- except
of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem and of the Monophysites- which was served also
to the Church of Jerusalem, an agreement which was denounced by the
Patriarchate of Jerusalem to all leading Autocephalous and Autonomous Orthodox
Churches, to the Holy Mountain, to the Theological Schools of Greece and to all
the Orthodox people and declared it void, with the result of creating a
negative climate and its non-implementation despite the proposing by the
Orthodox Sitting leaders of the implementation of the agreement and at the same
time the sentencing to isolation of the opposing Church of Jerusalem.
This measure however of 1989 unfortunately
caused a great damage to our Patriarchate, for by having no representative at
the different Inter-Christian Councils and Conferences, the many and diverse
enemies of the Patriarchate would spread many falsehoods against it because
there was no objection, with the result of the formation of a climate of
mistrust at an international level and attempts to marginalize the Patriarchate
with the ultimate objective its damage and calling into question its capability
to care and protect the Most Holy Shrines.
So, the Holy and Sacred Synod of the
Patriarchate of Jerusalem decided recently to take part at the different
Pan-Christian Conferences and meetings, through representatives, to defend the
Patriarchate and respond to the different spurious falsehoods.
Regarding the second part, which concerns
the Most Holy Shrines without any exaggeration, to give a fleck of the complete
situation we would need to have days and months at our disposal. I shall
however try to sketch a clear picture for the best possible and most complete
updating, for you, the beloved conference members.
Originally the Pope of Rome Urban 2nd
using lies as his banner of propaganda, launched the first Crusade, not to
liberate but to conquer and exploit the Most Holy Shrines and in general the
Holy Places, inspired by his immeasurable ambition to subjugate the Orthodox
East preached to all those intending to join the Crusaders that they will receive
full remission of sins of all their criminal acts.
The Crusaders, trampling every agreement
with the Emperor Alexios, captured Jerusalem, and carried out what for them was
a "Christian" act, the slaughter of 60,000 fighters as well as non-fighters and
created the Latin Patriarchate in Jerusalem. When the Patriarch of Jerusalem
Symeon went to the Church of the Resurrection to perform the Divine Liturgy,
the Latin forbade him to enter, with the result the true owner of the Sacred
Shrines was forced to abandon Jerusalem and go to Bethlehem and from there to
Cyprus where he reposed.
From then start the great hardships of the
Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and of the Patriarchs, for they had to
face many claims of the Latin but also of the Armenians and of the rest of the
Monophysites, namely the acquisition and consolidation of rights on the Most
Holy Church of the Resurrection but also on the Basilica of the Nativity at
Bethlehem.
Following the capture of Constantinople and
the fall of Romiosini (Greek culture), the heterodox had an abundance of gold
for the purchase of the rights from the Turkish conquerors. The Latin in their
efforts were strengthened by the West and especially by the Government and
ambassadors of France.
The Patriarchate having no support except
from the enslaved Genus Romeans (the Greek Orthodox) and the help of the Patriarchate
of Constantinople, continued the titanic struggle for the preservation and
securing of the inalienable rights of the pious Genus of Romeans (the Greek Orthodox)
on the most Holy Shrines of our blameless Faith.
These struggles continue to this day. The
objective is the same, but only the method has changed. Perhaps one would
expect the progress and advance of the contemporary civilization to generally
influence the lives of the people and to blunt the divisive conditions,
cultivating a spirit of inclusiveness and unity. The Patriarchate of Jerusalem looks
forward on people, respects the right of freedom of opinion and faith,
co-operates in social areas with every well intentioned person, seeking the improvement
of the standard of living of man and generally of the world.
However the aims, especially of the Latin
in the vulnerable sector of the shrines "status quo" lands us in a different
reality, of which I would not like to characterize but leave it to the judgment
of each one on the following events.
It is well known to all from the mass media
the events that took place at the Basilica of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The
information however was selective and no one dared to present publically the
peripheral events which I believe the present members must know.
In the area of the Holy Land the situation
is abnormal due to the fight between the Israelis and the Palestinians. At a
clash some two years ago a team of armed Palestinians entered the Latin
building to avoid a frontal clash and possibly its capture. The Franciscans
told them that whatever may happen at that place no one from the International
Community would pay attention to it, however if they occupied the Church of the
Nativity then they would grab the attention of the world.
It is noteworthy that the Basilica of
Nativity belongs to the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Latin
have next to the Church, the Monastery of Saint Catherine which connects with
the interior of the Church through a small door at the end of the north wall.
For the protection of the Church the central door and all approaches to the
Church were closed except the door of the Latin which locks from their side.
Surely then the armed men came to the
Church after some Franciscan monk invited them to their monastery and then
opened the connecting door and let them enter in the interior of the Church and
re-locked the door behind them and additionally sealed it with wood blocks on
their side.
The hope of the Franciscans was that the
Israelis would storm the Church to capture the armed men who would then blow up
the Church of the Resurrection with the explosives which they had installed.
Their "Christian" plans though failed due to the wise and timely handling of
the situation by the Patriarchate and the success of obtaining the promise of the
Israeli army that it would exercise patience and would not storm the Church.
The abhorrence is further increased from the details of this planning which cannot be mentioned within the allotted time.
The Patriarchate of Jerusalem however struggles daily with the untold and baseless claims also of 1) the Armenians who among other wish to acquire rights to participate in the ceremony of the Holy Light, of 2) the Syrians who trampling the status quo wish to increase their official litanies at the Church of the Resurrection and of 3)the Copts who aim to extend their claims even for a few centimeters in the Rotanda of the Edicule of the Most Holy Sepulchre.
Through this concise introduction I attempted to give a representative picture of the activity of the Ecumenical Movement in the realm of the Church of Jerusalem.
In closing I would like to assure all of you, by interpreting the feeling of all the members of the Hagiotaphitic Brotherhood, that the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem with a high sense of self sacrifice will continue within these aggravating circumstances its superhuman struggle and will not allow anyone to deduct even a speck from its inalienable privileges and rights on the Most Holy Shrines of which He is is the Founder and Builder, and will keep the gates open to all pilgrims, to whom with great love will offer hospitality within the limits of its jurisdiction, which the Church has implemented through the decisions of the Holy and Ecumenical Synods.