The Pope Appeals For Full Unity Between Catholics And Orthodox

26-May-2003 – Vatican Information Service

VATICAN CITY, MAY 26, 2003 (VIS) - Today John Paul II received a delegation of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Bulgaria, headed by Metropolitan Kalinik. Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and several bishops were also present.

The Pope asked members of the delegation to convey to His Beatitude Maxim, patriarch of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, his "spiritual closeness, in the hope that full unity between Catholic and Orthodox Christians is achieved as soon as possible."

"While Bulgaria opens up to change, on its way to an expanded Europe," he said, "it is necessary to revive the rich patrimony of faith and culture that the Church and the Bulgarian nation share, and which constitutes the miracle of the work of evangelization carried out by the two brother saints from Thessalonica, Cyril and Methodius, whose legacy stills exists and continues to be for the Slavs deeper and stronger than any other division, after eleven centuries of Christianity among them."

After recalling St. Cyril's words before his death, which were an appeal for unity in the Church, the Holy Father affirmed: "This message of faith, so rooted in your culture and in your Church community, is and continues to be the goal which we must reach in order that Eastern and Western Christians can fully unite and together make the 'plenitude' of the universality of the Church shine better."

John Paul II noted that the Bulgarian delegation came to Rome to commemorate the first anniversary of his apostolic trip to Sofia and "the unforgettable encounter with His Beatitude Maxim" as well as to inaugurate the liturgical use of Sts. Vincent and Anastatius Church near the Trevi Fountain in Rome.

"This experience of fraternal sharing and of reciprocal respect for our legitimate differences," he concluded, "can serve as encouragement to get to know each other better and to collaborate also in other contexts and circumstances, every time that we have the opportunity. May this be a good sign for the future of our relations! I thank the Lord and I ask him to bless our steps on the path which we are on."

Just saw on the BBC news, a story about a little village in Corsica with one priest serving two parishes: one RC and one Greek Orthodox!
Years ago, when the RC parish lost its priest and could not get another, permission was granted for the GO priest also to serve the RC parish, in the Latin Rite. Beautiful.

Dear djs,

A truly "bi-ecclesial priest!"

I understand that when the Latin Mass is served in the Greek language, the Filioque is omitted.

That would be beautiful indeed!

Alex

Dear Alex:

Your response to djs is quite intriguing:



It could be beautiful indeed but I think it might be an impossibility.

The current ROMAN Mass, the Missale Romanum, Novus Ordo, can be served in Latin (original/official language) and in Greek, and in other myriad of languages.

The old Missale Romanum (Tridentine) is of course served exclusively in Latin!

The Greek Orthodox priest serving the Roman Mass, even if it is celebrated in his Greek language, may not alter the Creed in either version.

He could if he is serving the Divine Liturgy for the Romans, which is permissible, instead of the Roman Mass.

Am I being too rigid?


AmdG

Dear Amado,

Well, the Roman Catholic Church of Greece itself does NOT use the Filioque when reciting the Nicene Creed - nowhere in Greece where there is an RC parish will you find it.

And when the Pope himself says Mass in Greek, the Filioque is not used.

The document promulgated by the Vatican on January 6, 1996 states this - and it is on St Elias' parish website.

So, yes, you are being rigid . . .

As for altering the Order of the Mass, have you been to some Latin parishes lately?

Alex

Well, I suspect that the Latin mass is in French, anyway.

I did some searching, but crashed and lost all the URL's. The village in question is a well-known "Greek village" that dates back only a few centuries. Is the "Greek church" Orthodox or Catholic? There some 45,000 eastern catholics in France, not counting another 15,000 Ukrainians who have a separate exarchate there. Tourist info routinely designates this Corsican parish as Greek Orthodox, but a number of Eastern Catholic sites link to it as Greek Catholic. There is a 1999 Time magazine article that designates it as Greek Catholic.

If it is Greek Catholic, how on earth could the BBC miss the point? There is nothing especially unique about a bi-ritual priest, yet the BBC argued this village represents an example, unique in the world, of Orthodox-Catholic unity.

http://www.corsica.net/corsica/uk/regajac/cargese/carg_egg.htm

Thanks, DJ, for dragging me over here (didn't realize you folks already were discussing this!).

That URL was the only one I also could find about a "Greek Church" on Corsica.

As I said in the other thread, the BBC report did state "Greek Orthodox," and cited it as a unique example worldwide, but the woman who was interviewed identified herself and her cousins as "Roman Catholic" and "Greek Catholic" respectively. I'm with you--there's nothing particularly unique about a bi-ritual Catholic priest.

Can someone clear this up?

Dear Friends,

It has been my experience that the term "Greek Orthodox" is how many in the West view the Greek Catholics too.

They see our liturgical identity with the Orthodox East as our defining feature alone and so we are "Greek Orthodox."

This is nothing new, however. To be a "Catholic" in Ukraine in some areas means that one is "Polish." To be "Orthodox" means that one is Ukrainian or Russian.

My Anglican friends insist on calling me "Eastern Rite Catholic" since our union in faith with Rome is what defines us as Catholics with the "externals" constituting a "Rite" only.

Then again there is our local mayor who insisted on calling Patriarch Husar a "Roman Catholic Ukrainian Cardinal."

Alex

Dear Friends East and West,

It is because of actions like this that the current Pope is called Pope John Paul II the Great.

Paul