Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew Addresses Orientale Lumen Conference

Friday, 18 May 2007 10:38

Istanbul & Fairfax, VA - 18 May 2007 - At the opening session of the Second Orientale Lumen EuroEast Conference held last week in Istanbul, His All Holiness Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch and Archbishop of Constantinople, welcomed and addressed clergy and laity from several Orthodox and Catholic Churches, gathered from two continents and eight countries. 

The Orientale Lumen Conference is a lay-organized and run ecumenical movement working to achieve unity among the historic Christian churches that became divided in the year 1054.  It is the only such movement to have the blessing and support of Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Eastern Catholic patriarchs and bishops.

In his remarks, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew applauded the work of the Conference, and said:  “your own presence and participation … further confirms our belief that all of us, each from our own position in the Body of Christ, must reach out to our fellow-Christians in an effort to obey the will and fulfill the commandment of Our Lord, ‘that we [his disciples] may be one. (John 17:11)’”

The Patriarch emphasized the primacy of liturgy in the church:  “It is in liturgy that all aspects of Church faith and spirituality, of Church life and practice, of pastoral ministry and canon law, derive their essential source and find their ultimate significance.”

Chairman of the Orientale Lumen Conferences, Jack Figel, noted: “It was a great moment, to stand in Constantinople, side by side with Catholic and Orthodox, learning from each other.  The Orientale Lumen conferences are unique in the ecumenical dialogue because they are open to the public, with clergy and laity alike fully participating, along with church leaders and theologians.”

Plenary speakers during the conference included Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia from Oxford, Archimandrite Robert Taft, SJ, of the Pontifical Orientale Institute in Rome, Father Peter Galadza of the Sheptytsky Institute in Ottawa, Father Andrew Dudchenko of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Kiev, Father Paul McPartlan of the Catholic University of America in Washington, Professor Gabriele Winkler of Tubingen University in Germany, and Professor Richard Schneider of York University in Toronto. 

The next Orientale Lumen Conferences will be held June 18-21, 2007 in Washington, DC and June 25-28, 2007 in San Diego, CA on the theme of “Icons:  Expressions of our Faith.”  Both conferences are open to the public and will include plenary sessions by a wide range of speakers, ecumenical prayer services, and local church visits.