Orthodixie

VATICAN CITY, 18 OCT 2008 (VIS) – In the Sistine Chapel at 5 p.m. [Saturday], the Holy Father presided at the celebration of first Vespers of the 29th Sunday of Ordinary Time, marking the participation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople in the work of the current Twelfth Ordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops.

The ceremony, which was attended by more than 400 cardinals, bishops, priests, religious and lay people, began with a few brief words of introduction by Benedict XVI.

In his English-language talk, Bartholomew I highlighted how this “is the first time in history that an Ecumenical Patriarch is offered the opportunity to address a Synod of Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church, and thus be ‘part of the life’ of this sister Church at such a high level. We regard this as a manifestation of the work of the Holy Spirit leading our Churches to a closer and deeper relationship with each other, an important step towards the restoration of our full communion”.

“It is well known that the Orthodox Church attaches to the synod system fundamental ecclesiological importance. Together with primacy, synodality constitutes the backbone of the Church’s government and organization. … Therefore, in having today the privilege to address your Synod our hopes are raised that the day will come when our two Churches will fully converge on the role of primacy and synodality in the Church’s life, to which our joint theological commission is devoting its study at the present time”.

“We have explored”, he concluded, “the patristic teaching of the spiritual senses, discerning the power of hearing and speaking God’s Word in Scripture, of seeing God’s Word in icons and nature, as well as of touching and sharing God’s Word in the saints and sacraments. Yet, in order to remain true to the life and mission of the Church, we must personally be changed by this Word. The Church must resemble the mother, who is both sustained by and nourishes through the food she eats. Anything that does not feed and nourish everyone cannot sustain us either. When the world does not share the joy of Christ’s Resurrection, this is an indictment of our own integrity and commitment to the living Word of God”.

Following the Patriarch’s talk, the Pope thanked him for his words assuring him they would be studied and examined by the Synod. “This too was a joyful experience”, he said, “an experience of unity, perhaps not perfect but real and profound. I thought to myself: your Fathers, whom you quoted widely, are also our Fathers and ours are also yours. And if we have shared Fathers how can we not be brothers?”

Thanks to FWD from Fr Miguel Grave de Peralta; Vatican Information Service – Source

Pic Source (and another news story)

I almost hate to update the blog, knocking this post (which is garnering lots of comments, 55 to date) from top billing. But, on googling “Orthodox Church” in the News category, the following announcements popped up from Ohio. I just found the juxtaposition striking and amusing. The Orthodox are always a little behind current trends.

Brandon Piety of XXXchurch.com will be the guest speaker at the Malone Chapel service at 10:05 a.m. Monday at the Johnson Center for Worship and Fine Arts, 2600 Cleveland Ave. N.W., Canton.

XXXchurch.com is a Christian anti-pornography Web site that tries to help people avoid pornography addiction. It was launched in January 2002 when founders Mike Foster and Craig Gross set up a booth inside the Las Vegas Adult Expo to promote the site and an alternative to porn. Members of the unique church group set up booths at America’s biggest porn conventions to help people break free from the influence of the multi-billion-dollar pornography industry.

Later on down the list was this —

Orthodox Christian Women of Akron — Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church, 129 S. Union St., Akron. Book club starting Monday at 10 a.m. First book discussed will be Saint Nectarios-Saint of Our Century. 330-658-6255.

There was this, too —

St. George’s Orthodox Fellowship Centre — 3204 Ridgewood Road, Copley Township. 6 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday. Building for the Future, a fundraiser for Abstinence the Better Choice Inc. Speaker is Dr. Rozario Slack. Hors d’oeuvres and dinner provided. 330-864-1359.

Source

Image by Ringo Starr (source)

Okay, a note to all my Roman Catholic friends: Please stop sending me this news report! 🙂

Orthodox Delegate Speaks of Pope as Sign of Unity
Says Tired Society Demands United Christian Voice

VATICAN CITY, OCT. 12, 2008 – A representative of the Orthodox Church who addressed the world Synod of Bishops spoke of the Bishop of Rome as a sign of unity among Christians.

Archimandrite Ignatios Sotiriadis, fraternal delegate from the Orthodox Church of Greece, spoke Saturday to the synod, which is focusing on the Word of God in the life and mission of the Church.

His address brought more applause than any other intervention in the first week of the synod.

“Your Holiness,” he said, “our society is tired and sick. It seeks but does not find! It drinks but its thirst is not quenched. Our society demands of us Christians — Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Anglicans — a common witness, a unified voice. Here lies our responsibility as pastors of the Churches in the 21st Century.”

“Here,” the Orthodox pastor continued, “is the primary mission of the First Bishop of Christianity, of him who presides in charity, and, above all, of a Pope who is Magister Theologiae: to be the visible and paternal sign of unity and to lead under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and according to Sacred Tradition, with wisdom, humility and dynamism, together with all the bishops of the world, fellow successors of the apostles, all humanity to Christ the redeemer.”

“This is the profound desire of those who have the painful longing in their heart for the undivided Church, ‘Una, Sancta, Catholica et Apostolica,'” he concluded. “But it is also the desire of those who, again today, in a world without Christ, fervently, but also with filial trust and faith, repeat the words of the apostles: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life!'”

Source

Following up on this story …

Ending a three-day summit, the Orthodox leaders also declared their desire to advance dialogue with other Christian churches as well as the interfaith dialogue with Jews and Muslims.

A declaration issued after Sunday prayers said the Orthodox churches had reaffirmed their “unswerving position and obligation to safeguard the unity of the Orthodox Church … by settling any problems that arise from time to time in relations among us with a spirit of love and peace.”

The meeting was held at a time when the Russian and Ukrainian churches are locked in a dispute over the Ukrainians desire for independence from the powerful patriarchate in Moscow and shake off centuries of Russian influence. The Ukrainian church now answers to the patriarchate in Moscow.

The declaration by the senior clerics – including Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II – spoke of the need of “surrendering … nationalistic, ethnic and ideological extremes of the past.”

“For only in this way will the word of Orthodoxy have a necessary impact on the contemporary world,” the clerics said.

Sunday’s statement also denounced the global financial crisis as a result of “manic profiteering and corrupt financial activity” and called for an economy combining “efficacy with justice and social solidarity.”

It urged Orthodox churches to focus on efforts to protect the environment and highlighted plans to form a committee to study issues of bioethics, “on which the world awaits the position of Orthodoxy.”

The story and participating patriarchates – HERE.

Russian Patriarch Alexiy II made a rare trip to Turkey to attend the event since the 1900s, and co-celebrated mass with other Orthodox leaders.

Relations between him and Bartholomeos have been strained in the past as some Churches in former Soviet countries such as Estonia have broken away from the Russian Orthodox Church and sought to pledge their allegiance to Bartholomeos instead.

Bartholomeos, an ethnic Greek but a Turkish citizen, presides over a community of only several thousand Greek Orthodox in Turkey, a Muslim country.

More HERE.

I don’t know about you, but this whole election thing, international politics and economy, Economy, ECONOMY stuff has just turned my mind to mush. So, I promise I will not talk about politics or money.

For some, this week’s podcast may not even sound like it’s about religion in general or Orthodoxy in particular. Rather, it may serve as a bit of a diversion from the day to day. Because, ladies and gentlemen: It’s fall, it’s October, and this episode is all about …

The Orthodixie Podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.

Listen here now.