The Shepherd, December 2004
NEWS SECTION
MP-ROCA RAPPROCHEMENT
THE THIRD JOINT SESSION of the Committees of the two jurisdictions was held at the Danilov Monastery in Moscow between 17th and 19th November. On the eve of the session, the ROCA delegation attended the opening of the Festival of Orthodox Mass Media, “Faith and Word,” which was hosted by His Holiness Patriarch Aleksii and also attended by His Holiness Patriarch Pavle of Serbia. The documents adopted at the meeting will be submitted to the the hierarchs of both administrations for consideration. Representatives of both sides are reported as noting that, although they hoped for a continued movement towards unity, there were still serious questions which remained for joint deliberation. Metropolitan Kirill of the Moscow Patriarchate is quoted as saying:“It cannot be said that all is going as if on rails…. For more that 70 years our views have been forming separately from each other, in different historical conditions, and this cannot be ignored.”
ORTHODOX / ROMAN CATHOLIC RELATIONS
AN ANALYSIS of the development of the relations between the Roman Catholic communion and the Orthodox and Monophysite Churches has been published from the Vatican. It indicates that Rome feels her ecumenical ties are closest with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and perhaps coolest with the Patriarchate of Moscow. Despite this appraisal, the Moscow Patriarchate has launched a project with the Vatican to publish a seven tome anthology of the works of Orthodox and Roman Catholic theologians, who lived at the end of the 19th and in the earl 20th centuries. Metropolitan Philaret, the chairman of the MP’s theological commission, has launched this initiative. He has visited Rome to conduct talks on the project, and a delegation from Rome, headed by Cardinal Paul Poupard, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, visited Moscow in mid-November, staying until the 19th. The HolySee has responded to the initiative by issuing a press release saying that it believes that rapprochement between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches “is one of the priority tasks in the 21st century.”
CHURCH OF GREECE NEWS
ARCHBISHOP CHRISTODOULOS of Athens has announced that henceforth the Gospel is to be read in Modern Greek as well as in the traditional koine, which is little understood by the young and by the less well educated, so that the faithful may participate better in the Liturgy. This is seen as a pilot scheme, and other dioceses of the Church of Greece may follow suit, but when two years ago Metropolitan Apostolos of Kilkis introduced some Modern Greek into the services, he was forced to cancel this decision because of criticisms raised by some of the faithful.
The HolySynod of the Church of Greece voted against a proposed meeting of Archbishop Christodoulos with Pope John Paul II. Of 62 Metropolitans who voted, only 15 were in favour of such a meeting, the majority feeling that the conditions for such a meeting were not favourable, although it is reported that this decision rather annoyed the Archbishop himself.
The Greek Church also considered the matter of the ordination of deaconesses. Such an order was known in the Early Church but fell into disuse. The Church of Greece decided that certain high-ranking nuns might be ordained to that order at the discretion of their Bishops.
FRIENDS OF MOUNT ATHOS
THE AUTUMN MEETINGof the Friends of Mount Athos was held on Thursday 18th November, beginning with Vespers at the Romanian Orthodox Church on Fleet Street, at which the parish clergy served, with Their Graces Bishop Kallistos of Diokleia and Bishop Basil of Sergievo in attendance. Then at nearby St Bride’s Institute, Dr Oliver Rackham gave an illustrated talk on “Our Lady’s Garden: The Historical Ecology of the Holy Mountain.” From our Brotherhood Fr Niphon and Fr Sabbas attended the meeting.
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