The Shepherd, December 2007
NEWS SECTION
“VATICAN TAKES STEP TO ABSORB
THE ORTHODOX CHURCH”
THIS was the dramatic headline of an article which appeared in “The Times” on 16th November. It stated: “The Vatican has drafted a joint document with Orthodox Church leaders declaring that the pope has primacy over all Catholic and Orthodox bishops. The agreement was reached by a joint international commission in Ravenna, Italy, on October 13 and released by the Vatican on Thursday. The document specifically declares that the pope held the highest position in the unified church before the Great Schism in 1054, and that the bishop of Rome was the protos, or first, among the patriarchs, including those of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem. That acknowledgment could pave the way for eventual reunification of the two churches under the pope’s rule. Cardinal Water Kasper, head of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, called discussions of the pope’s power in the early Catholic Church the real breakthrough of the document. This document is a modest first step and as such one of hope, he told Vatican Radio. ‘But we must not exaggerate its importance. This will not be easy. The road is very long and difficult.’” “In November last year, the pope met in Istanbul with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who rules the Turkish Orthodox Church (sic), but is considered the spiritual head of Orthodoxy (!).” … “Benedict is literally making a career out of re-acquiring Catholicism’s daughter churches (!). However, no matter what is on the table for discussion, one dogma will remain the same: Everybody obeys the pope.”
Of course, such dialogues of compromise will not be accpeted by Traditionalist Orthodox Christians. They will stand by a firm confession of faith made by the Blessed and Ever-Memorable Metropolitan Philaret on 2nd/15th December 1965: “We declare firmly and categorically: No union of the Roman Church with us is possible until it renounces its new doctrines, and no communion in prayer can be restored with it without a decision of all [Orthodox] churches.” Nonetheless one is left wondering at the progress of the Ecumenical Movement. In November 2007, Cardinal Kasper talks of a “modest first step” - yet it was 47 years ago, in 1965, that the then Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople “lifted” the anathemas of 1054. How many “modest first steps” may one have? The Ecumenical Movement would perhaps be more reasonably termed the Ecumenical Creep!
SAINT OLGA’S RELICS FOUND?
THE SEDMITZA.RU SITE reported on 8th November that archeological excavations had ended at the Church of the Tithe, the first stone church in Kievan Rus. Dedicated to the Theotokos, the church was built during the years 988-996. Saint Vladimir appropriated a tenth of his income to build it - hence the name. Icons, vessels and crosses were brought from Korsun. The Church of the Tithe was burned during the Mongol-Tatar invasion in 1240. Rebuilt several times later (in 1635, 1758 and 1848), it was finally destroyed in the 30s of the last century. “In the tenth century the Church of the Tithe was one of the largest in the Christian world,” explains Oleg Ioannisyan, a specialist in ancient Russian architecture. It was not much smaller than, for example, the Cathedral of the Holy Wisdom in Constantinople. “Regarding the coffin with the body of Princess Olga ... Back in 1939, an expedition lead by Leningrad scientist Mikhail Karger discovered some hidden recesses. Within these recesses lay the remains of people, including a female skeleton with golden ornaments.” “Today, we are close to confirming that this is the tomb of Princess Olga,” the article states.
ROMANIAN ORTHODOX BISHOPS CONSECRATED
AT THE BEGINNING of November, the Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Romania, under the presidency of His Eminence Metropolitan Vlasie, consecrated three new Bishops to care for their flock, which is estimated to number six hundred thousand (by “official” sources) but perhaps more nearly a million souls. The three new hierarchs are Their Graces, Bishop Glicherie of Jassey, Bishop Dionisie of Galati and Bishop Evloghie of Sibiu. We ask the prayers of the faithful for these three new Archpastors in the flock of Christ.
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