THE VOICE OF ORTHODOXY

A Bimonthly Conservative Journal To Defend The Apostolic Faith, Morals And Canons Of The Ancient Orthodox Church.

Volume : 11 MAY-JUNE 2008 Issue : 3
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IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS BETWEEN ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND OTHER CHURCHES

THE LIFTING OF MUTUAL EXCOMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN HIS ALL-HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH ATHENAGORAS I AND HIS HOLINESS POPE PAUL VI.

Following is the text of the joint Catholic-Orthodox declaration, approved by Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, read simultaneously (Dec. 7) at a public meeting of the ecumenical council in Rome and at a special ceremony in Istanbul. The declaration concerns the Catholic-Orthodox exchange of excommunications in 1054.

  1. Grateful to God, who mercifully favored them with a fraternal meeting at those holy places where the mystery of salvation was accomplished through the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and where the Church was born through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I have not lost sight of the determination each then felt to omit nothing thereafter which charity might inspire and which could facilitate the development of the fraternal relations thus taken up between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church of Constantinople. They are persuaded that in acting this way, they are responding to the call of that divine grace which today is leading the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church, as well as all Christians, to overcome their differences in order to be again "one" as the Lord Jesus asked of His Father for them.

  2. Among the obstacles along the road of the development of these fraternal relations of confidence and esteem, there is the memory of the decisions, actions and painful incidents which in 1054 resulted in the sentence of excommunication leveled against the Patriarch Michael Cerularius and two other persons by the legate of the Roman See under the leadership of Cardinal Humbertus, legates who then became the object of a similar sentence pronounced by the patriarch and the Synod of Constantinople.

  3. One cannot pretend that these events were not what they were during this very troubled period of history. Today, however, they have been judged more fairly and serenely. Thus it is important to recognize the excesses which accompanied them and later led to consequences which, insofar as we can judge, went much further than their authors had intended and foreseen. They had directed their censures against the persons concerned and not the Churches. These censures were not intended to break ecclesiastical communion between the Sees of Rome and Constantinople.

  4. Since they are certain that they express the common desire for justice and the unanimous sentiment of charity which moves the faithful, and since they recall the command of the Lord: "If you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brethren has something against you, leave your gift before the altar and go first be reconciled to your brother" (Matt. 5:23-24), Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I with his synod, in common agreement, declare that:

    1. They regret the offensive words, the reproaches without foundation, and the reprehensible gestures which, on both sides, have marked or accompanied the sad events of this period.

    2. They likewise regret and remove both from memory and from the midst of the Church the sentences of excommunication which followed these events, the memory of which has influenced actions up to our day and has hindered closer relations in charity; and they commit these excommunications to oblivion.

    3. Finally, they deplore the preceding and later vexing events which, under the influence of various factors—among which, lack of understanding and mutual trust—eventually led to the effective rupture of ecclesiastical communion.

  5. Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I with his synod realize that this gesture of justice and mutual pardon is not sufficient to end both old and more recent differences between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

Through the action of the Holy Spirit those differences will be overcome through cleansing of hearts, through regret for historical wrongs, and through an efficacious determination to arrive at a common understanding and expression of the faith of the Apostles and its demands.

They hope, nevertheless, that this act will be pleasing to God, who is prompt to pardon us when we pardon each other. They hope that the whole Christian world, especially the entire Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church will appreciate this gesture as an expression of a sincere desire shared in common for reconciliation, and as an invitation to follow out in a spirit of trust, esteem and mutual charity the dialogue which, with Gods help, will lead to living together again, for the greater good of souls and the coming of the kingdom of God, in that full communion of faith, fraternal accord and sacramental life which existed among them during the first thousand years of the life of the Church.


AN AGREED STATEMENT OF
CHRISTOLOGICAL DOCTRINE
 BETWEEN REPRESENTATIVES OF ORIENTAL AND BYZANTINE (EASTERN) ORTHODOX CHURCHES

(August 1964)

Ever since the second decade of our century representatives of our orthodox churches, some accepting seven ecumenical councils and others accepting three, have often met in ecumenical gatherings. The desire to know each other and to restore our unity in the one church of Christ has been growing all these years. Our meeting together in Rhodes at the Pan-Orthodox Conference of 1961 confirmed this desire.

Out of this has come about the our unofficial gathering of fifteen theologians from both sides, for three days of informal conversations, in connection with the meeting of the Faith and Order Commission in Aarhus, Denmark.

We have spoken to each other in the openness of charity and with the conviction of truth. All of us have learned from each other. Our inherited misunderstandings have begun to clear up. We recognize in each other the one orthodox faith of the church.   Fifteen centuries of alienation have not led us astray from the faith of our fathers.

In our common study of the council of Chalcedon, the well-known phrase used by our common father in Christ, St. Cyril of Alexandria, mia physis ( or mia hypostasis) tou Theou logou sesarkomene ( the one physis or hypostasis of God's Word Incarnate) with its implications, was at the center of our conversations. On the essence of Christological dogma we found ourselves in full agreement. Through the different terminologies used by each side, we saw the same truth expressed. Since we agree in rejecting without reservation the teaching of Eutyches as well as of Nestorius, the acceptance or non-acceptance of the Council of Chalcedon does not entail the acceptance of either heresy. Both sides found themselves fundamentally following the Christological teaching of the one undivided church as expressed by St. Cyril.

The council of Chalcedon (451), we realize, can only be understood as reaffirming the decisions of Ephesus (431), and best understood in the light of the later Council of Constantinople (533). All councils, we recognize, have to be seen as stages in an integral development and no council or document should be studied in isolation.

The significant role of political, sociological and cultural factors in creating tension between factions in the past should be recognized and studied together. They should not, however, continue to divide us.

We see the need to move forward together. The issue at stake is of crucial importance to all churches in the East and West alike and for the unity of the whole Church of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit, Who indwells the Church of Jesus Christ, will lead us together to the fullness of truth and of love.  To that end we respectfully submit to our churches the fruit of our common work of three days together. Many practical problems remain, but the same Spirit Who led us together here will, we believe, continue to lead our churches to a common solution of these.

His Grace Bishop Emilianos of Meloa, Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
The Very Rev. Professor G. Florovsky, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North & South America- The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Very Rev. Professor J. S. Romanides, Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of North & South America- The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople
The Very Rev. Professor Vitaly Borovoy, Russian Orthodox Church
The Rev. Professor J. Meyendorff, Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church of North America
Professor J. Karmiris, Church of Greece
Professor G. Konidaris, Church of Greece
His Grace Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan, Armenian Apostolic Church
His Grace Bishop Karekin Sarkissian, Armenian Apostolic Church. Catholicate of Cilicia
His Grace Archbishop Mar Severius Zakka Iwas of Mosul, Syrian Orthodox Church
His Grace Metropolitan Mar Thoma Dionysius of Niranam, Orthodox Syrian Church of the East
The Very Rev. Like Siltanat Habte Mariam Woroqineh, Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Rev. Professor V.C. Samuel, Orthodox Syrian Church of the East
Dr. Karam Nazir Khella, Coptic Orthodox Church
Dr. Getachew Haile, Ethiopian Orthodox Church

Aarhus, Denmark 
August 14, 1964