Representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, non secular chief of the Japanese Orthodox Church buildings, additionally expressed their hope in reuniting with Rome.
Since 1054, the Nice Schism has cut up the Christian Church into two foremost teams: the Western Roman Catholic Church, from which all protestant and evangelical denominations finally branched, and the Japanese Orthodox Church buildings. However on June 28, Pope Leo XIV reaffirmed his dedication to lastly bringing that separation to an finish as he met with a delegation representing Japanese Orthodox management on the Vatican.
“I assure you of my desire to persevere in the effort to restore full visible communion between our Churches,” he stated to a delegation representing the Church of Constantinople. “The attainment of this goal can only come about, with God’s help, through a continued commitment to respectful listening and fraternal dialogue.”
Whereas there are a lot of observable variations between the Orthodox and Roman Catholic church buildings, particularly in how they have fun the Mass, two key causes for the schism had been both sides’s use of the time period Filioque of their respective variations of the Nicene Creed and their recognition of the Bishop of Rome’s authority over the worldwide Church.
Leo XIV credited Pope Paul VI and then-Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras for initiating dialogue that he hopes will carry the church buildings again into communion. The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople has been seen because the non secular chief of the Japanese Orthodox Church buildings since 1991.
“Their venerable successors to the Sees of Rome and Constantinople have pursued with conviction the same path of reconciliation, thus further strengthening our close relations,” the Pope stated, including recognition of the present Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew’s participation in each Pope Francis’s funeral and his inauguration Mass.
The brand new pope made clear to the delegation that he already noticed proof of a “profound communion” current between the 2 church buildings assembly throughout the feast day of their shared patron saints—Saint Peter and Saint Paul—and he stated he was open to speaking via their variations.
“I am open to any suggestions that you may offer in this regard, always in consultation with my brother Bishops of the Catholic Church who, each in his own way, share with me the responsibility for the complete and visible unity of the Church,” he stated.
Bartholomew was represented by Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon, who additionally prolonged his Church’s hopes and needs for unity in his handle to the Pope.
“Our two Sister Churches have been faithfully and hopefully engaged in the profoundly important dialogue of charity since the historic year of 1964, and have been committed to the official theological dialogue since 1980,” he wrote in his letter to Leo XIV.
He talked about that there have been seven vital texts that the 2 church buildings have agreed to, which he stated highlighted “a remarkable convergence on many of the complex issues that, for centuries, have continued to divide Orthodox and Roman Catholics.” The latest of these agreements was in 2023.
As for the 2 key issues that divided the Church buildings practically a millennium in the past, Emmanuel confirmed that the Joint Worldwide Fee for Theological Dialogue was getting ready to review the addition of the Filioque into the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, in addition to persevering with an “examination of papal primacy.”
“We hold a well-founded and confident hope that the extensive theological reflection and the dedicated ecclesiological research of these recent decades will contribute decisively to discovering the common ground upon which these traditionally thorny and challenging issues may finally find their peaceful and harmonious resolution,” he stated.
Emmanuel added that each church buildings have come nearer collectively of their shared requires peace within the Orthodox-majority areas like Ukraine and the Center East, and he expressed his anticipation for the joint commemoration of the 1700th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea later this yr.
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