Orthodox Patriarch Says Unity an Obligation
Sends Message to Vatican on Feast of St. AndrewBy Miriam Diez i Bosch
ISTANBUL, Turkey, DEC. 5, 2007 ( Zenit.org).- It is an obligation to reclaim the spiritual, sacramental and doctrinal unity that Europe enjoyed prior to the schism of the East and West, said the Orthodox patriarch of Constantinople.
Bartholomew I said this Friday in a letter addressed to a delegation sent by Benedict XVI to Istanbul for the regular exchange of visits between the two Churches for the feasts of St. Andrew, Nov. 30, and Sts. Peter and Paul, June 29.
Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, led the delegation.
Bartholomew I affirmed the presence of the delegation "both strengthens and seals the bonds of love and trust between our Churches, bonds which have been cultivated in recent decades, and which have been especially established by the visit" of Benedict XVI in November 2006.
The patriarch also emphasized "that the peaceful coexistence of Christians, in a spirit of unity and concord, must constitute the fundamental concern of us all."
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Let us pray that the Eastern and Western Churches might again be united so the Church may "breathe with both lungs," as the beloved John Paul II once said we must.
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