Istanbul (AsiaNews) - On his return from Jerusalem , where he met with Pope Francis at the Holy Sepulchre, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Bartholomew I, has revealed an important appointment for unity between Catholics and Orthodox: a gathering at Nicaea in 2025, where the first real ecumenical council of the undivided Church was celebrated.Read the rest here.
Speaking exclusively with AsiaNews, Bartholomew says that together with Pope Francis "we agreed to leave as a legacy to ourselves and our successors a gathering in Nicaea in 2025, to celebrate together, after 17 centuries , the first truly ecumenical synod, where the Creed was first promulgated".
I cannot stress this enough... I HAVE NOT FOUND INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION OF THIS.
That said... My first reaction is to ask if it is April 1st on some obscure calendar that I am not aware of? My second reaction, is that this might be a bad translation or maybe the website got hacked by some practical joker. My third reaction is HOLY COW!
This is difficult to credit. If something like this were under active consideration I cannot believe it would be announced in such a casual manner.
Update: This is increasingly looking like yet another case of the Catholic press adopting an excessively (grossly in this case) sanguine approach towards any event involving Catholic-Orthodox relations. It looks like this is probably going to be just another large scale Kumbaya photo-op for all of the professional ecumenists out there. Nor is it clear that this will even be limited to Catholics and the Orthodox.
Florentine councils are always possible. If so, Putin will save us.
ReplyDeleteI tend to take the secular media with a pound of salt, and then I think they should go and pound salt.
ReplyDeleteJust this week, on msn, was a piece about some comments Pope Francis made on priestly celibacy being "open for discussion." Wait for it. The secular media will take this to who knows what ends, take the Pope out of context, and people will lap it up with a large soup spoon.
MSN writing about priestly celibacy in the RCC makes about as much sense as Ron Jeremy talking about it.
The same thing happened with Pope Francis' famous one-liner, "Who am I to judge?" Forget about what he said after this nifty little phrase, forget about any facts, as long as the paper sells and the newsreel is run.
The sad thing is, some "Catholic" media will do the same thing. Three words: National Catholic Reporter. I wouldn't scoop up dog dirt with that rag.
Good luck with this upcoming Council, Orthodox friends.
There is less here than meets the eye.
ReplyDeleteThe journalist -- not the Patriarch -- describes the event being proposed as an important appointment for unity between Catholics and Orthodox. But what the Patriarch actually proposes is a gathering ... to celebrate ... the first truly ecumenical synod. What the Patriarch is speaking of is no more than a commemoration of the first ecumenical council -- NOT a new ecumenical council to be held in our time, jointly by Catholics and Orthodox.
The best that could be hoped for on the Catholic-Orthodox ecumenical front is if the forthcoming Great Council among the Orthodox (a) actually takes place and (b) sets forth an understanding of primacy among bishops and local Churches that Constantinople, Moscow, and the other autocephalous Churches can endorse. That would give Rome something concrete to respond to on the bedrock issue of primacy.
But the proposal from Francis and Bartholomew to have a party on the anniversary of Nicaea I doesn't really contribute anything.
One man's opinion.
I think that Chris Jones' reading is the correct one. The EP is not saying that there will be an ecumenical synod in 2025. He is saying that there will be a celebration in 2025 of the ecumenical synod that took place in 325, and that this celebration will involve both Catholics and Orthodox. This is hardly earth-shattering news.
ReplyDeleteWhy are we so in the mood to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of something? Last year we commemorated the 1700th anniversary of the Edict of Milan. Why is the Pope in such a hurry to mark the 1700th anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea? Did 1700 become a major anniversary all of a sudden. ANyone know what the appropriate gift is for a 1700th anniversary?
ReplyDeleteChris Jones nailed this one. A whole lotta nothin'.
ReplyDeleteMight not be a bad thing. Anything that gets Westerners to think about why the Creed they profess every Mass or service is different than the one from the first millennium is helpful.
ReplyDeleteNah, thinking is overrated worse than voting.
ReplyDeleteAsiaNews is Roman Catholic News magazine. Anyway this is same kind of journalism which made Nacional Catholic Reporter and Tablet notorius. Exagerations, misinterpretations, twisting of words...
ReplyDeleteJoint celebration of I Ecumenical Council is now joint Council? I dont see anything from HAH EP speaking about Council. Just from journalist. Well do they really think this passive-agressive approach woul bear fruit?