Not competitors but brothers

The last couple of weeks have witnessed two highly significant milestones in Christian ecumenical cooperation at the global level. On January 25, 2016 Pope Francis, in the presence of high-ranking leaders of Christendom at the closing service of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Vatican, took a further step forward on the […]

The last couple of weeks have witnessed two highly significant milestones in Christian ecumenical cooperation at the global level. On January 25, 2016 Pope Francis, in the presence of high-ranking leaders of Christendom at the closing service of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Vatican, took a further step forward on the journey to the realization of full Christian unity, when he apologized and asked forgiveness for the mistakes of the past. “As the Bishop of Rome and the Shepherd of the Catholic Church, I want to ask forgiveness and mercy for any behaviour on the part of Catholics towards Christians of other Churches that did not reflect the values of the Gospel. At the same time, I invite all Catholic brothers and sisters to forgive if, today or in the past, they have suffered offences from other Christians. We cannot erase what is past, nor do we wish to allow the weight of past transgressions to continue to pollute our relationships. The mercy of God will renew our relationships.”
Still determined to take more practical steps beyond mere rhetoric, Pope Francis on his apostolic journey to Mexico on February 12, 2016 stopped over at Havana, Cuba, for a private meeting with His Holiness Kirill, Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia. This meeting was the first in history since the schism of 1054 AD. The fraternal conversation resulted in the signing of a 30-paragraph Joint Declaration (JD) between the two pontiffs. Recognizing a lot of “common grounds” between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Churches, the declaration urges both Catholics and Orthodox to “combine our efforts to give witness to the Gospel of Christ and to the shared heritage of the Church of the first millennium, responding together to the challenges of the contemporary world” (JD 7).Opening with the biblical greeting of grace and peace (2 Corinthians 13:13), the Declaration notes that the meeting of the two pontiffs was a meeting of “brothers in the Christian faith who encounter one another ‘to speak face to face’, from heart to heart” (JD 1).
Three major issues were discussed in the Declaration: mutual relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches; the crucial problems encountered by the faithful of both Churches; and their solicitude for the progress of human civilization (JD 1). Both pontiffs expressed their gratitude to God for the shared spiritual heritage of the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. “We share the same spiritual Tradition of the first millennium of Christianity” (JD 4). However, they also acknowledge that, “for nearly one thousand years Catholics and Orthodox have been deprived of communion in the Eucharist. We have been divided by wounds caused by old and recent conflicts” (JD 5). Pained by this prolonged loss of unity, the pontiffs expressed their pious wish that “our meeting may contribute to the re-establishment of this unity willed by God, for which Christ prayed” (JD 6).
The Declaration called on Catholics and Orthodox to give common witness to the faith in the world and a shared response to the challenges of our time (JD 7). Paragraphs 8 to 11 focused on Christian persecution in different parts of the world, especially in the Middle East and North Africa, particularly Syria and Iraq. “In many countries…whole families, villages and cities of our brothers and sisters in Christ are completely exterminated. Their churches are being barbarously ravaged and looted, their sacred objects profaned, their monuments destroyed” (JD 8). This has resulted in massive exodus of Christians from their homelands, places where the Christian faith has survived since the first century. The pontiffs expressed their sadness that such tragedies can be happening in the 21st century and at a time when talks about human rights, justice and freedom have become commonplace. They called on “the international community to act urgently in order to prevent the further expulsion of Christians from the Middle East” (JD 9), while prayerfully appealing to “the Saviour of the world…for the return of peace in the Middle East” (JD 11).
The Declaration went further to praise the courageous example of those Christian martyrs who “have given witness to the truth of the Gospel, preferring death to the denial of Christ” (JD 12). For the pontiffs, this ecumenism of martyrdom is a spiritual incentive to the project of Christian unity, since the martyrs belong to various churches and are united by shared suffering. While abhorring the blasphemy of those who kill in God’s Name, the Declaration affirmed the indispensability of interreligious dialogue in our times (JD 13). It also praised new openings to the Christian faith in countries formerly ruled by atheistic regimes. This, the pontiffs affirmed, is “the foremost value of religious freedom” (JD 14). On this basis, they called on countries with increasing restrictions of religious freedom to open up to the wind of the Spirit blowing wherever he wills.
Issues of global poverty, injustice and the crisis of migrants and refugees also featured prominently in the Declaration (JD 17, 18). It also re-affirmed the basic truths about marriage and the family as willed by God and abhorred all forms of secular distortion of this sacred union “between a man and woman” (JD 19, 20). The next paragraphs were devoted to life issues: respect for the inalienable right to life (JD 21), euthanasia (JD 22), and new developments in biomedical reproduction technology (JD 23). It then turned its attention to young Christians, calling on them not to be afraid of going against the current, and to use “all the abilities God has given you to confirm Christ’s truth in the world” (JD 22, 23).
Owing to our shared tradition, Catholics and Orthodox also have a “shared mission” of preaching the Gospel of Christ in today’s world (JD 24). The Declaration affirmed that this mission abhors proselytism. Catholics should not fish in Orthodox waters to convert Christians and vice-versa. “We are not competitors but brothers, and this concept must guide all our mutual actions” (JD 24). The pontiffs expressed the hope that their meetingmay also “contribute to reconciliation wherever tensions exist between Greek Catholics and Orthodox” (JD 25). This reconciliation, they said, is crucial for the future progress of our world, bearing witness to Christ “the wellspring of joy and hope” (JD 29). They thus entrusted this task to the maternal solicitude of Mary “the Most Holy Mother of God” (JD 30).
After the signing of the Joint Declaration, Pope Francis reiterated the profoundness of the bond of fraternity between himself and His Holiness Kirill when he said: “We speak as brothers, we have the same Baptism, we are bishops.” With this historic gesture, a great incentive has been offered to Christians all over the world on the urgency of walking and working together on the path of full Christian unity.
Ojeifo is a Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Abuja.