Dis-Unity

Posted on by Fr. Peter
This week we have been treated to TV coverage of the Popes visit to Turkey. Today the Pope and the Patriarch met together for prayer in the Cathedral Church of St. George. It was wonderful to see these two leaders together and to hear them commemorated together during the prayer service. They prayed together and spoke wonderful words to each other.
All of this saddens me in a way also. Tomorrow the two men will be together again in the greatest expression of our Christian faith, the Eucharistic Celebration. In the Divine Liturgy we pray for each other and for unity in all things. How sad will it be at the moment of communion that not everyone will take the precious Body and Blood of our Lord. How wonderful it would be to see Benedict and Bartholomew receive from the same cup. I wonder what kind of shock wave would be sent through the Christian world if that was to happen tomorrow. What a way to say we truly are brothers.
Now I know it will not happen, and for various reasons it cannot happen. But what a day that will be when we are all worshiping together again as it says in the creed that we all say at each liturgical celebration… “One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church.”

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Welcome by His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
to His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI After the Prayer Service at the
Patriarchal Cathedral of St. George
Your Holiness, beloved Brother in the Lord,
It is with sentiments of sincere joy and satisfaction that we welcome you to the sacred and historical city of Istanbul.
This is a city that has known a treasured heritage for the growth of the Church through the ages. It is here that St. Andrew, the “first-called” of the Apostles founded the local Church of Byzantium and installed St. Stachys as its first bishop. It is here that the Emperor and “equal-to-the-Apostles,” St. Constantine the Great, established the New Rome. It is here that the Great Councils of the early Church convened to formulate the Symbol of Faith. It is here that martyrs and saints, bishops and monks, theologians and teachers, together with a “cloud of witnesses” confessed what the prophets saw, what the apostles taught, what the church received, what the teachers formulated in doctrine, what the world understood, what grace has shone, namely…the truth that was received, the faith of the fathers. This is the faith of the Orthodox. This faith has established the universe.
So it is with open embrace that we welcome you on the blessed occasion of your first visit to the City, just as our predecessors, Ecumenical Patriarchs Athenagoras and Demetrios, had welcomed your predecessors, Popes Paul VI and John Paul II. These venerable men of the Church sensed the inestimable value and urgent need alike of such encounters in the process of reconciliation through a dialogue of love and truth.
Therefore, we are, both of us, as their successors and as successors to the Thrones of Rome and New Rome equally accountable for the steps – just, of course, as we are for any missteps – along the journey and in our struggle to obey the command of our Lord, that His disciples “may be one.”
It was in this spirit that, by the grace of God, we visited repeatedly Rome and two years ago in order to accompany the relics of Saints Gregory the Theologian and John Chrysostom, formerly Archbishops of this City, whose sacred remains were generously returned to this Patriarchal Cathedral by the late Pope. It was in this spirit, too, that we traveled to Rome only months later to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul.
We are deeply grateful to God that Your Holiness has taken similar steps today in the same spirit. We offer thanks to God in doxology and express thanks also to Your Holiness in fraternal love.
Beloved Brother, welcome. “Blessed is he that comes in the name of the Lord.”
“Blessed is the Name of the Lord now and forevermore.”

Commemoration

Posted on by Fr. Peter
How moving it was to hear Pope Benedict and Patriarch Bartholomew commemorated in the same voice at the same altar. I will admit I still have a lump in my throat because of this. Some may say that this is merely a symbolic moment, but I believe it is more than that. How wonderful it will be tomorrow when they attend Divine Liturgy together. If only they could commune together.

Ecumenical Patriarch

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Here is a little blurb about the Patriarch also from his website:

The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the primary ecclesiastical centre of the Orthodox Church throughout the world, tracing its history to the Day of Pentecost and the early Christian communities founded by the Apostles of Jesus Christ. According to tradition, the “First-Called” of these Apostles, Andrew, preached the Gospel around Asia Minor, the Black Sea, Thrace and Achaia, where he was martyred. In 36AD, he founded the Church on the shores of the Bosphorus in the city known then as Byzantium, later Constantinople and today Istanbul. St. Andrew is the Patron Saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate; his Patronal Feast is celebrated on November 30.

Visit to Turkey

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I got up early this morning to see the arrival of Pope Benedict in Turkey and will try and watch the coverage this week. With the visit I thought I would post something about the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Turkey. It seems that the coverage I am watching keeps referring to him only as the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox. So I found this on the Patriarchs website and I will post it here:

The Ecumenical Patriarchate is the highest see and holiest center of the Orthodox Christian Church throughout the world. It is an institution with a history spanning seventeen centuries, during which it retained its see in Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). It constitutes the center of all the local Orthodox Churches, heading these not by administration but by virtue of its primacy in the ministry of pan-Orthodox unity and the coordination of the activity of the whole of Orthodoxy.

The function of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as center par excellence of the life of the entire Orthodox world emanates from its centuries-old ministry in the witness, protection and outreach of the Orthodox faith. The Ecumenical Patriarchate therefore possesses a supra-national and supra-regional character. From this lofty consciousness and responsibility for the people of Christ, regardless of race and language, were born the new regional Churches of the East, from the Caspian to the Baltic, and from the Balkans to Central Europe. This activity today extends to the Far East, to America and Australia.

Orthodox Christians on all continents, which do not fall under the jurisdiction of the autocephalous (independent) or autonomous (semi-independent) Churches, fall under the direct jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. The most important of the autocephalous Churches are the ancient Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch and Jerusalem (together with the ancient Archdiocese of Mt. Sinai), the Patriarchates of Russia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria and Georgia, as well as the Churches of Cyprus, Greece, Poland, Albania, and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia. The Autonomous Churches include those of Finland and of Estonia. Consequently, the Orthodox Churches in Europe, America, Australia and Britain, which are not under the jurisdiction of the aforementioned autocephalous Churches, lie within the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate. All Orthodox feel that they are constituents of one essentially spiritual community, wherein “when one member suffers, so do all.” It is a true sense of unity in diversity.

Posted on by Fr. Peter
LOCAL GREEK ORTHODOX AND ROMAN CATHOLIC PRELATESISSUE JOINT STATEMENT FOR UPCOMING MEETING
BETWEEN ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW AND
POPE BENEDICT XVI IN ISTANBUL
BOSTON – Metropolitan Methodios of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and Seán Cardinal O’Malley of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston have issued the present joint statement of fraternal understanding and prayer for the upcoming three-day visit of Pope Benedict XVI with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, Turkey on November 28 – December 1, 2006. As global tensions run high, the local Greek Orthodox and Roman Catholic hierarchs pray for the safety and fruitful ecumenical dialogue of their respective Church world leaders.
Pope Benedict will visit the Ecumenical Patriarchate at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch, the spiritual leader of more than 270 million Orthodox Christians worldwide, for the occasion of the feast day of Saint Andrew the Apostle, the older brother of Saint Peter. Saint Andrew traveled across Asia Minor and is the founder of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the former name for present-day Istanbul. Both prelates are noted throughout the world for their extraordinary efforts to create bridges of truth and love across religious, ethnic, environmental, and political divides.
Metropolitan Methodios and Seán Cardinal O’Malley are hopeful that the meeting between Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and Pope Benedict, the two “Bridge Builders” and “Peacemakers” of Apostolic Christendom, will influence ties between their respective churches and have a profound impact on religious freedom and on the recognition of minority rights.

Blog Changes

Posted on by Fr. Peter
I have made some changes to the Blog and added some others that I like to keep up with. As with all things on the web this is currently under revision.

St. Fergus Cruithneach

Posted on by Fr. Peter

Continuing to post on Scottish saints here is today’s entry. This comes from the Catholic Encyclopedia.

Died about 730, known in the Irish martyrologies as St. Fergus Cruithneach, or the Pict. The Breviary of Aberdeen states that he had been a bishop for many years in Ireland when he came on a mission to Alba with some chosen priests and other clerics. He settled first near Strageath, in the present parish of Upper Strathearn, in Upper Perth, erected three churches in that district. The churchs of Strageath, Blackford, and Dolpatrick are found there to-day dedicated to St. Patrick. He next evangelized Caithness and established there the churches of Wick and Halkirk. Thence he crossed to Buchan in Aberdeenshire and founded a church at Lungley, a village now called St. Fergus. Lastly, he established a church at Glammis in Forfarshire. He went to Rome in 721 and was present with Sedulius and twenty other bishops at a synod in the basilica of St. Peter, convened by Gregory II. His remains were deposited in the church of Glammis and were the object of much veneration in the Middle Ages. The Abbot of Scone transferred his head to Scone church, and encased it in a costly shrine there is an entry in the accounts of the treasurer of James IV, October, 1503, ” An offerand of 13 shillings to Sanct Fergus’ heide in Scone”. The churches of Wick, Glammis, and Lungley had St. Fergus as their patron. His festival is recorded in the Martyrology of Tallaght for the 8th of September but seems to have been observed in Scotland on the 18th of November.

Did Mary Have Labor Pains

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Fr. Z posted a review of the new Nativity Movie on his blog, and some people posted comments complaining about the movie and the fact that it depicts the Theotokos experiencing labor pains during birth. Now, I had never really given this much thought before but I got thinking about it. In response to the comments, Fr. Z posted a follow up with a quote from the Council of Trent:

“To Eve it was said: In sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. Mary was exempt from this law, for preserving her virginal integrity inviolate she brought forth Jesus the Son of God without experiencing, as we have already said, any sense of pain” (Catechism of the Council of Trent for Parish Priests, Trans., John A. McHugh, O.P., Charles J. Callan, O.P., South Bend, Ind., Marian Publications, 1972, p. 4).

Okay, so I looked furthur. In the Protoevangelion of James there is this line:

“And the midwife went along with him and stood in the cave. Then a bright cloud overshadowed the cave, and the midwife said, This day my soul is magnified, for my eyes have seen surprising things, and salvation is brought forth to Israel. But suddenly the cloud became a great light in the cave, so that their eyes could not bear it. But the light gradually decreased, until the infant appeared, and nursed at the breast of his mother Mary. Then the midwife cried out and said, How glorious a day in this, wherein my eyes have seen this extraordinary sight! And the midwife went out from the cave, and Salome met her. And the midwife said to her, Salome, Salome, I will tell you a most surprising thing which I saw, A virgin has brought forth, which is a thing contrary to nature.”

So there is no mention of labor pains here either. In fact the verse is quite explicet with the light and then a child appears. So it would seem that this would be true?
Why all the hub bub about all of this. I find questions like this very interesting and like to write about them. Will it change the faith at all, I don’t think so but it is interesting none the less. Be kind if you comment.

Nativity

Posted on by Fr. Peter
Fr. Z has posted a review of the movie. He saw the Vatican premier. It opens around here on December 1st. I hope to see it soon. I will post my review after.
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