Phanar ready for contacts with Churches on 'pan-Orthodox problem'

On 27 December 2023, Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople said that the Phanar is ready for direct contact with the Churches on a "pan-Orthodox problem", reports Vima Orthodoxias.

During the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Church of Agios Stefanos, where the Bulgarian community in Istanbul traditionally prays, Patriarch Bartholomew said, "It was this Church was the touchstone for the aggravation and negative outcome of the ecclesiastical matters concerning the Bulgarian nation".

"However, since no evil is pure good, the so-called Bulgarian issue showed everyone that only in unity and harmony does the Church fulfil its God-given mission to the world. The separations, the introversion, the false sense of self-sufficiency and completeness, the quarrels and finally the schisms reduce the saving presence of the Church, disorient the believers from the new life in Christ and catalyze the community of love in faith," Patriarch Bartholomew said.

His Holiness continued, “The Holy Great Church of Christ, the common title of all Orthodox believers, throughout time evangelizes without man-made and self-interested criteria the Salvation of all the People of God.”

He also noted that the Phanar "brings to the Archangel Christ the nations and the peoples blessed by Grace of the Holy Spirit, regardless of origin, language, historical circumstances and descent" and recalled that the Patriarchate of Constantinople once took part in healing the Bulgarian schism.

"Certainly, the Holy Church of Christ the Great does not idealize the situations and does not hide the problems, difficulties and disappointments it sometimes faces in the exercise of its responsibility," Patriarch Bartholomew highlighted and continued that "the retained perception of the nation-state " led "to the eternal heresy of 'ethnophyletism', which was condemned by the Great Synod of 1872 as not based on the teachings of the Gospel and the holy canons of our blessed Fathers."

The head of the Phanar said that today there are many challenges and "the Great Church of Christ in Constantinople receives successive blows".

“The dilemmas are enormous. The necessity of fitting and balancing between normal precision and pastoral solution is imperative. The adventurous weather changes in the then-historical present make it difficult to choose alternative outlets,” Patriarch Bartholomew noted.

According to him, "the venerable and holy choir of our predecessors with pains and paternal condescension tries to find solutions," while "the major issue of the pastoral arrangement of each local Church within the limits of the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, becomes a pan-Orthodox problem as three other Eastern Patriarchs join us".

The head of the Phanar stressed, "The pressing demands of emancipation, on the pretext of a more flexible pastoral care, take on explosive dimensions and the regime of the so-called Autocephalous develops into a major problem within the Orthodox body."

"Unfortunately, the generosity and long-suffering – in fact, sacrifice – of the Great Church of Christ was mistakenly and ungratefully perceived as a weakness and inability to settle matters. But the truth can never be hidden. The passing of years and the accumulated spiritual experience of the Patriarchate brings things back to the right," Patriarch Bartholomew said.

His Holiness noted, "Today we have all understood from the actions and mistakes of the past that unity is what is required and the safe and only basis for the stability of the Holy Churches of God," and "the classifications and designations of the various ecclesiastical formations throughout the world are not a decree, but a tool for the pastoral healing and ministry of the faithful."

"The understanding and coexistence of the local churches is now a priority and a demand. The mistakes of the past are not only a negative legacy, but above all the seed for new seeds and cultivation of coexistence, of a better and deeper understanding of the problems, of returning of the pan-Orthodox Church life to its original goodness," the head of the Phanar said.

Patriarch Bartholomew emphasized, "Today from the Holy of this Church, once a point of problematic reference, we send to everyone an invitation of love and companionship in unity, not only theoretically in the Holy Eucharist but in all aspects of church life.”

“We declare our desire for direct contact with all the local Orthodox Churches and our willingness at the same time to contribute to finding solutions to everything that concerns the Orthodox body, always within the handed down principles, terms and limits of the ecclesiology of Eastern Orthodox Church," concluded Patriarch Bartholomew.

As reported, the Church of Albania called on the Phanar to convene a Council to resolve the OCU issue but, according to Patriarch Bartholomew, the Phanar will not submit its decisions to the judgement of other Churches.