Speaking the Truth in Love: Theological and Spiritual Exhortations of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

5. Messages and Declarations

5 Messages and Declarations Messages of the Orthodox Primates, Heads of Autocephalous Orthodox Churches Ecumenical Patriarchate, March ,  In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. 1. Gathered together in the Holy Spirit in consultation at the Phanar, today, the fifteenth day of March 1992, on the Sunday of Orthodoxy, by the initiative and invitation, and under the presidency, of the First among us, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, after the expressed will as well of other brother Primates, we, by the mercy and grace of God, the Primates of the local most holy patriarchates and autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches, Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch Parthenios, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa Ignatius, Patriarch of Antioch and all the East Diodoros, Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem and all Palestine Alexei, Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Pavle, Patriarch of Belgrade and all Serbia Teoktist, Patriarch of Bucharest and all Romania Maxim, Patriarch of Sofia and all Bulgaria Elias, Archbishop of Mtskheta and Tiflis and Catholicos—Patriarch of all Georgia (represented by the Ecumenical Patriarch) Chrysostomos, Archbishop of Nea Justiniani and all Cyprus (represented by the Patriarch of Alexandria) Seraphim, Archbishop of Athens and all Greece 382 Messages and Declarations 兩 383 Wasily, Metropolitan of Warsaw and all Poland Dorotheij, Metropolitan of Prague and all Czechoslovakia John, Archbishop of Karelia and all Finland have conferred in brotherly love on matters concerning our one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Orthodox Church and have concelebrated the Holy Eucharist in the Patriarchal Church of the Ecumenical Patriarchate on this Sunday, which for centuries has been dedicated to Orthodoxy. On this occasion, we wish to declare the following: We offer, from the depths of our hearts, praise in doxology to the Triune God, who deigned us to see one another face to face, to exchange the kiss of peace and love, to partake of the cup of life, and to enjoy the divine gift of pan-Orthodox unity. Conscious of the responsibility that the Lord’s providence has placed on our shoulders, as we are shepherds of the Church and spiritual leaders, in humility and love we extend to everyone of goodwill, and especially to our brother bishops and the whole pious body of the Orthodox Church, God’s blessing, a kiss of peace, and a ‘‘word of exhortation’’ (Heb. 13.22). Rejoice, our brethren, in the Lord always! (Phil. 3.1). Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might (Eph. 6.10). 2. The Most Holy Orthodox Church throughout the oikoumene, sojourning in the world and being inevitably affected by the changes taking place therein, finds herself today confronted with particularly severe and urgent problems that she would like to face as one body, adhering to St. Paul’s observation that ‘‘if one member suffers, all suffer together’’ (1 Cor. 12.26). Moreover, looking into the future of humankind and that of the whole of God’s creation in light of our entrance into the third millennium a.d., at a time of rapid spiritual and social changes, the Church, fulfilling her sacred duty, wishes to bear her own witness, giving account ‘‘for the hope that is in us’’ (1 Pet. 3.15) in humility, love, and boldness. The twentieth century can be considered the century of great achievements in the field of knowledge about the universe and in the attempt to subject creation to the human will. During this century, the strength as well as the weakness of the human being has surfaced. After such achievements, no one doubts any longer that man’s domination over his environment does not necessarily lead to happiness and the fullness of life. And so humanity has learned that, apart from God, 384 兩 Messages and Declarations scientific and technological progress becomes an instrument of the destruction of nature and social life. This is particularly evident after the collapse of the communist system. We must recognize, alongside this collapse, the failure of all anthropocentric ideologies, which have created in the people of the twentieth century a spiritual void and an existential insecurity and led many people to seek salvation in new religious and para-religious movements, sects, or nearly idolatrous attachments to the material values of this world. Every kind of proselytism practiced today is a manifestation of, rather than a solution to, the deep crisis...