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Pope Urges Eastern-Rite Churches Not to Be Imprisoned in Past
Evangelization Is Key to Surmount Internal Difficulties, He Says

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 21, 2002 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II exhorted leaders of Eastern-rite Catholic Churches not to be imprisoned in the past, but to overcome their difficulties by being open to their missionary vocation.

When he met today with the 65 representatives who were participating in the plenary assembly of the Vatican Congregation for Eastern Churches, the Pope reiterated the proposal for the "pastoral renewal" of these Churches, whose origin dates back to the first Christian communities.

"In fact, each particular ecclesial community must not limit itself to the study of its internal problems," he said. "Rather, it must open itself to the great horizons of the modern apostolate destined for the men of our time, in a special way toward young people, the poor and the 'fallen away.'"

The Catholic Church is made up of particular Churches of the Latin rite (to which the greatest number of Catholics belong), as well as of Churches of Eastern rites, among which there are five traditions: Alexandrian, Antiochian, Armenian, Chaldean and Constantinopolitan.

The Holy Father said that among these communities, whose sees are in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Asia, there are often many difficulties: "numerical scarcity, lack of means, isolation, minority condition."

These circumstances "often impede serene and fruitful pastoral, educational, helpful and charitable action," the Pope noted. Moreover, these communities experience "an incessant migratory flow toward the West of the most promising components" of these Churches, he added.

Given this difficult situation, John Paul II exhorted Eastern Catholics not to be imprisoned by "formulas of the past," but to "open themselves to a healthy updating" -- "aggiornamento," he said in Italian, the word used by John XXIII to express the renewal that the Second Vatican Council would promote.

The key to this updating, John Paul II concluded, quoting the "Good Pope," is in the "wise harmony between the new and the old."

The problem with this kind of message is that certain priests and bishops interpret "wise harmony between the new and the old" as a need to leave certain Byzantine traditions behind and even adapting western or Latin traditions. What Eastern Catholics need to realise is that the "wise harmony between new and old" is in the social aspects of the church and not changing the religious services that we have inherited over the centuries.
Lauro

People can make very different interpretations. Some would try to urge your Churches to adopt reforms according to the "Spirit of Vatican II" and to "modernize" them.

Dear Friends,

This is a call to evangelization. Another story on EWTN today is about the relics of St. Therese of the Child Jesus being welcomed in Iraq.

Let us not forget, we are called to bring Jesus to the world and the world to Jesus. We need to pray and work in the Holy Land, Arab lands, India; in the footsteps of the Apostle, St. Thomas.

We are called to historic Rus, and the lands to the east. We must never forget that Saints Cyril and Methodius were great innovators who realized their calling to preach by reaching the people in the ways that were necessary to carry out the Lord's plans.

Have a Blessed Day !!!!

John
Pilgrim and Odd Duck

Glory to Jesus Christ!

It seems that His Holiness probably is not saying the Eastern Catholic Churches should go through a process of modernization as the Latins have done. In fact what Vatican II desired for the Eastern Churches was the restoration of their particular patrimony and charism - a return to its youthful character. Vatican II was not guilty of the abuses that occured in its name during the Council and after 1965 - these were done with agendas and spurious motives.

The true "Spirit" of Vatican II was the Holy Spirit; It was He who called the Church to prepare for the paradigm shift the world community was making and to save the Church, both East and West, from stagnation. I am sure the Holy Father is trying to call the Eastern Catholic Churches to the healing of memories and to find within themselves, and recover, the authentic renewal and restoration of their Life and Witness as true Eastern Churches.

The fact remains that if our Eastern Churches do not move out of this ethnocentric club mentality and evangelize all peoples we will die out; and that call is especially relevant to our Ruthenian Church who with our dwindling numbers and lack of priests may be absorbed into the Ukrainian sui juris Church - but would that necessarily be bad? Why not pull our resources and just have one Byzantine Jurisdiction, that has many usages, like the Latin Church, with her many usages, and yet be one self-governing Church? This may be Anathema to some, but are they really future-focused?

Are they concerned about the survival of the Byzantine Church or just their ethnic heritage? The Church of the next 1000 years will have to be a Church that is dynamic in its Traditional expression and flexible from the pastoral dimension; and that includes exploring new ways of being Eastern and sacredotalizing and absorbing, as the Church has done in its past, the newer culture and the new expressions of humanity.

The Byzantine Court and Empire no longer exist; there is no Emperor. The traditional cultures are becoming a part of the new global society and are forming a new culture base which is a merging of all cultures.

If the Byzantine Church is to survive it must make the Liturgy, which was formed by the old culture of the New Rome and in our case its framework was Slavic culture, receptive to this new global character. This means a deconstruction of outdated forms needs to take place so that a vibrancy may be birthed again - a kind of pruning process. Since the Eastern Catholic Churches are prophetic communities, prophetic in the sense that we took the bold step toward unity before the other Eastern Churches, we should take the lead in liturgical renewal. In worldwide Orthodox circles there is already talk of a renewal of the Liturgy and I believe it will happen; and I am certain that if the Eastern Orthodox Church were to convene a Global Pan-Orthodox Synod that the renewal of Liturgy would be one of the first things on the agenda.

So I think a restoration of patrimony does not necessarily mean that we get stuck in the 16th and 17th Centuries or try to go back in a time machine and try to act like the union never took place; the fact remains that Byzantine Catholics never stopped being Orthodox, having right belief, right worship, we have always maintained that; to say that 400 years of union with Rome eroded our spiritual life and liturgical life denies the Holy Spirit's activity in our Church - guiding us and leading us after having obeyed Christ's prayer that " they may all be one...".

We are unique and our communion with Rome gave us the opportunity to have a more universal picture of what it means to be Orthodox Catholic Christians. Again I can feel Anathemas from the peanut gallery , but nevertheless this call to renew is really THE major and crucial point of importance for our Byzantine Church - which I fully support. Three words: renew, global, and authentic are really the power-words our Church needs to claim and work toward in this new Century and I believe the Spirit will assist us in this matter.

In Christ,

Robert

There are very good examples of evangelization by Orthodox Churches. That among black Africans (by the Alexandrian Patriarchate) and there are also a lot of Latin American Orthodox in Colombia for example, and in Mexico when the Orthodox Church is made up of ethnic Mexicans (and some who's origin was foreign but now define themselves as Mexican).

Maybe the status of the Eastern Catholicism doesn't allow you to work that way since the existence of the sui iuris Churches is seen as a kind of "ethnic indult" (i don't mean I share those views) and its presence is only limited among those who share that ritual and ethnic background, and potential "converts" are discouraged by the burocratic procedures and the attitude of their Latin Bishops toward the Eastern Church.

Afte I read the news story I was a little dismayed...I really do not know what to make of this...I found solice in the Eastern Church after the wonderful fruits of liturgical refoms hit the Latin Church and i am very afraid that it will affect the Eastern Church in the same way. That i cannot tolerate. Just my 2 cents worth....

Johnny Angel,

I'm also rather confused by this. On the one hand we surely need to be more evangelical but I'm absolutely convinced that if we follow the pattern of Western Evangelization we will cease to exist...and I would applaud the outcome. If we begin gutting our Church in order to appeal to...to...whom, some imaginary vision of the secular man we won't be worth having around. Holiness is our calling. Let's follow that.

Dan Lauffer

I am sure many Latins who changed ritual Churches would also have your same fear. But I guarantee that when we do liturgical renewal it will be done right. Some simplification may be in order, but not iconoclasm nor innovation. I doubt if our Metropolia is going to compose new Anaphoras and introduce modern fabricated texts for liturgical use such as what occured in the Latin Church. But again who knows...I am sure if you would of spoken to a Catholic 100 years ago about the changes in the Latin Church he would of told you to get your head examined...change is always a reality when we least expect it.

I applaud what the Pope of older Rome said! And I'm all for Modernization for Eastern Catholics! Modernization, which I take to mean following and implementing Vatican II, - means for us a full and radical return to Orthodoxy!

Here, it is our MODERN "young turk" type clergy that are the ones in the pidryasnyks, beards, and kamilavkas. It's our old "conservatives" (a la our context) here who insist on retaining and even increasing the old Latinizations (whether pre or post Vat II latinization).

And Evangelization, Yes! (I note that there was no official lifting of what I understand was some old regulation or Canon that restricted Eastern Catholics to evangelize only members of their ethnic group - but that's ok, I'm willing to overlook that.) We should start missions [both at home and abroad]!

And I would presume that would mean sharing our faith with Protestants too and receiving Protestants into our Church - should they freely so wish! Some of our Churches are a little slow to stop thinking in exclusively ethnic terms - maybe this will give them a boost!

(BTW: Kudos to you American Ruthenians for calling yourselves just "Byzantine"! Excellent move. We might all take a lesson in that.)

(BTW is that your "official designation". You're not officially something like the "Eparchy of New York for the Ruthenians" are you? It urks me that we are "hyphenated Catholics" in the sense of e.g. "Eparchy of New York " for the Ukrainians". I don't hear alot of "Archdiocese of New York for the Latins.)

herb's 2 pence.

This little, ellicptical quote seems to have the quality of a Rorschach inkblot: what is seen reflects the beholder.

However poorly understood, the aggiornamento of Vatican II was intertwined with ressourcement.
http://www.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9611/reviews/weigel.html

This co-mingling is the perception of the present Pope. The writings of Karol Wojtyla/Pope John Paul II have been similarly characterized.
http://www.thomist.org/visitors/1997/971BBlos.htm

The Pope has embraced both ideas in his messages to the Eastern Churches. These impulses are not contradictory; they complement and discipline each other. Together they can be understood as a call to evangelize people in contemporary culture with solidly grounded ideas and practice - steering clear of both fadish novelties and culturally detached antiquarianism.

In this context, there is no doubt that orthodox thinking and practice are not the "prisons of our past", but the ressourcement that disciplines our aggiornamento. Some obvious "prisons of our past" that have been discussed here recently include our internecine jurisdictional squabbling, nationalistic and ethnic concerns that constrain our outreach, a lack of boldness and breadth in evangelical charitable and social work. My guess - my interpretation of the inkblot - is that the Pope was referring to these prisons.

Bravo Herb! You have said it well. The recent past we were imprisoned in was thoroughly latinized and let us pray those days are truly in the past.

Dear Friends,

Yes indeed!

The Pope would like to very much sees us as "Orthodox in communion with Rome" as possible!

The fact is that the greatest stumbling block to the full return of our Churches to their Eastern patrimony are . . . the members of those Churches themselves.

I remember reading an article by a Latin Catholic about the Eastern Churches who said that the old Latin "import feasts" of the Sacred Heart, Corpus Christi, Christ the King etc. need no longer be followed by the Eastern Churches.

But, he remarked, he has come across Eastern Catholic priests and bishops who have told him that these are "our traditions."

When my grandfather served the Divine Liturgy at home, by special blessing of his bishop owing to his age, I once placed an icon of St Job of Pochaiv on his altar.

He asked me who that was and I told him.

"Wonderful," he replied.

I think the Pope would have liked my grandfather!

Alex

Orthodox Christian, I'm sure the Pope would've loved your grandfather!

To Dan Lauffer:
Referring to your post evangelizing like the West and us "ceasing to exist", would you explain to me more fully what you mean? Sorry, I'm a little slow.(I think I understand but I do not want to jump to a conclusion.)

Thinking of evangelization in general, what bothers me the most is the fact that the Orthodox seem to be more concerned with this than we Byzantines are. They have an evangelical prison outreach program (run by the Antiochan Orthodox Church, I believe), and evangelical training programs run and taught by Father Gilquist.

Perhaps the reason being is that the Byzantine laity hasn't received the "prodding" or "challenge" as Roman Catholics have to share their faith and evangelize.

I noticed this upon returning to my Byzantine heritage after being in the roman church for years. There doesn't seem to be an emphasis yet on finding and developing the individual's special charism or ministry, and that's OK. Lord knows our parishes need the pierogi-making ministries; they are extremely important.

It may be the time, however, to allow the Vatican II mentality concerning laity to enter the Byzantine churches:
1. We should look at ourselves as "true Orthodox
in communion with Rome". The Romans changing rites, or coming back home(like me), should not expect to bring western devotions into the church; they may be done in private, but one should embrace eastern devotional and liturgical styles.
2. Byzantines should be encouraged to become aware of their own unique spiritual gifts, and have the educational opportunities (locally) to develop them and offer them to the parish in various ministries.
3. Byzantines that possess the proper education should have the opportunity to be counselors at the parish level.
4. Those with musical abilities, should have opportunities and ministries to display those talents outside of the divine liturgy settings; this way it doesn't interfere with the traditional chanting/singing of the liturgy. For example, allow byzanteens to form bands and participate in Christian-based concerts as an outreach to communities.
5. Teach Byzantines how to evangelize. Part of the evangelizing problem is that this is something new to us, it was not really expected from us in the past. However, the Holy Father has made it clear that it is EVERY CHRISTIAN'S DUTY (that means Byzantines, too) to proclaim the Good News of Jesus.
6. It may be time to take the focus off of our ethnocentricity. We need to look at ourselves as Orthodox Christians first, then as Ruthenians, Ukranians, etc.

It wouldn't do us any harm to learn some valuable lessons from the evangelical protestant approach:

It wouldn't kill us to be publicly zealous as they are about the gospel; it wouldn't kill us to go out into the neighborhoods in groups of 2 to hand out tracts sharing the gospel and Byzantine awareness; and it wouldn't kill us to become immersed in Scripture study and verse memorizing in order to provide a lost and hurting world with the answers to life and purpose of our existence.

Glory to the Risen Lord,
Vladimir

Dear Vladimir,

You make excellent points!

I think that the evangelism outreach carried out by the former Evangelical Orthodox Fr. Gillquist is a strength that he and his group bring to Orthodoxy "from the outside."

He also brings the strength of scripture study and this is also something that cradle Orthodoxy hasn't been enthusiastic about.

You've hit on a very telling point regarding Eastern Catholics.

In a sense, I don't think we can blame Eastern Catholics for their attitude - we can blame Latinization and the attitude of the RCC toward us.

If we have a secondary enthusiasm for evangelization and preaching Christ to the West, it is because we've been given a secondary role by the Western Church in this respect.

We have not previously been allowed to "preach" anything, but this was left to the Roman Church.

In other words, if someone were to become Catholic as a result of, say, Eastern Catholic missions, that person could not join the Eastern Catholic Church, but the Latin Church.

Things are different now, but the mentality that has been reinforced for so many years among our people remains.

Alex