Ecumenism: A Seed Planted

"This moment, Your Holiness," said Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, "is one of the most significant for mankind. Humanity at its highest spiritual level has the opportunity at last to guide the world toward peace." Pope Paul VI, gesturing animatedly, often clasping his hands in prayer, replied: "Your Holiness, we must bring our churches closer together. It will not be easy, but we are already on the right road. Nothing is insurmountable in our striving to unite mankind, but we must unite beforehand."

So spoke the highest-ranking prelates of Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism, the branches of Christianity sundered in the great schism of 1054. Their meeting, at the residence of the Vatican's Apostolic Delegate to Jordan on Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, was the first encounter of Pope and Patriarch since a tentative reconciliation in 1439, and it became a meeting of brothers. Responding to one of Paul's remarks, Athenagoras once demurred: "I am not a Holiness, only a patriarch." "You are Holiness to your people," the Pope answered, taking Athenagoras' hand. "I am Holiness to mine."

"I want to know your ideas and those of your church," said Paul, adding somewhat optimistically that there were only two or three points of doctrine dividing the churches, and that they could be resolved by theological studies. Thus, the Pope in effect agreed to establish a dialogue between the two churches, which Orthodoxy had proposed at a conference at Rhodes last fall. Then, in a spirit of joy and brotherhood, the two men summoned their retinues to join them in the solemn chanting of the Lord's Prayer.

New Prestige. The meeting was the high point of Pope Paul's extraordinary trip to the Holy Land, which, among its other claims to historical notice, added a new dimension to the image of the modern papacy created by Paul's predecessors. Through his countless audiences and learned addresses, the austere and ascetic Pius XII made the figure of the Pope an impressive reality to millions of Catholics and non-Catholics alike. By summoning the second Vatican Council, the fatherly Pope John XXIII put the power and influence of his office behind what promises to be a striking internal reform of Catholicism. His Holy Land trip suggested that Pope Paul VI, also, has plenty of imagination and authority, and that he may be a warmer man than past appearances would indicate.

By praying at shrines in Israel and Jordan that honor events in Jesus' life, he dramatically brought to mind Christianity's roots in Judaism, and its historic links with the Old Testament, and even with Islam. By meeting with Athenagoras, he created an "opening to the East" that John had only dreamed about. By traveling in a jet aircraft he made it clear that a modern bishop of Rome need not be a prisoner of Italy.

Hurt Feelings. Yet the Holy Land trip was no unalloyed triumph. The Pope's dream of a peaceful pilgrimage was shattered by the glare of modern publicity (see PRESS), and despite a determined effort to be diplomatic, Paul managed to step on the acutely sensitive toes of Jordanians, Israelis and Orthodox alike.