| Common Declaration signed Pope John
Paul II and Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople signed a
Common Declaration during the course of their meeting in the Holy Father's
Private Library on the morning of Thursday, 1 July. The following is the
the text of the Common Declaration.
"Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong. Let
all that you do be done in love" (I Cor 16:13-14).
1. In the spirit of faith in Christ and the reciprocal love that unites
us, we thank God for this gift of our new meeting that is taking place on
the Feast of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and witnesses to our firm
determination to continue on our way towards full communion with one
another in Christ.
2. Many positive steps have marked our common journey, starting above
all with the historical event that we are recalling today: the embrace of
Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I on the Mount of Olives in
Jerusalem, on 5 and 6 January 1964. We, their Successors, are meeting
today to commemorate fittingly before God that blessed encounter, now part
of the history of the Church, faithfully recalling it and its original
intentions.
3. The embrace in Jerusalem of our respective Predecessors of venerable
memory visibly expressed a hope that dwells in all hearts, as the
Communiqué
declared: "With eyes turned to Christ, together with the Father, the
Archetype and Author of unity and of peace, they pray God that this
encounter may be the sign and prelude of things to come for the glory of
God and the enlightenment of his faithful people. After so many centuries
of silence, they have now met with the desire to do the Lord's will and to
proclaim the ancient truth of his Gospel, entrusted to the Church" (Common
Declaration of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I, Tomos Agapis,
Vatican-Phanar, 1971, n. 50, p. 120).
4. Unity and Peace! The hope kindled by that historic encounter has lit
up our journey in these last decades. Aware that the Christian world has
suffered the tragedy of separation for centuries, our Predecessors and we
ourselves have persevered in the "dialogue of charity", our gaze turned to
that blessed, shining day on which it will be possible to communicate with
the same cup of the precious Blood and the holy Body of the Lord (cf.
Patriarch Athenagoras I, Address to Pope Paul VI [5 January 1964],
ibid., n. 48, p. 109). The many ecclesial events that have punctuated
these past years have put on firm foundations the commitment to brotherly
love: a love which, in learning from past lessons, may be ready to
forgive, more inclined to believe in good than in evil and intent first
and foremost on complying with the Divine Redeemer and in being attracted
and transformed by him (Address of Pope Paul VI to Patriarch
Athenagoras I [6 January 1964], ibid., n. 49, p. 117).
5. Let us thank the Lord for the exemplary gestures of reciprocal love,
participation and sharing that he has granted us to make; among them, it
is only right to recall the Pope's Visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios in 1979, when the creation of the Joint International Commission
for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and all the Orthodox
Churches was announced at the Phanar, a further step to sustain the
"dialogue of truth" with the "dialogue of charity"; Patriarch Dimitrios'
visit to Rome in 1987; our meeting in Rome on the feast of Sts Peter and
Paul in 1995, when we prayed in St Peter's, despite the painful separation
during the celebration of the Eucharistic Liturgy, since we cannot yet
drink from the same chalice of the Lord. Then, more recently, there was
the meeting at Assisi for the "Day of Prayer for Peace in the World", and
the Common Declaration on Environmental Ethics for the Safeguard of
Creation, signed on 10 June 2002 [in the context of the Fourth Symposium
on Ecology: The Adriatic Sea: a Sea at Risk
—
Unity of Purpose].
6. Despite our firm determination to journey on towards full communion,
it would have been unrealistic not to expect obstacles of various kinds:
doctrinal, first of all, but also the result of conditioning by a troubled
history. In addition, the new problems which have emerged from the radical
changes that have occurred in political and social structures have not
failed to make themselves felt in relations between the Christian
Churches. With the return to freedom of Christians in Central and Eastern
Europe, old fears have also been reawakened, making dialogue difficult.
Nonetheless, St Paul's exhortation to the Corinthians: let all things be
done in charity, must always be vibrant within us and between us.
7. The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between
the Catholic Church and all the Orthodox Churches, created with so much
hope, has marked our progress in recent years. It is still a suitable
instrument for studying the ecclesiological and historical problems that
are at the root of our difficulties, and for identifying hypothetical
solutions to them. It is our duty to persevere in the important commitment
to reopen the work as soon as possible. In examining the reciprocal
initiatives of the offices of Rome and of Constantinople with this in
view, we ask the Lord to sustain our determination, and to convince
everyone of how essential it is to pursue the "dialogue of truth".
8. Our meeting in Rome today also enables us to face certain problems
and misunderstandings that have recently surfaced. The long experience of
the "dialogue of charity" comes to our aid precisely in these
circumstances, so that difficulties can be faced serenely without slowing
or clouding our progress on the journey we have undertaken towards full
communion in Christ.
9. Before a world that is suffering every kind of division and
imbalance, today's encounter is intended as a practical and forceful
reminder of the importance for Christians and for the Churches to coexist
in peace and harmony, in order to witness in agreement to the message of
the Gospel in the most credible and convincing way possible.
10. In the special context of Europe, moving in the direction of higher
forms of integration and expansion towards the East of the Continent, we
thank the Lord for this positive development and express the hope that in
this new situation, collaboration between Catholics and Orthodox may grow.
There are so many challenges to face together in order to contribute to
the good of society: to heal with love the scourge of terrorism, to instil
a hope of peace, to help set aright the multitude of grievous conflicts;
to restore to the European Continent the awareness of its Christian roots;
to build true dialogue with Islam, since indifference and reciprocal
ignorance can only give rise to diffidence and even hatred; to nourish an
awareness of the sacred nature of human life; to work to ensure that
science does not deny the divine spark that every human being receives
with the gift of life; to collaborate so that our earth may not be
disfigured and that Creation may preserve the beauty with which it has
been endowed by God; but above all, to proclaim the Gospel Message with
fresh vigour, showing contemporary men and women how the Gospel can help
them rediscover themselves and to build a more human world.
11. Let us pray to the Lord to give peace to the Church and to the
world, and to imbue our journey towards full communion with the wisdom of
his Spirit, "ut unum in Christo simus" [so that we may be one in
Christ].
From the Vatican, 29 June 2004
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