The Roman Pope thanks God for dialogue with Oriental Orthodox Churches

Pope Francis of Rome greets the members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches — Photo courtesy: Vatican Media

Address of His Holiness Pope Francis To The Joint International Commission For Theological Dialogue Between The Catholic Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches

VATICAN CITY, Feb. 01, 2019 – Here is the address the Roman Pope Francis gave upon receiving in audience members of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches.

Complete text of the Roman Pope Francis’s address, in English:

Friday, 1st February 2019

Dear Brothers,

“Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Ps 133:1). With these words of the Psalm, I offer you my cordial welcome and I thank you for your commitment to walking along the paths of unity, and for doing so in a spirit of fraternity! I am pleased, every second year, to welcome you to Rome on the occasion of your dialogue which last year was held in the See of Holy Etchmiadzin at the invitation of the Armenian Apostolic Church. Through you, I extend my greetings to my venerable and dear Brothers, Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. I am grateful for the kind words of His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, the new Co-President of the Commission, whom I assure of my prayers and best wishes for his work. With gratitude, I also remember his predecessor, beloved Metropolitan Anba Bishoy, who was the first Co-President and who recently passed away. I join you in praying for him.

At the conclusion of your work this week, the sixteenth session of your Commission, we can together thank the Lord for the fruits already gathered along the way. Your dialogue expresses well how, between the East and the West, the “various theological expressions are to be considered often as mutually complementary rather than conflicting” (Unitatis Redintegratio, 17), as affirmed by the Second Vatican Council, whose sixtieth anniversary of its announcement we celebrated a few days ago. I offer my prayer and encouragement that your current reflection on the Sacraments may help us to continue the journey towards full communion, towards the shared celebration of the Holy Eucharist. You have dedicated this session to reflecting on the Sacrament of Matrimony. I like to recall what the book of Genesis says about this: “God created man in his own image… male and female he created them” (Gen 1:27). Man is fully in the image of God not when he is alone, but when he lives in a stable communion of love, because God is a communion of love. I am certain that your work, carried out in an atmosphere of great harmony, will be to the benefit of the family of God’s children, the Spouse of Christ, who we desire to present to the Lord “without spot or wrinkle” (Eph 5:27), without wounds and without divisions, but in the beauty of full communion.

Many of you belong to the Churches of the Middle East which have suffered terribly as a result of war, violence and persecution. As I meet you here, I recall the recent meeting in Bari which brought us together as Heads of Churches for a deeply intense day of prayer and reflection on the situation in the Middle East, an experience, I hope, which may be repeated. I want to assure all the faithful in the Middle East of my closeness, my constant thoughts and my prayers that this land, unique in God’s salvific plan, may, after the long night of conflict, witness the dawn of peace. The Middle East must become a land of peace, it cannot continue to bea land of hostility. May war, the daughter of power and destitution, give way to peace, the daughter of law and justice and may our Christian brothers and sisters be recognized as full citizens enjoying equal rights (cf. Address at the Conclusion of the Dialogue, Bari, 7 July 2018).

The lives of many saints of our Churches are seeds of peace sown in those lands; they are now blossoming in heaven. From there they support us on our journey to full communion, a journey that God desires, a journey that summons us to walk, not according to fleeting convenience, but on the path of openness to the Lord’s will: that “all may be one” (Jn 17:21). He calls us, ever increasingly, to a coherent witness of life and to an authentic pursuit of unity. The seed of this communion, thanks also to your important work, has blossomed and continues to be watered by the blood of the witnesses of unity, by so much blood shed by the martyrs of our time: members of different Churches who, united by the same suffering for the name of Jesus, now share the same glory.

Dear Brothers, as I renew my heartfelt gratitude for your visit, counting on the intercession of these martyrs, I invoke upon you and your ministry the blessing of the Lord. And now, if agreeable to you, we can pray the Our Father, each in our own language.

— Photo courtesy: Vatican Media

Address of H.G. Bishop Kyrillos, the Co-Chairman of the Joint International Commission For Theological Dialogue Between the Roman Catholic Church And The Oriental Orthodox Churches.


February 1, 2019

Tobe 24, 1735

Martyrdom of St. Timothy the Apostle

YOUR HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS OF ROME,

Apostolic greetings from all Their Holinesses, the Heads of the Oriental Orthodox Family of Churches, whom we are representing in this meeting today: the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and all the East, the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate of Holy Etchmiadzin, the Armenian Orthodox Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox-Syrian Church. I also convey special greetings from His Holiness Pope Tawadros II of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria.

I humbly speak before Your Holiness after my brothers graciously elected me as the new cochairman to succeed His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy, of blessed memory, who after returning from an ecumenical visit this last October, took a quick flight to our Lord and Savior. We feel the loss of his physical presence with us in our meetings, but trust that he is continuing his work through his prayers for us in our journey towards unity.

This is the 16th meeting of our Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, and the eighth time we meet here in Rome, where we are enjoying the hospitality of Your Holiness together with the hospitality of His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, co-chairman of the Commission. This year’s subject was devoted to the theology and practice of marriage.

Marriage was one of the most challenging and important subjects we have discussed. Challenging because of its interdisciplinary nature that touches on the understanding of Holy Scripture, theology,
sacramental theology, liturgical history, canon law, and pastoral care. Marriage is also relevant for our people and clergy. We know how tirelessly Your Holiness has labored in the past few years to restore
peace and harmony to each family, not only in the synod of bishops, but also in the World Meeting of Families, and in many homilies. We deeply appreciate Your Holiness’s efforts to preserve and revive the Christian family in the midst of many attacks and divisions today.

Our study of the Sacraments was the third major subject the Commission has undertaken since it began its work in 2004. We have realized the need to dedicate next year’s meeting on sacramental theology to help us in preparation of our third common document.

We hope and pray that along this journey together we can discover new ways to preserve the unity within our marriages and churches, as a preparation to restore full unity in the One, Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic Church.

+ Kyrillos
Co-Chairman of the Commission
Auxiliary Bishop in the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of Los Angeles
Dean of St Athanasius and St. Cyril Theological School

Report on the Sixteenth meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches

The Members of the Sixteenth Meeting of the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches with His Holiness Pope Francis of Rome at the Vatican on February 1, 2019.

Here is the report on the Sixteenth meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Roman Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The meeting took place Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2019 in Rome.
* * *

INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION FOR THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE 

BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES

REPORT

Sixteenth Meeting

Rome, January 27 - February 2, 2019

The sixteenth meeting of the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches took place in Rome from January 27 to February 2, 2019, hosted by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. It was chaired jointly by His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, and by His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Coptic Orthodox Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, California, USA.
Representatives came from the Catholic Church and from the following Oriental Orthodox Churches: the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church (Catholicosate of All Armenians and Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia), the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church. No representative of the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo Church was able to attend.
The two delegations met separately on the morning of January 28 and again in the morning of January 31.  Plenary sessions were held from January 28 to February 1, each day beginning with a brief prayer service based on material prepared for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
The first plenary session began with prayers for His Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette, who passed into eternal life on October 2, 2018. He had served as a committed and dedicated Oriental Orthodox Co-Chairman of this dialogue since it began in 2004.  The Oriental Orthodox members nominated Bishop Kyrillos as his successor at their family meeting on January 28.
Cardinal Koch informed the members about ecumenical developments over the past year, including the visit of His Holiness Catholicos Karekin II and His Holiness Catholicos Aram I to the Vatican on April 5; the day of prayer and reflection of Pope Francis and heads of churches in the Middle East in Bari, Italy, on July 7; and  the visit of Catholicos Karekin II to Rome on October 24.
Continuing its focus on the sacraments, this session of the dialogue was entirely devoted to the Sacrament of Marriage.    The Oriental Orthodox papers included a major presentation,  “A Great Mystery: Theology of Marriage in the Oriental Orthodox Churches” by Metropolitan Bishoy (+) and Bishop Kyrillos.  In addition the following papers were presented:  “The Practice of Marriage, Inter-Church Marriages, Divorce and Mixed Marriages in the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church” by Metropolitan Youhanon Mar Demetrios; “Conception of Marriage Sacrament in the Antiochian Syriac Orthodox Church” by Metropolitan Theophilus George Saliba; “Sacrament of Marriage: Armenian Apostolic Perspectives” by Rev. Father Shahe Ananyan; “The Sacrament of Matrimony in the Coptic Orthodox Church” by Rev. Father Shenouda Maher Ishak; and “The Practice of the Sacrament of Holy Matrimony (The Sacrament of Crowning) in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church” by Rev. Father Daniel Seifemichael Feleke.
Four papers on marriage were presented by the Catholic members: “The Sacrament of Matrimony in the Latin Tradition of the Catholic Church” by Professor Dietmar Winkler, “Theology and Spirituality of the Sacrament of Marriage” by Bishop Paul Rouhana, “Canonical Aspects of Marriage in the Catholic Church” by Chorbishop John Faris (invited guest), and “Marriages between Catholics and Muslims” by Archbishop Peter Marayati.
The presented papers and discussions made clear that we are in complete agreement that Christian marriage is a sacrament. We accept the same biblical and patristic sources as the grounds for our belief that the Sacrament of Matrimony is a divine institution. The narratives of the Old Testament present marriage and parenthood as a gift from God so that “the two became one flesh” (Gen. 2:24) and respond to God’s commandment “be fruitful and multiply” (Gen. 1:28). The teachings of Jesus and Saint Paul in the New Testament emphasize the indissoluble bond of marriage, rooted in the mutual love of husband and wife that is a sacramental participation in the mystery of Christ and his Church (Matt. 19:6, Mark 10:9, Eph. 5:32). Marriage, by its very nature ordered to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, has been raised by Christ the Lord himself to the dignity of a sacrament.
As the gospel spread in various regions and cultures, Churches in their Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Indian, Syrian and Latin contexts developed different traditions to celebrate the rite of marriage. We regard this inculturation as mutually enriching. While the understanding of the sacramental nature of matrimony is universal, the rites and ceremonies of matrimony have developed distinctive elements and emphases.
The Church is the principal medium of Christ’s grace. Because Christian marriage is an expression of the union of Christ and the Church, marriage begins and finds its life in the heart of the Church. Therefore, a sacramental marriage is possible only between a baptized woman and a baptized man.  In all of our traditions, a sacramental marriage typically requires the free consent of both the man and the woman, the presence of witnesses, and a blessing within the Body of Christ by an ordained representative of the Church. The Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches require the blessing of a priest or bishop, while the Latin church allows even a deacon to confer the blessing.   
Unity and indissolubility are the distinctive aspects of Christian marriage, but the reality of human frailty and sin means that some marriages weaken and fail. All of our Churches have developed various means to help those who have experienced such pain to remain within the ecclesial community. The possibilities of annulment, dissolution, and divorce are handled differently by the Churches, but always with a pastoral emphasis on healing and spiritual accompaniment. The Oriental Orthodox Churches provide for the possibility of divorce and remarriage for those who were sacramentally married, especially in cases of adultery. While the Catholic Church does not admit the possibility of divorce, it recognizes that some marriages have lacked an essential element from the very beginning and therefore can be declared null. All recognize, and generally agree on, the canonical impediments to marriage.
All of our Churches permit the widowed to remarry. The Oriental Orthodox Churches have simplified forms of the rite of matrimony for second or third marriages, whether for the widowed or the divorced, in order to recognize the uniqueness of the first sacramental marriage.
Our Churches have various approaches to marriage between Christians of different Churches. The Catholic Church permits marriage with other baptized persons under certain conditions.   There are different practices among the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Some require that the prospective spouse who is not in communion with their Church formally join it. In certain cases, this requires baptism and/or chrismation. The social and cultural contexts, especially the legal situation of Churches in some countries in which Christians are in the minority, can also affect their view that spouses must belong to the same Church.
For all our churches marriage between Christians and non-Christians cannot in any case be sacramental, as the sacramental nature of marriage requires that both parties be baptized. Such a marriage is seen as problematic by the Catholic Church and unacceptable by the Oriental Orthodox Churches. However, the Catholic Church will offer prayers as a pastoral provision of ecclesial and spiritual support to the Christian spouse, while the Oriental Orthodox Churches consider the celebration of such marriages to be outside of the ministry of the Church.
In the evening of Monday January 28, Cardinal Koch hosted a dinner for the dialogue members in the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican gardens.  On the evening of Wednesday, January 30, the members attended Vespers at the Benedictine Collegio di Sant'Anselmo at the kind invitation of the Right Revered Gregory Polan, O.S.B., Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation, and shared supper with the community.
At 11:00 on Friday morning February 1, His Holiness Pope Francis received the members of the Commission in private audience. In his greetings to the Pope, His Grace Bishop Kyrillos firstly thanked His Holiness for his hospitality, and then reported on the work of the Joint Commission, reflecting in particular that “Marriage was one of the most challenging and important subjects we have discussed. Challenging because of its interdisciplinary nature that touches on the understanding of Holy Scripture, theology, sacramental theology, liturgical history, canon law, and pastoral care. …We deeply appreciate Your Holiness’s efforts to preserve and revive the Christian family in the midst of many attacks and divisions today”.
In his response, Pope Francis stated: “I am certain that your work, carried out in an atmosphere of great harmony, will be to the benefit of the family of God’s children, the Spouse of Christ, who we desire to present to the Lord “without spot or wrinkle” (Eph 5:27), without wounds and without divisions, but in the beauty of full communion”. His Holiness offered participants a copy of his Post–Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia on the theme of love in the family.
The next meeting will take place in Atchaneh, Lebanon, hosted by the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch. Arrivals on January 26 and departures on February 1, 2020.  The main focus of the meeting will be fundamental aspects of sacramental theology.

The members of the Commission are:
Representatives of the Oriental Orthodox Churches (in alphabetical order)
Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Church: H.E. Mar Theophilus George Saliba, Archbishop of Mount Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon; H.E. Kuriakose Mar Theophilose, Metropolitan of the M.S.O.T Seminary and President of the Ecumenical Secretariat of the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Church in India, Ernakulam, India; H.G. Bishop Mor Polycarpus Aydin (observer);
Armenian Apostolic Church: Catholicosate of all Armenians: H.E. Khajag Barsamian, Pontifical Legate for Western Europe and Official Representative of the Armenian Church to the Vatican; Reverend Father Shahe Ananyan, Director of the Interchurch Relationships Department, Etchmiadzin, Armenia;
Armenian Apostolic Church: Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia: H.E. Bishop Magar Ashkarian, Anatelias, Lebanon; Reverend Father Boghos Tinkjian, Dean of the Armenian Theological Seminary, Antelias, Lebanon;
Coptic Orthodox Church: H.G. Bishop Kyrillos (Co-Chair), Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, Rev. Fr. Shenouda Maher Ishak, West Henrietta, New York, USA; H.G. Bishop Daniel of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia (Observer); H.G. Bishop Barnaba El Soryany, Rome, Italy (Observer);
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church: no representative was able to attend;
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: Archbishop Gabriel of Sidamo (unable to attend); Rev. Fr, Daniel Seifemichael Feleke of Holy Trinity Theological University College and Director of Broadcasting Service in Addis Ababa;
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church: H.E. Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nicholovos, Northeast Diocese of America; H.E. Metropolitan Dr. Youhanon Mar Demetrios (co-secretary), Metropolitan of the Diocese of Delhi, India.

Representatives of the Catholic Church
His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (co-chair);
Most Reverend Woldetensae Ghebreghiorghis, Apostolic Vicar Emeritus of Harar, Ethiopia, President of the Ecumenical Commission of the Catholic Church in Ethiopia;
Most Reverend Youhanna Golta, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate, Cairo, Egypt (unable to attend);
Most Reverend Peter Marayati, Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Syria;
Most Reverend Paul Rouhana, OLM, Bishop of the Patriarchal Maronite Vicariate of Sarba, Jounieh, Lebanon;
Most Reverend Paul-Werner Scheele, Bishop Emeritus of Würzburg, Germany (unable to attend);
Most Reverend Boghos Levon Zekiyan, Archbishop of Istanbul and Turkey for the Catholic Armenians;
Rev. Fr. Frans Bouwen, M.Afr., Sainte-Anne, Jerusalem;
Rev. Fr. Habib Mrad, Patriarchal Secretary and Chancellor, Syriac Catholic Patriarchate, Beirut;
Rev. Fr. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC, USA;
Rev. Fr. Mark Sheridan, OSB, Collegio di S. Anselmo, Rome;
Rev. Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, Executive Director, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, Professor of Theology, Saint John's Abbey and University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA;
Rev. Malpan Fr. Mathew Vellanickal, Spirituality Center, Manganam, Kottayam, India;
Prof. Dietmar W. Winkler, Consultant to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Salzburg, Austria.
Rev. Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, Official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome (co-secretary).