{"id":165358,"date":"2023-06-19T16:35:33","date_gmt":"2023-06-19T13:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/df.news\/?p=165358"},"modified":"2023-06-19T16:35:33","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T13:35:33","slug":"ecumenical-patriarch-to-cec-general-assembly-can-a-christian-europe-now-allow-for-all-voices-to-be-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/2023\/06\/19\/ecumenical-patriarch-to-cec-general-assembly-can-a-christian-europe-now-allow-for-all-voices-to-be-heard\/","title":{"rendered":"Ecumenical Patriarch to CEC General Assembly: Can a Christian Europe now allow for all voices to be heard?"},"content":{"rendered":"

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in a keynote address on 18 June at the CEC General Assembly, asked some challenging questions about the future of ecumenism in Europe, Orthodox Times<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday, the purpose of our presence here is to celebrate and affirm the ecumenical spirit among our diverse churches, communions and confessions, looking back respectfully to the long history of ecumenical relations in Europe and throughout the world, while at the same time looking forward to the immense challenges that lie ahead of us on the continent and across the globe,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we know, the ecumenical movement gained momentum in the wake of the devastation of the two world wars in the last century.\u201d<\/p>\n

But that ecumenical movement thrived in a very different Europe than that which we know and live in today, Bartholomew noted. \u201cNeedless to say, today, we are living in a very different Europe, one in which the landscape of religious affiliation has changed,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Christian churches, we can no longer take for granted that Europeans will identify with national churches or, indeed, with any particular form of belief.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ecumenical Patriarch described a Europe where the religious landscape has changed dramatically. \u201cToday attendance in liturgical services of cathedral churches in major cities may be sufficient, but attendance in suburban churches of smaller towns is weak,\u201d he said. \u201cThere, religiosity is perceived as being in the minority.\u201d<\/p>\n

He then discussed the purpose or goal of the ecumenical movement in this kind of Europe. \u201cWhat role or responsibility does religion play in such a Europe?\u201d he asked, describing a destructive \u201cnew ecumenism\u201d that is in essence a force for division and destruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see the consequences of this divisive and destructive mentality on full display in Russia\u2019s current brutal attack against Ukraine as well as in its church\u2019s justification for this war as the salvation of Ukraine from the alleged seduction of a godless, secular, and liberal West,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Today, the rhetoric of the so-called \u201cculture wars\u201d has grievously compromised any potential for dialogue, damaging the very core of ecumenism, he lamented. \u201cAs Christian communities, we must first adopt a sense of humility and accept that we are also to blame for this reduction of ecumenism,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn our ecumenical movement\u2014where differences are recognized and respected, where distinct voices are articulated and heard\u2014one question we must consistently discuss is: what do we mean by a Christian Europe within a democratic European Union?\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ecumenical Patriarch reflected on the possibility of a Christian Europe to mirroring the openness and respect that we expect of one another in ecumenical circles.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan a Christian Europe now allow for all voices to be heard, including those that express disagreement and disbelief?\u201d he asked. \u201cHere, we can appreciate how our differences cannot undermine our unity. Here, too, we can believe in what is possible through mutual respect and social justice.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, in a keynote address on 18 June at the CEC General Assembly, asked some challenging questions about the future of ecumenism in Europe, Orthodox Times reports. \u201cToday, the purpose of our presence here is to celebrate and affirm the ecumenical spirit among our diverse churches, communions and confessions, looking back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":165269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"telegram_tosend":false,"telegram_tosend_message":"","telegram_tosend_target":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5148,5142,5153],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-165358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-church-en","8":"category-news","9":"category-top-en"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/df.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/ecumenical-bartholomew-cec.webp?fit=799%2C532&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165358"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":165360,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/165358\/revisions\/165360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/165269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=165358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/df.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=165358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}