Orthodoxy: Rhodes to Rome

As the burning Aegean sun climbed toward high noon, fishermen from Rhodes eyed the last of the season’s bikini-clad tourists from Germany and Sweden stretching languidly on the is land’s white sands. Inside Rhodes’s ancient, icon-laden cathedral, where the air was dusky with incense, a choir chanted the solemn hymns of the Byzantine Divine Liturgy, concelebrated by 14 bishops. Thus began the third ma jor conference of the world’s 14 Ortho dox churches to take place in the past four years.

Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople, “first among equals” of the Orthodox prelates, proposed the conference, but, following tradition, nei ther he nor the other major patriarchs were present. Chairing the secret daily sessions for Athenagoras was his deputy, Metropolitan Meliton of Heliopolis. Per haps the most influential man present was Metropolitan Nikodim of Lenin grad, the chief diplomat-bishop of the world’s largest Orthodox body, the Pa triarchate of Moscow.

Influence & Pressure. The major top ic of the conference was the touchiest issue that now faces Orthodoxy: how to initiate and carry on the theological dialogue with Rome that Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI agreed to when they met in Jerusalem last January. Merely putting the subject on the agenda led the Orthodox Church of Greece to boy cott last year’s Rhodes meeting, partly because the Greek bishops are fearful of Rome’s power and partly because Athens’ Metropolitan Chrysostomos is jealous of Athenagoras’ growing influence in Orthodoxy. Strong pressure from some progressive metropolitans and from the government persuaded the Greek bishops to send delegates to Rhodes this year.

Other Orthodox churches share Greece’s go-slow attitude. At the conference, Yugoslav Metropolitan Dama scene of Zagreb recalled the World War II enmity of the Orthodox Serbs and the Roman Catholic Croats. Metropolitan Alexander of Emesse indicated that the Patriarchate of Antioch was worried that the Vatican Council would approve a declaration on antiSemitism, which the Arabs see as an implied Ro man recognition of Israel. Moreover, Athenagoras and his deputies had to consider the views of the World Council of Churches -all but three of the Orthodox bodies belong -which hopes that serious negotiations with Rome will not lessen Orthodox interest in ecumenical talks with Protestants.

Words of Love &Peace. During the first days of discussion, the delegates disagreed on the timing of the dialogue.

Athenagoras and the patriarchs of Anti och, Alexandria and Jerusalem want the conference to set a definite time and place, as soon as possible. The Russians, on the other hand, want to wait until the Vatican Council is over. All the churches agree that one condition for the dialogue is acceptance by Rome of the Orthodox as equal partners, not as schismatics petitioning for a return to the fold. The delegates also agreed unanimously to form a committee of prelates who would inform the Pope of the conference’s proposed ground rules for the discussion.

One sign of the delegates’ openness was their warm response to a greeting from the Pope, who had prayed that the Holy Spirit would guide their delib erations and reminded them of the veneration for Mary that both churches have in common. “We sincerely appreciate the words of love and peace.” the delegates replied in French. “We are following the road of the Lord’s commandments in the expectation of perfecting the will of our Lord Jesus Christ in his church.”