Your Excellency, Mr. President,
Esteemed Ladies and Gentlemen, Deputies of Parliament,
With much joy and deep satisfaction, we have come into your midst on these official premises of the European Parliament which in the minds of the people vividly represents the center of renewed historical efforts to achieve European unification.
We wholeheartedly thank you for the invitation you extended to us. We thank you, Your Excellency Egon Klepsch, President of the European Parliament, for taking the initiative to invite us. We thank all of you, Ladies and Gentlemen, Deputies of Parliament, for being present here today. You have the great and historic mission to organize the unity of the peoples of Europe in peace, justice and democracy, which means in solidarity and in love. It is a mission which in every likelihood transcends our individual boundaries, but which has the power of a joint effort for a better world. We wholeheartedly pray this mission will continue.
The unification of Europe to which you have devoted your efforts as representatives of the will of the peoples is a task which is familiar to us. We minister to a tradition of seventeen centuries of caring and struggling for the salvation and unity of European civilization. We, the elder Patriarchate of the New Rome-Constantinople together with the other European axis, Old Rome, have not been able to make this unity visible. We are most deeply grieved by this fact. We continue, however, to pursue in common our initial witness that political unity separated from civilization, that is, without a fundamentalunderstanding of human relationships, cannot lead to the achievement of a united Europe. The unity pursued by the peoples of Europe can only be realized as unity in the sharing of a common understanding of life, as a common goal of our human relationships.
It is surprising that the real and most deeply democratic organization of the Orthodox Christian Church with its rather large degree of administrative autonomy and local supremacy of the bishops, as well as the patriarchates and autocephalous churches all simultaneously enjoying the eucharistic unity in faith is one kind of model which the European Union under the name of the Principle of Epicureanism recently legislated as the most advantageous method for defining its powers.
In spite of the drastic world changes throughout the history of Europe, Old and New Rome continue to remain axes of reference and unity of European civilization. We are speaking here about the fundamental understanding of unity, not an ideological alienation of this understanding into religious or political doctrines which often leads to the absolutizing of nationalistic and racial particularities.
It is our belief that European unification will not be possible if such absolutes dominate. We are aware that at this very moment many of you have put before us and the Orthodox Catholic Church, which we serve in her senior-ranking diocese, the tragic reality of a horrendous war of our times in which Orthodox populations of Europe have become embroiled; where there is fighting among neighbouring Christians and people of other faiths.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Orthodox Church in general respect the ethnic traditions and sensitivities of peoples. We, however, most categorically condemn every kind of fanaticism, transgression and use of violence regardless of where they come from. Our persistence in the need for free and peaceful communication among people, mutual respect and peaceful co-existence among nations remains unmoved, as we also underscored in the recent “Bosphorus Declaration” during the Conference on “Peace and Tolerance” which was convened at our initiative.
You are the prime contributors to European unification. It is your obligation as political leaders, especially since you are the ones exercising legal authority, to see to the protection of the weak and every kind of minority, the safeguarding of freedom of thought and speech, as well as to move and relocate persons to where their natural, spiritual and social needs require. In general, it is your obligation to create those kinds of conditions which would allow for the promotion of cooperation and unity among peoples and nations. In conjunction with this is your obligation to lessen or, even more, to remove inequality of development which is evident between the wealthy “developed” world and that which is undeveloped. Such inequality endangers the future of humanity.
United Europe must not only offer a plan of unified economic development or simply a program of collective political defense. With things being as they are, the vision demands a unified social strategy of peaceful and constructive cooperation for the peoples of Europe. It is a question of civilization. It is a question of understanding interpersonal relationships; one which accepts one anothers national traditions.
The Ecumenical Patriarchate of New Rome-Constantinople which we humbly represent today before you does not pretend to bring to this center of European unity political strength, economic power, or ideological claims. This is not our mission. Permit us to note, however, that experience over the centuries paradoxically confirms that power, which continues to stimulate history, is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor. 12:9). We submit to you the experience of our recent tradition. Whenever we attempted “through power and with the might of power,” out of our concern for ecumenical unity of the Christian churches, the fruits we were worthy to receive was the product of our weakness and not of our strength. The Ecumenical Patriarchate in 1920, upon its own initiative and through an encyclical addressed to the entire world, invited all the Christian churches and confessions of the world to convene in a kind of “communion of churches” modelled after the “League of Nations,” the forerunner of the United Nations today. Through this initiative and with the cooperation of the Protestant confessions the World Council of Churches was founded. Here, except for the existing weaknesses, a certain mutual interdwelling of traditions, common philanthropy and the edification of reciprocating respect is generated on the level of a cultivation of consciences.
A similar experience is derived from an equally important initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to inaugurate, along with the other sister Orthodox Churches, bi-lateral theological dialogues with the ancient Oriental Churches, the Roman Catholic, the Old Catholic, the Anglican, the Lutheran and the Reformed Churches. Perhaps the older members among you remember the historical meeting of our predecessor, Patriarch Athenagoras, with Pope Paul VI, both of blessed memory, in Jerusalem 1964. It was the first such meeting of the primates of Old and New Rome since the Great Schism of 1054. You may further recall the lifting of the anathemas between these two churches in 1965 and the exchange of visits between Pope John Paul II and our immediate predecessor the late Ecumenical Patriarch Dimitrios.
We continue to try. Recently we reached out by attempting an inter-religious rapprochement. We convened an international inter-religious conference under the aegis of the Ecumenical Patriarchate having as its theme “Peace and Tolerance.” We are fully aware that the cultivation of a peaceful climate for co-existence and creative cooperation — both among religions and churches as well as among national states, races and traditions — demands radical change. Dialogue, international conferences, communication among leaders responsible for drafting legislation, growing closer through goodwill, and abandoning the notion of irreconcilable differences are positive, useful steps; but they are not enough. The problems of the contemporary world and the problems confronting Europe in particular demand fundamental re-evaluations of our cultural choices; in other words, the presupposition for our cultural model.
Two emphatic paradigms bear witness to this need. The first is the tragedy of unemployment which plagues Europe today. It is obvious that neither moral counsel nor fragmented measures of socio-economic policies would suffice in confronting rising unemployment. The problem of unemployment compels us to re-examine the self-evident priorities in our society, such as the absolute priority of so-called “development,” which is measured only in economic terms. We are trapped in the tyrannical need to continually increase productivity and, as a consequence, to continually create newer and greater quantities of consumer goods. Placing these two necessities on equal footing imposes the constant need for greater perfection of the means of productivity while continually restricting the power of production, that is the human potential. Concurrently consumer needs of this very same human potential must constantly increase and expand. Thus, the economy becomes independent of the needs of society, functions without human intervention, and develops into industrial method which tries to equate abstract proportions.
Perhaps, because of the acute problem of unemployment, it is time, instead of concerning ourselves with the self-centered demands for our rights, to prioritise personal productivity within the realm of human relationships. Civil management of public affairs must answer the question: Who will inspire the European of today of the priority of inter-personal relationships, and How? What will be the political mandate that will convince humankind to willingly and joyfully sacrifice his impetuous need for consumption and his limitless demands for unquenchable productivity in order to rediscover the communion of life within the community of persons?
Politics play a role in the radical changes in understanding human life, but in people’s consciences they are consolidated only by the persuasion of experiences as conveyed through their religious traditions. If the classic and renown studies of Max Weber, Werner Sombart and R.H. Tawney hold true in their findings, then at the base of contemporary European understanding of work and economics one can find a concrete receptiveness to Christian theology. If this finding holds true, then a new concept of understanding work and economic unavoidably will pass through theological revision. The circumvention of theology by various ideologies is not convincing that it could bring about any realistic solutions. Behind the modern impasse of European life hides a theological position.
We believe that similar conclusions can be derived from the second issue equally critical and distressing in our times — the problem of ecology. All of us are aware of the nightmarish proportions of this problem as it increases day by day.
Permit us to hold to our conviction that the ecological problem of our times demands a radical re-evaluation of our understanding of how we see the entire world; it demands another interpretation of matter and the world; another perception of humankind towards nature; and yet another understanding of how we acquire and make use of our material goods. Within the measure of our spiritual capacity, the Orthodox Church and theology endeavours to contribute to the necessary dialogue concerning this problem. Thus, upon the initiative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, we, the Orthodox, have established September 1st of each year as a day of meditation and prayer in confronting the continuing ecological destruction of our planet. Having convened an international conference in Crete, we have further inaugurated a systematic theological study on this problem. However, our efforts will be meaningless if they remain fragmented. Therefore, taking advantage of the fact that we stand here before you, we hasten to declare that we are prepared to place our modest efforts at the disposal of the European Parliament in any future study and concern of a pan-European response to the ecological problem. Permit us to declare the same readiness as we did in reference to the aforementioned problem of unemployment plaguing Europe.
Mr. President,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Deputies of Parliament,
Your gracious invitation has permitted us to share this limited but valuable time to communicate personally with you. We sense the overwhelming burden of our responsibility. In our humble words, we have endeavoured to review the history and the experience of an institution which for seventeen centuries has continued to function as an axis for the unity of European civilization. We aspire to continue the tradition of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of New Rome-Constantinople and to continue to preach the Word of God as did the Patriarchs of Constantinople John Chrysostom, Gregory the Theologian, Photius the Great and a myriad of giants, not only in the realm of ecclesiastical history, but men of recognized stature in European history as well.
Historical conditions have drastically changed the world scene. Please accept our presence here as a simple reminder: We remind you that we exist. And we continue to minister and to bear witness to the common struggle in caring for the contribution of understanding and hope worldwide. The metropolitan sees of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in all the European countries, the hundreds of parishes of Orthodox faithful in Central and Western Europe, immigrant and local populations, are our flock and your people under your political constituency. From outside of the boundaries of the twelve-nation European Union, the majority of other multi-populated nations having Orthodox ecclesiastical tradition also follow on the European journey. Permit us to express the hope that these peoples will be summoned soon to participate in the life and institutions of a united Europe.
Through its faithful and under the developing circumstances, the Ecumenical Patriarchate continues, in its ecumenical diakonia, to remain an essential part of the European dimension. Beyond the ideological orientation of each of us, beyond each individual’s personal conviction, metaphysical or not, we kindly ask you to accept the readiness of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to support you in your efforts for European unification, for one Europe, which will not exist only for itself, but for the good of all of humanity.
We wish to conclude with a prayer which we Orthodox direct to the Prince of Peace, especially during the period of Great Lent:
“Heavenly King, strengthen our faith,
reconcile the nations and give peace to world.”
We thank you.
