The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1911-02-04
TOWARD REUNION
Greek Archbishop Issues Remarkable
Pastoral Letter Advocating Re-
union Of the Eastern Churches
With the Church of Rome.

Pastoral Letter Advocating Re-
union Of the Eastern Churches
With the Church of Rome.
In view of recent Roman events re-
garding the question of a reunion be-
tween the Eastern Schismate Churches
and the Church of Rome it may not
be uninteresting to note that very
Important movement toward this end
il beginning to make itself felt in the
East. This movement, says the Liver
pool Times, is due to various causes,
one of them being the fact that much
dissatisfaction is felt with the policy
with respect to religion which is pur-
sued by the Young Turks. The pro-
posal for reuniting the Greek Churches
to the Roman Church is discussed in
many circles, and is warmly supported
by the ordinary clergy. For the first
time the Metropolitan of Beirut, the
Greek Orthodox Archbishop, Mgr.
Gerassimos Messara, has publicly dealt
with the subject. He has issued
Pastoral Letter on it which is ad-
dressed, with the approval of the
Patriarch of Antioch, to all the Ortho-
dox Christians. In this document, a
French translation of which appeared
in the "Jeune Turc" of January 5th at
Constantinople, the Archbishop says:
The Church of God must be united
in the same belief and the same love
according to the last prayer of Our
Lord Jesus Christ, Who, on the eve
Of His Passion and Immediately after
the establishment of the great Sacra-
ment of His Love and of Unity, prayed
| to His Father to grant that all who be-
lieve in His name should be one as
He and the Father are One. The
Churches of God in the East and in
the West lived in this unity for num-
| bhr of centuries. The authentic and
exalted monuments of the union of all
/ the Churches of God are to be found in
the Ecumenical Councils at which all
the Bishops, followers of the Apostles,
united around the Patriarchs of the
] four Apostolic Sees of the East under
| the presidency Of the Pope of Rome,
1'Wf il the first Of the Parriarchs.
1--WE proclaim to the Christian world
that our warmest desire is to see the
restoration of this ancient unity on
the firm and enduring basis of the
Apostolic teaching and tradition as
they have been handed down in the
writings of the Fathers and the au-
thentic Acts of the Ecumenical Coun-
cils.
with regard to the points upon
which there is dogmatic difference
between the Apostolic Churches of the
East and the Apostolic Church of
Rome, we solemnly declare that al
though some of these points involve
an essential disagreement between
these Churches, still several points un-
doubtedly rest on simple misunder-
standing between the two parties. No
one will deny the possibility of re-
moving this misunderstanding and
bringing about union on the ground Of
the Holy Scripture and the sacred
teachings 1t is incontestable that the
desired reunion of the Churches can
undoubtedly be realized upon this
ground.
1--WE believe and confess that Jesus
Christ Himself established in His
Church an Apostonc College for the
guidance of the Christian people, and
that St. Peter was one of the Notables
of this College.
I'VE recognize with st. Gregory the
Great, Pope of Rome, that st. Peter
founded in the Church three chief Sees
which were therefore called Apostolic
Sees, namely, Antioch, Alexandria, and
Rome, and that these three Sees are
one and the same thing. The Church
of Jerusalem owes it's rank and posi-
tion of honor to the fact that it is the
Holy City in which the Lord lived and
died, in which the Holy Ghost came
down upon the Apostles, and that out
of it came the Christian Church.
Similarly we believe and confess
that the Lord when He spoke of the
highest power and of His Church
said: The kings of the earth rule and
lord it over them; but amongst you 1t
shall not be SO; you are all brothers,
and the first amongst you shall be the
servant of the others In these words
the Lord gave to the heads of the
Church His chief direction as to the
exercise of their power and the execu-
tion of their commands.
with respect to the addition of the
Filioque' to the Greed, it would have
been better had the Westerns not
made this change in the Greed COM
mon to the two Churches of the East
and the West without consulting the
Eastern Church and without the au-
thority of an Gcumenical Council rep
resenting both Churches. Even sew
eral Popes, such as John VIII and Leo
III, expressed themselves like the