POPE-ORIENTAL
Jan-28-2011 (480 words) With photo. xxxi
Divided Christians
must support one another in suffering, pope says
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News
Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When one Christian community is suffering, other
Christians must offer assistance, Pope Benedict XVI told Coptic Orthodox and
other Oriental Orthodox church leaders.
The pope met Jan. 28 with members of the Catholic-Oriental Orthodox theological
dialogue who were holding their annual meeting in Rome; the 2011 meeting came
less than a month after a bomb attack on a Coptic Orthodox church in
Alexandria, Egypt, left 23 people dead.
"Many of you come from regions where Christian individuals and communities
face trials and difficulties that are a cause of deep concern for us all,"
the pope told representatives of the Catholic, Armenian Apostolic, Coptic
Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox, Syrian Orthodox, Malankara
Orthodox Syrian and Eritrean Orthodox churches.
"All Christians need to work together in mutual acceptance and trust in
order to serve the cause of peace and justice," he said, adding a prayer
that the example of the martyrs of both churches would give Christians strength
and courage in the face of adversity.
Coptic Orthodox Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette, Egypt, the co-chairman of the dialogue, thanked
Pope Benedict for his prayers for the dead and the injured. The Coptic leader
also praised Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's commitment to protecting
Egyptian Christians and he told the pope that hundreds of Muslims came out Jan.
7 -- when Copts celebrated Christmas -- to show their support for their
Christian neighbors.
The Egyptian government and a leading group of Muslim scholars objected to some
of Pope Benedict's comments on the Coptic church
bombing, saying they gave the impression that the government does not guarantee
the freedom and safety of Egyptian Christians.
Paulist Father Ron Roberson, an official at the U.S.
Conference of Catholic Bishops and member of the dialogue commission, said
everyone involved in the dialogue was anxious to know how Egyptian Christians
were faring, but the situation was not a primary focus on the meeting.
The Catholic-Oriental Orthodox commission's theological dialogue concentrated
on "the communion and communication" that existed among different communities
in the first five centuries of Christianity.
The Oriental Orthodox churches trace their origins to the Christian communities
that did not accept the wording of the Council of Chalcedon's definition in 451
that Christ was fully human and fully divine. Between 1971 and 1996, the
Catholic Church and the individual Oriental Orthodox churches resolved their
differences over the Chalcedon statement.
In looking at how the
churches maintained unity until 451 despite linguistic, cultural and liturgical
differences, the dialogue aims at offering suggestions for how future unity
could be achieved without requiring total uniformity.
Pope Benedict told the
dialogue participants, "We can only be grateful that after almost 1,500
years of separation, we still find agreement about the sacramental nature of
the church, about apostolic succession in priestly service and about the
impelling need to bear witness to the Gospel of our lord and savior Jesus
Christ in the world."
END