In May, Pope John Paul II spent six days retracing the steps of the Apostle Paul. During his journeys Paul worked tirelessly, traveling across Greece, Malta and Syria attempting to convert the residents to become followers of Christ. The pope also traveled through Greece, Malta and Syria, but his journey was staged not to convert the citizens to become Christ’s followers; instead, the main objective of the trip was to heal a divided church by bringing together the Orthodox and Catholic churches.
This month’s article will look at the events of the pope’s recent trip and attempt to ascertain whether a successful unity is possible before the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Background
The schism between the two churches culminated with the sacking of Constantinople by Western Crusaders in 1204. In the late medieval period, several attempts were made at reunion, particularly in 1274 and in 1438-39, but both ended in failure. The major stumbling block in the unification process was the papal claims to ultimate supremacy and infallibility. As a result, the two churches have remained divided since the early thirteenth century. Today, the pope continues to claim infallibility while many Orthodox clerics consider themselves caretakers of the “true Christian faith” and view the pope as a heretical leader.
The pope’s trip
Upon landing in Greece in the first visit by a pope to that land in more than 1,000 years, the pope was quick to offer an apology for the disservice of the Catholic Church so many years ago. As reported in the New York Times, “For the occasions past and present, when the sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by actions and omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters may the Lord grant us the forgiveness we beg of Him,” he said in an address to Greece’s Orthodox leader, Archbishop Christodoulos.
At first Archbishop Christodoulos was hesitant to accept the pope’s visit at all. The New York Times reported, May 4, 2001, “Archbishop Christodoulos accepted the pope’s visit only after the Greek government issued its own invitation in January, and negotiated a rocky path between his more conservative followers’ demands that he block the visit and the government’s pressure to accept it. He began his speech by telling the pope that a large part of his clergy “understandably” opposed his visit, and he stressed the issue of Eastern-rite churches that are loyal to Rome as a crucial stumbling block.”
At first glance it seems that the pope’s apology worked wonders. Immediately after the pope’s words, “Archbishop Christodoulos, who began their meeting by reading the pope a long, sharply worded list of grievances, kissed the pope after his apology, and chatted happily with visiting Vatican officials.”
However, not every step of the pope’s visit was cordial. For the most part, the pope’s trip to Greece has been mired in controversy and tense negotiation with Orthodox priests and monks holding vigils and marching under signs that read “the heretic pope” and “two-horned monster of Rome.”
Yet the pope pledges to carry on. The next planned trip is to Ukraine in June, with a journey to Armenia expected in September, both mostly Orthodox countries and among the targets of his efforts to heal ancient wounds in relations between Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
Hurdles ahead
Despite the untiring zeal that the pope displays for the unity between the two churches, he faces many political hurdles (not to mention scriptural) before he can realize this goal. Simply put, Orthodox leaders view churches currently compatible with the Catholic Church as a destabilizing factor. The pope, who supports those churches, steered clear of that volatile issue entirely. But Cardinal Ignace Moussa I Daoud, a top Vatican official whose Syrian Catholic Church follows Eastern rites, was dropped from the papal delegation to avoid affronting Greek Orthodox leaders.
Since John Paul II became pope, he has implemented a tradition of kissing the ground as soon as practical after his arrival to a new land. When the pope landed in Greece, however, the tradition stopped. Organizers worried that the ceremony could be construed by some Greek clerics as a sign of Vatican claims on mostly Orthodox Greece. Instead the pope received olive branches and flowers from Orthodox officials upon his welcome to Greece.
Biblical understanding
Nebuchadnezzar’s image as described in the book of Daniel indicates, via the leg and feet portion of the image, that once the Roman Empire was to be divided, it would never be rejoined until the stone (Jesus Christ) struck the image at its feet. It can be argued as to the time frame of when the Roman Empire was split into two, with the West being ruled from Rome and the East from Constantinople. Two things are certain, however, the first is that the division did occur, and the second is that unification will not come to the former empire until the stone smashes the image.
Despite the pope’s incredible zeal and desire for unification, and despite the positive steps that have occurred in the past months toward church unification, the scriptures are clear regarding the unification process. In these latter days, man’s attempts to achieve unification, whether ecclesiastical or political, seems constantly to elude his grasp. Believers await with patience, yet with excited anticipation for the return of our Lord and Savior who will establish universal peace and unity based upon divine principles.
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