Dialogue of Love: Breaking the Silence of Centuries

98 Pages·2014·1.579 MB·English

by  John Chryssavgis

DIALOGUE
OF LOVE
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ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY AND
CONTEMPORARY THOUGHT
George E. Demacopoulos
and Aristotle Papanikolaou
series editors
Th is series consists of books that seek to bring Orthodox
Christianity into an engagement with contemporary forms
of thought. Its goal is to promote (1) historical studies in
Orthodox Christianity that are interdisciplinary, employ a
variety of methods, and speak to contemporary issues; and
(2) constructive theological arguments in conversation with
patristic sources and that focus on contemporary questions
ranging from the traditional theological and philosophical
themes of God and human identity to cultural, po liti cal, eco-
nomic, and ethical concerns. Th e books in the series explore
both the relevancy of Orthodox Christianity to contempo-
rary challenges and the impact of contemporary modes of
thought on Orthodox self- understandings.
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DIALOGUE
OF LOVE
Breaking the Silence
of Centuries
Edited by
John Chryssavgis
Fordham University Press
New York 2014
Copyright © 2014 Fordham University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any
other— except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the
prior permission of the publisher.
Fordham University Press has no responsibility for the per sis tence
or accuracy of URLs for external or third- party Internet websites
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Fordham University Press also publishes its books in a variety of
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available in electronic books.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2014933701
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 5 4 3 2 1
First edition
Contents
Foreword ix
Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon
Preface xiii
John Chryssavgis
1. Pilgrimage toward Unity: Ecumenical Patriarch
Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem Based on
Correspondence and Archives 1
John Chryssavgis
2. Breathing with Both Lungs: Fifty Years of the Dialogue
of Love 27
Brian E. Daley, S.J.
3. “A Sign of Contradiction”: A Refl ection on the Meeting
of the Pope and the Patriarch 55
Georges Florovsky
vii
Contents
Afterword: Th e Dawn of Expectation 71
Walter Cardinal Kasper
List of Contributors 73
Photographs follow page 48
viii
Foreword
Metropolitan John (Zizioulas) of Pergamon
Fifty years ago, the historic meeting of Ecumenical Patriarch
Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem marked the begin-
ning of a new era in the relations between the churches of Rome
and Constantinople, and indirectly between Roman Catholi-
cism and Orthodoxy as a whole. Th e signifi cance of this event
can be fully appreciated only if placed against the background
of a millennium branded with mutual mistrust, theological pole-
mic, and, above all, estrangement between the two great tradi-
tions of the Church. In the words of the late Father Georges
Florovsky, these traditions are likened to conjoined sisters un-
able to be separated from each other without infl icting serious
damage to both. And, indeed, by following their separate and
in dep en dent ways for a thousand years, the East and the West
have run the risk of damaging the Body of Christ by acquiring
a sense of self- suffi ciency that was absent from the consciousness
of the ancient Church, which had always felt the need to seek
and secure agreement on matters of faith through ecumenical
councils comprising both the East and the West.
East, where is thy West? West, where is thy East? Th ese ques-
tions were demanding an answer, and the Jerusalem meeting
ix