Ut Unum Sint: Did the Great Schism End Today?

Pope Francis spoke today at an event commemorating the 50th anniversary of the institution of the Synod of Bishops. 

I am an Orthodox Christian. And the things he said today, if they were to come to fruition, imply that the Church of Rome would become institutionally aligned with the Orthodox Churches in such a way that, in my opinion, we Orthodox would be sinning against the unity of the Church were we not to restore intercommunion with Rome. 

The Pope is saying that the Roman Catholic Church should decentralize by adopting a Synodal Model, which is how the Eastern Orthodox Churches govern themselves. Catholic or Protestant readers may not understand what exactly this means. Let me explain how it functions in the Orthodox Church.

My wife is a Romanian-American. So I will use the Romanian Orthodox Church as my example.

The Romanian Orthodox Church is an autocephalous Church. This means that it is independent and self-governing. It is in communion with the other Eastern Orthodox Churches. The Romanian Orthodox Church is comprised of a number of dioceses, each with a bishop. The bishop of the largest diocese, Bucharest, holds the title of Patriarch of Romania. 

But the Patriarch of Romania is far from being the "Pope" of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The supreme governing body of the Romanian Orthodox Church is not the Patriarch, but rather the Holy Synod of the Romanian Orthodox Church. The Synod is all the bishops when they meet as a college. The Patriarch is the presiding bishop, the chair, so to speak, of that meeting. And that role certainly gives him a degree of control over the proceedings. But he has no veto over the votes. If the Synod votes in a direction he disagrees with, the Synod wins.

Pope Francis today seems to have redefined Papal primacy as having two aspects. 

Firstly, Papal primacy is primacy over the Synod of Bishops in precisely the same way that the Patriarch of Romania has primacy over the Romanian Synod. He states, quoting Vatican II, that the Bishops of the Holy Synod are "united with the Bishop of Rome by episcopal communion (cum Petro)." 

But in the context of stressing collegiality, he quotes Vatican II as implying that Papal primacy can be understood as only implying the act of presiding over the Synod, "[the Bishops] are at the same time hierarchically subjected to him as head of the college (sub Petro)." If we understand the primacy of the Pope as head of the college of Bishops (the Synod) in the Eastern Orthodox sense, it is a quantum leap away from the Ultra-Montane Vatican I formulation.

It is the second way he defines Papal primacy that is most controversial. He stated the following today:

"The Pope is not, by himself, above the Church, but he is inside it, as one baptized among those baptized."

This flies in the face of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, which states that:

882: "For the Roman Pontiff, by reason of his office as Vicar of Christ, and as pastor of the entire Church has full, supreme, and universal power over the whole Church, a power which he can always exercise unhindered."

He goes on to say that the the Pope, "is within the College of Bishops as a Bishop among Bishops."

The traditional claim of the Popes was that the Pope was at least "Primus Inter Pares," First among Equals. Pope Francis is now saying that the Pope is "Unus Inter Pares," One among Equals.

But he goes on to point out that the Bishop of Rome does indeed have a critical role to play for the unity of the Church. He states that the Bishop of Rome is "called at the same time to guide the Church of Rome, which presides in the Love of all the Churches."

He is quoting here the Epistle of St. Ignatius of Antioch, who described the Roman Church as "presiding in love." Pope Francis quoted this the first evening he came out on that balcony as Pope.

And Pope Francis is hereby stating that it is not the Pope who has primacy. It is the Church of Rome itself. 

And its mission is the unity of the Church.

The Pope also clearly points to the fact that orienting the Church toward Collegiality is intended to result in the possibility of unity with the East. He states that he told the delegation from the Church of Constantinople that "the principle of collegiality and the service of the one who presides offer a significant contribution to the advancement of relations between our Churches."

And I'll close by saying, if he actually implements the vision he stated today, we will look back on this day as the end of the Schism.

The Courageous Life of Fr. Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa

The Romanian Orthodox Church is facing a bit of a quandary today. One of their own, but one they once disowned, has turned up, well, having failed to decay after seven years. And in Catholic-Orthodox circles, that's a pretty big thing.

We're talking about Fr. Gheorghe Calciu-Dumitreasa. 

He lived a remarkable life. For the fullest description of his journey, you can read the Washington Post article published upon his death in 2006. But I'll briefly summarize it for you as follows.

He was a medical student when the Communist regime seized control of Romania after WWII. He spoke out publicly against the Communists and went to jail for 16 years. During that confinement, he seems to have had a faith experience and when he was finally released, he secretly pursued theological education.  He was ordained a priest in 1972. The Communist government tolerated his anti-Communist preaching for five years but finally the Church itself, probably under significant pressure from the Communist government, defrocked him. 

He was jailed again and was tortured while in confinement. The US President Ronald Reagan eventually demanded his release from prison as a condition for favorable trade with Romania. The Communist government released him. 

He and his wife Adriana and their son Andrei were allowed to go into exile to America in 1985. They settled in Virginia. Having been defrocked by the Romanian Orthodox Church, he was accepted into ministry by the anti-Communist Romanian Archdiocese of the Orthodox Church in America. 

He lived to see the end of Communism in Romania. But, being defrocked by the Romanian Orthodox Church, and serving with a Church body that had described the Romanian Bishops as nothing but Secret Police lackeys, in the few trips he made to Romania after Communism, he was not allowed official recognition or access to Churches for the saying of Mass.

I want to say, that, having spent quite a bit of time in Romania and getting to know people that had to survive the brutal Communist regime, including people of the Church, I don't judge the hierarchs of the Church. I believe that they did what they thought was necessary for the survival of the Church there in Romania. And the men who defrocked Fr. Gheorghe did so out of fear, fear for their own lives, and also fear for the survival of the Church in Romania. It was what it was.

That does not make Fr. Gheorghe any less brave for the outspoken stance he took.

He fell asleep in the Lord in 2006. He had spent his twilight years serving a Romanian parish in Virginia. But his body was sent for burial to the Petru-Voda Monastery in Romania.

Now, it is routine at monasteries to disinter bodies after seven years. That's the point after which we expect to find nothing but bones.  There's a ritual for it. Monks and Nuns spend their lives looking forward to having their bones gathered into the community collection after those seven years. 

I have often kissed glass cases of hundred of monastic skulls, venerating the lives of prayer that these men and women led for the Church.

But when they disinterred Fr. Gheorghe they found something strange.

He had not decomposed. 

There is an ancient teaching in the Great Tradition (the Catholic and Orthodox Churches before they sadly split) wherein a body that does not decay is held as proof of sanctity, meaning, such a person should then be proclaimed a Saint.

So, Fr. Gheorghe presents a quandary for the Romanian Orthodox Church. He was officially sanctioned, defrocked, by the Church at a time when they were fighting for their lives.

Now, he presents himself as a candidate for sainthood. How do you canonize a defrocked priest?

The solution may be that perhaps the Orthodox Church in America could canonize him. Reciprocally all Orthodox Churches accept the canonization of each Church.

At any rate, pray for us, Fr. Gheorghe. Let me tell you, Fr. Gheorghe, the Churches in Romania today are full every Sunday. I have no doubt that leaders in the Church committed sins against other members of the Church during Communist times. You were one of many people wronged. But the Church leaders erred while trying to preserve the Church. I know that hurt you. You are before the face of God now. And I know you forgive, just as you have been forgiven. 

But, in Romania, the Church did finally win.

May God bless the Orthodox Church in Romania.

Here is a Romanian news article about the finding of his incorrupt body: