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| photo by Daniel Ibañez (CNA)
originally published on September 22, 2016 at http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/column/a-sacred-dream-3618/
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By Paul Badde
It was a single word that brought about the decisive split between the
Eastern and Western churches which appeared in May 581, at the Council of Toledo, when the bishops of the
Visigoth kingdom added the Latin word "filioque" to the – then
200 year old – Catholic creed of the Council of Nicea-Constantinople. In
English, the word means: "and the Son". Ever since that day,
Christians of the West pray in their creed: "We believe in the Holy
Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the
Son", whereas in the Eastern Churches to this day they pray: "We
believe in the Holy spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the
Father". This addition first attained the rank of dogma under Pope
Benedict VIII, and then again in 1215, by which time alienation between East
and West had substantially increased.
However, it was but this single word that became both a stumbling
block and a milestone in the separation process between the Eastern and Western
Church. Thousands upon thousands of highly erudite words only further deepened
the rift and never could heal it.
And now, on Sept
18, under the radar of all news channels, a single image brought the Eastern
and Western Church together in a way that arguably has never happened before. On
this Sunday, in the small town of Manoppello in the Abruzzi mountains, 70
Orthodox bishops celebrated, together with two cardinals and many Roman
Catholic bishops and clergymen, the Divine Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom
before the image of the "Holy Face". The holy veil had been hidden
for more than 300 years in a side chapel of St Michael's Church, until, after
the great earthquake of 1915, it was publicly displayed for thirst time again,
in the year 1923, over the main altar of a newly constructed building, where it
can be visited and adored every day.
Now, ten years after the visit Pope Benedict XVI. on 1 September 2006,
this visit of a mixed Orthodox synod, together with their Latin brothers,
marked a most significant event in the process of re-discovery of this
mysterious, original icon of Christ. It had long been worshiped in
Constantinople as "Hagion Mandylion", and later in Rome as
"Sanctissimum Sudarium", before it was also given the name of
"Sancta Veronica Ierosolymitana".
| Archbishop Forte, Cardinal Kurt Koch, Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (photo by Daniel Ibañez - CNA) |
Now, there were metropolitans and bishops of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople (from Finland, Estonia, Crete, Patmos, Malta,
Great Britain, America, Australia, the Exarchate of the Philippines, from
Europe and from Mount Athos) and patriarchs, metropolitans and archbishops of
Alexandria, Antioch, Damascus, Jerusalem, the autonomous Church of Mount Sinai,
and the Orthodox churches of Russia, Georgia, Serbia, Cyprus, Romania, Greece
Poland, Albania, Czech Republic and Slovakia, which came before the Holy Face
and celebrated the Eucharist. Only the Bulgarian Church had sent no
representative. The antiphons of the wonderful liturgy were in Italian,
Russian, Greek, English, Romanian and French.
In his homily, given in English,
Metropolitan Job Getcha of Telmessos, who headed the service as representative
of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, praised the
"image of Christ, not made by human hand" of Manoppello. He pointed
out that – according to some scholars – the Image is identical with that of the
Soudarion from the Gospel of the
Resurrection according to John, while another tradition holds that a certain
Veronica wiped the face of Jesus with this veil on his way to the Cross, though
she is not mentioned in the canonical
Gospels.
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| Metropolitan Job Getcha of Telmessos (photo by Daniel Ibañez -CNA) |
Archbishop Bruno Forte from nearby Chieti knows that neither
bloodstains nor any residue of paint can
be found in the veil. It had been his idea and initiative to bring the bishops
before the face of Christ, which he likes to praise as the "North Star of
Christendom". He invited the group to Manoppello and had given the
visitors a scholarly introduction on the bus trip from his diocesan town of
Chieti to Manoppello.
In Chieti, the pilgrims had all participated in the 14th General
Assembly of a joint International Commission for Theological dialogue between
Catholics and Orthodox. They had discussed a document entitled "Towards a
common understanding of synodality and primacy in the service of the unity of
the Church". It was a debate that began in the previous plenary meeting in
the Jordanian capital Amman in 2014 and was continued in 2015 in Rome. The Commission is the official
organ of the theological dialogue between Catholics and Orthodox, founded in
1979, which unites 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches, each represented by two
theologians who are mostly bishops, together with Catholic representatives.
And now the same group practically traced, as a synodal pilgrimage, that first
spectacular step towards the face of Christ that Benedict XVI undertook ten years ago,
against much resistance, the first pope to do so after more than 400 years.
His successor Pope Francis later - on Nov 30, 2014
flying from Istanbul back to Rome - told journalists travelling with him: "Be careful: the Church does not have a
light of its own. She needs to gaze upon Jesus Christ! On that path, we must move forward courageously." And following
on this path, the Divine Liturgy before the Divine Face this Sunday became a
milestone of reconciliation on the way to unity. Heavy rainfall had been
announced. But only a few drops ended up falling.
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| photo by Paul Badde |
"Pray for the Christians in the Middle East as you pray before
the Holy Face. They are suffering unspeakably", an Oriental bishop said right
after the final blessing to
the German sister Petra-Maria Steiner, who introduces countless pilgrims
to the mystery of the light of this
image in Manoppello. Earlier, at the conclusion of the celebration, Anatoliy
Grytskiv, Protopresbyter of Chieti, had hailed the "miracle" of the
encounter in a passionate summary in Italian.
Whereto from here? "We continue approaching the face of
Christ," Cardinal Kurt Koch told CNA outside the main entrance of the
Basilica after the celebration. "Probably only in view of the face of the
Redeemer may unity come about. But surely it will be difficult. After all this
is like a divorce, after you have grown apart – it is hard to get back
together. In this case, however, a thousand years of separation are standing
between us."
"Yes, but fortunately it is said
in the Scriptures: A thousand years are like a day with the Lord", Sister
Petra-Maria responded, with
a smile, to the sober skepticism of the Cardinal. "Perhaps now the
new day of unity arises. With God, nothing is impossible. Perhaps today we have
seen the dawn of this new day. This new beginning is as thin and delicate as
the Veil of the Volto Santo."
Were it so, the image of Christ would indeed have
briefly bridged that abyss on this Sunday, an abyss carved out, like a primeval
river, by the countless words between East and West, a Grand Canyon into the
very foundation of Christianity.
At those very depths, the holy "sudarium"
might yet intervene, in a healing fashion, in the ancient Filioque controversy about that first word of
separation. For if the veil, as John writes, was indeed lying in the grave of
Christ, on the face of the Lord, it must also have absorbed the first breath of
the Risen One -
when the Spirit of God woke Jesus Christ from the dead - as that Spirit that is the Lord,
the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
Rome, September 19, 2016
(Translation from German into English: Anian
Christoph Wimmer)
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