New Approach and Hopes in Ecumenical Dialogue Between Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Church in Romania

The Romanian Greek - Catholic Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church - Sister Churches!

Sibiu EEA September 2007

“May they all be one, just as,Father, you are in me and I am in you,so that they also may be in us,so that the world may believe it was you who sent me.”( John 17,21)

Your Excellencies,Dear brothers and sisters in Christ the Lord,

Some weeks ago I read two italian articles in two famous magazines where the relations between the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church and the Romanian Orthodox Church were presented as a serious difficulty before the EEA of Sibiu.These articles put an interesting question: How could we organize an important ecumenical meeting in a country where two important Churches have a difficult dialogue? This hearing tries to speak about the real difficulties but also about the signs of hope in the dialogue of these two Romanian Churches.

1. Common liturgical heritage and history
Both Churches belong to the Byzantine liturgical tradition, the main difference we have is in the problem of jurisdiction. The Romanians arrived in the second millennium to have the communion with Constantinople and only in the XVIIth century an important community of Romanians from Transylvania reestablished the communion with Rome. So in the last 3 centuries we could speak about two byzantine Romanian Churches: one in communion with Rome (The Romanian Greek-Catholic Church) and one in communion with the Ecumenical Patriarchy and with the other Orthodox Churches.

During the XVIIIth and XIXth century both Churches tried to defend the Romanian identity in the territories under Habsburg rule, the interests of the Romanian nation being more important than the confessional differences.

After 1918 Transylvania united with the Romanian Kingdom and the Greek-Catholics were the second Church after the Orthodox one as importance, number of faithful and had also the title of “National Church” in the Constitution of 1923 together with its Orthodox Sister.

In 1948 the Romanian communists didn’t accept anymore the existence of the RGCC and for 41 years this Church of almost 2 million faithful was persecuted, all the bishops being in prison, very many priests and religious men and women in prison and its goods divided between the state and the ROC with the decree 358/1948(abrogated today).During all this period of time the Greek-Catholics lived in an “underground Church” but continued to exist even if the persecution was especially in the first 15 years very powerful.

2. The period of the difficult dialogue (1989-1998)

After the fall of the communism the RGCC was officially recognized again by the state and all the five Eparchies had bishops appointed by the Pope John Paul II. The goods of this Church were in their majority still in the possession of the ROC and the state gave the Law 126/1990 in which the problem had to be solved with a dialogue between the two Churches. The meetings of Metropolitan (future Cardinal) Alexandru Todea with the new Romanian Authorities didn’t solve the question of goods and the ROC asked for a so called “referendum” of the faithful in order to see if the faithful agreed with the restitution of goods to the Greek-Catholics.

In 1993 the Statement of Balamand underlined at point 3: ” Concerning the Eastern Catholic Churches, it is clear that they, as part of the Catholic Communion, have the right to exist and to act in response to the spiritual needs of their faithful .”Also at point 12 the Statement said: “…Catholics and Orthodox once again consider each other in relationship to the mystery of the Church and discover each other once again as Sister Churches…”. The term “Sister Churches” used before by Pope Paul VIth and by Patriarch Athenaguras is used again by Balamand Statement and even in nour days documents the Orthodox Churches are considered Sister Churches of the local Catholic Churches, which is the case for the RGCC and ROC. The Eastern Catholic Churches are seeing not only by OE and UR as important for the ecumenical dialogue but the Statement of Balamand said at point 21 that “the authorities of the Catholic Church will assist the Eastern Catholic Churches and their communities so that they themselves may prepare full communion between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.”. At point 24 the Balamand Statement underlined the religious freedom of the faithful who must have the liberty to choose between Catholic and Orthodox Churches. At point 26 we see the responsibilities of the bishops and clergy of both Churches for joint local commissions for finding solutions ” to concrete problems and seeing that these solutions are applied in truth and love, in justice and peace”. Point 31 of the Statement recalled the words of St. Paul to the Corinthians (1Corinthiams 6,17) and asked for fraternal dialogue in the question of the possession and return of ecclesiastical property. Both Catholics and Orthodox must express their gratitude to the confessors of the faith that “call us to unity”(BS 33).

In May 1996 a delegation of the ROC and a delegation of the RGCC had an unofficial meeting at “Pro Oriente” Foundation in the Austrian capital followed by an Appeal to reconciliation made by the Holy Senate of ROC in 1997 and a Statement made by the Greek-Catholic Metropolitan in 1998.

3. The mixed dialogue commisions (1998-2004)

On the 28th of October 1998 there was the first meeting of the mixed dialogue commission between the two Churches which established the principles of the dialogue. The meeting took place at the Patriarchal Palace in Bucharest and a new hope appeared in the relations between ROC and RGCC.

On the 28th January 1999 the mixed commission met at the Metropolitan Greek-Catholic Castle in Blaj and the RGCC asked for the Cathedrals of Baia Mare and Oradea and for the churches in the places where the ROC has its own Church. The ROC accepted that the 100 churches that in the last 10 years were regained by the Greek-Catholics should not be asked again by the ROC. Local commissions were asked and both churches bishops spoke about the future visit of the Pope John Paul II in Bucharest.

The 3rd meeting of the commission took place in the Orthodox Monastery in Ramet one month after the historic visit of the Holy father in Bucharest, John Paul II and Patriarch speaking both about the hopes for the mixed commission. The ROC bishops spoke about the need of new churches and expressed reserves concerning alternative services. There was a list with the main important Churches that were requested by the Greek-Catholics.

The 4th meeting took place in Oradea at the Greek-Catholic Major Seminar and the RGCC bishops asked again for the Cathedrals, for the protopresbyteral churches and for the churches in the towns/ villages where the ROC had its own churches and also alternatives services were there was only one Church. The ROC bishops didn’t accept the requests speaking about the desire of faithful.

The 5th meeting took place at the Orthodox Monastery of Sambata de Sus and both Churches recognized a better relation between them, asking again for local commissions and for the building of new churches.

The 6th meeting took place at the Greek-Catholic bishopric Palace in Lugoj with the participation of the Orthodox Metropolitan Nicolae of Banat, Metropolitan who gave back almost all the churches to the Greek-Catholics in the Timish County. For the first time the ROC and the RGCC bishops spoke about social and cultural dialogues and activities organized by them.

The 7th meeting took place at Arad. The RGCC bishops speaking again about the naturall right to go to civil courts if the situation will not improve in some parts of the country. Both parts spoke about some particular cases as St. Basil Church in Bucharest or the Cathedrals of Oradea and Baia Mare. The RGCC bishops asked the ROC to recognize the decisions of the civil courts concerning property. The ROC bishops spoke again about the desires of the faithful.

The 8th meeting took place in Baia Mare but the positions of the two Churches didn’t change.
In June 2004 the Holy Synod of the ROC asked the RGCC to choose the mixed commission and the civil trials. After that unfortunately the mixed commission didn’t meet anymore.
Even today we have more than 2000 churches which are not given back and there are different civil trials between the two Churches. Some ex-Greek-Catholic churches were demolished but not given back (Vadu Izei -MM,Badon-Sj).

4. After the mixed commisions (2004-now)

In June 2005 Law 182 modified partially the Law 126/1990 and different trials were opened to solve the question of goods between the two Churches.
In the Timis and Caras Counties there is a real dialogue between ROC and RGCC and different churches were given back, sign that the local commission can have results if there is love and justice.

Unfortunately in the other regions the dialogue is not very easy on this issue even if the example was followed in Oradea where the Cathedral was given back without a trial.

5. Hopes for the future

The ROC is an important period of its history and in few days it will have a new Patriarch, which surely will want to develop the ecumenical dialogue with the Catholic Church and in particular will surely try to arrive at a better dialogue with the RGCC and find real solutions for the problem of goods.

The RGCC became a Major Archbishopric Church and will continue the dialogue with its Sister Church not only on the question of goods but on possible common activities concerning the defense of life and of Christian values in the Romanian Society.

In the last years there are more and more common events and we can see a clear decision of both ROC and RGCC to discover again their common roots and to respect their differences.
The Servant of God John Paul II will protect both Churches in the common way to unity, to Christ the Lord.Fr. Drd. Coriolan C. MuresanJudicial Vicar of the Eparchy of LugojSecretary of the Ecumenical Commission of The RGCC