c. 1997 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ Divorce has traditionally been anathema for members of the Catholic and Orthodox churches. But one of the great ironies of history is that these two largest bodies in Christendom have themselves been divorced for more than 1,000 years.

The theological, cultural and political differences that led Catholic Church of Rome and the Orthodox Church of the East to mutually excommunicate each other in 1054 have eased somewhat in this century.

The excommunication orders were lifted in 1967; Pope John Paul II has called the longstanding division between East and West”sinful.”And since then, Orthodox and Catholic leaders have engaged in cautious efforts at reconciliation.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, now on a month-long American tour, has long been a participant in those turtle-like efforts that have been steadily gaining steam in recent decades.

But Bartholomew’s remarks on Catholic-Orthodox relations at Georgetown University on Tuesday (Oct. 21) made plain that in the church as in many a modern marriage, making up is hard to do.”Our heart is opposed to the specter of an everlasting separation. Our heart requires that we seek again our common foundations, and the original starting point that we share,”Bartholomew said.

But instead of building on the momentum of”Light of the East,”John Paul’s call to unify all Christians by the year 2000, Bartholomew invoked the essential theological, philosophical and cultural differences distinguishing the Orthodox from other Christians _ especially the mystical dimension of the Orthodox experience, compared to the more intellectual approach of the church in the West.

While Orthodox-Catholic relations appeared not to have moved forward Tuesday, Orthodox-Muslim dialogue did, with the first official meeting between representatives of the two faiths ever held in the United States.

Some 40 scholars and clergy from both faiths met privately at Georgetown for more than two hours in advance of the patriarch’s talk on Catholic-Orthodox relations. The session was intended as an icebreaker to set the stage for more in-depth dialogue to follow, but at an uncertain date.

In brief remarks to the group, Bartholomew noted that”in a land where religious pluralism is a way of life,”Muslim-Orthodox relations may be easier to advance here than in Europe or Asia, where the two faiths often live side-by-side but have clashed virtually since the birth of Islam some 1,400 years ago.

He made no mention of his own situation, which is at the historical heart of the tensions. Bartholomew’s patriarchate is headquartered in Istanbul, forcing the patriarch _ the direct head of the worldwide Greek Orthodox Church _ to walk a political highwire in Muslim Turkey.

Acknowledging that, John Voll of Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding said the dialogue group’s first task would be to”put history aside.” Mahmoud Ayoub, a professor of Islamic studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, said the task was made critical by current conflicts between Muslims and Orthodox Christians in Bosnia, areas of the former Soviet Union, and Cyprus.

In his remarks on Catholic-Orthodox relations, Bartholomew said:”The Orthodox Christian does not live in a place of theoretical and conceptual conversations, but rather in a place of an essential and empirical lifestyle and reality as confirmed by grace in the heart. This grace cannot be put in doubt either by logic or science or any other argument.”Therefore the Orthodox Church is always open for every good-faith dialogue, but declines to partake in planted squabbles, because there is always a danger to be misunderstood in such a context,”Bartholomew said, offering no examples of the”squabbles”he opposed.”All this leads to the conclusion that the organization, the goals, the functions and all aspects of the life of the church are not determined by human judgment, but the real and unchanging nature of the church. Thus, the steadfastness of the Orthodox Church on ecclesiastical assumptions of every type is not the product of any narrow perception, but the natural result of our living ecclesiastical experience.” The patriarch’s less-than-encouraging words on Christian unity, delivered at a ceremony at which Bartholomew received an honorary degree from Georgetown President Leo O’Donovan, a Jesuit priest, came as a surprise to some observers, who had expected a stronger endorsement of ecumenical efforts. “It’s a call to move away from the faith of intellectual and theoretical discussions in favor of the Orthodox appreciation of the mystical aspects of living the Christian life,”said the Rev. Ron Roberson, an ecumenical official of the U.S. Catholic Conference.”By saying that the true nature of the church lies in the religious experience is a signal that, for whatever reason, we’re not ready to move ahead,”said the Rev. Robert Stephanopoulos, dean of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of New York, who is accompanying the patriarch on his American journey.

Bartholomew’s remarked capped a day of activities and honors in Washington. At the U.S. Capitol, he was welcomed by House Speaker Newt Gingrich and received the Congressional Gold Medal. He also had a brief, private meeting with Gingrich and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss.

In his remarks at the Capitol, Bartholomew said the lesson of Orthodoxy for the United States is that”faith can endure without freedom, but freedom cannot long abide without faith … And while God has led us to reason, reason alone cannot lead us back to God. Only faith can do that.” Bartholomew _ who is considered the”first among equals”among the leaders of the 15 separate, ethnic Orthodox churches _ also said he has found”a great hunger for spiritual revival.”As we enter the next millennium, religious values, religious feeling and religious faith are undergoing a substantial revival.”

DEA END CONNELL-RIFKIN