“The week of prayer for unity” just ended. Studying the issue needs a theoretical approach that I might come back to. However, I would like today to look at the practical situation between the Catholic and the Orthodox. I hope that the reader would have lenience to be able to understand that I am aiming to build and not to criticize our brothers because we want sincere rapprochement. However, rapprochement has conditions so that the trust could become complete between us.
The first among these conditions is for each one of us to join his parish Church on Sundays. This comes from knowing that lots of our Churches are empty because some believers prefer Churches that are closer to their homes regardless of their doctrines. I know that we don’t cover all coastal areas in Beirut’s suburbs. However, distances are not far from your house to Sin El Fil, Antelias, Jal El Dib, Mtayleb or other regions. Perhaps this problem exists in mountainous villages. It is an issue of belonging and identity to commit to your Church and also an issue of participating in the Holy Sacraments. Our Church and the Catholic Church have the same position and confirm that each person must have communion in his Church. Whoever does the opposite would be behaving according to his own mind. If a priest gave communion to such a person, he might be doing this to show that his Church is open and we are not. I believe that it is the Catholic priest’s duty to tell the Orthodox believer that practices in the Catholic Church to go back to his original Church especially that we have signed with the Catholic Church the Balamand document in 1993 and said in it that the pastor must look after the flock that God gave to him and consequently he mustn’t look after another flock. Brotherhood starts by treating each other on earth.
In the same sense, if the priest visited his parish’s houses after Theophany to sprinkle Holy Water, he must only visit the sons of his parish: i.e. a Catholic priest must not knock on an Orthodox door and volunteer to sprinkle water saying that we have become united. Actually, we didn’t become united yet and none of us is delegated from God to give others Holy services. And if, for a certain reason, one of us had to contact a house from another Church, he must tell the priest of this family unless it was for friendship relationships or dining. A normal Orthodox Christian feels shy to reject another priest; this priest must not surpass the service of his parish. This is called “snatching” and we have agreed with Other Churches’ authorities that this violates the Lord’s will.
Also, our Orthodox and Catholic patriarchs agreed that the First Communion must be done in parishes and not in schools. We understood that this will be practiced honestly and with brotherly sincerity and that no one shall find a gap in the decision. Catholic schools are asked not to give parents any works, such as books, that talk about the issue of the First Communion and where it should be done. It is asked not to talk with any Orthodox student, directly or indirectly, about this issue and not to give them education that prepares them for the first communion. The child had this communion in his Baptism.
Is it impossible for Catholic Churches to adopt the common Christian education program that we agreed on for public schools, in which all children study one text and are not separated? Children receive one Christian education that is not controversial supposing that all teachers have the spirit of rapprochement and lenience in order not to prefer a Church over another and give it more importance than the other. The defenses that we used in the past to show that we are right and the other is wrong must disappear; this makes the Christian education session a time for provocation and differentiation.
There is also the issue of prayers in educational institutions. What does it mean to oblige everyone to attend a liturgy in which some people have communion and others are forbidden? Is it necessary to have a liturgy on week days or is it enough to say prayers that are accepted by all Churches in which we stand together without disturbance or reservation? The issue of common prayers could be solved with a brotherly spirit. Schools administrations must understand that their love for their students means respecting their doctrines in all school life daily details. They must return the students to their parents staying on their doctrine and full of the Gospel and of Christian ethics. The Bible and its ethics are enough material to feed all students; the bible doesn’t teach us to violate.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “خواطر رعائيّة” –Raiati 5- 01.02.2004
