{"id":34526,"date":"2016-10-27T19:25:38","date_gmt":"2016-10-28T00:25:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=34526"},"modified":"2016-11-10T20:06:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-11T02:06:54","slug":"milestones-in-papal-ecumenism-part-seven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2016\/10\/27\/milestones-in-papal-ecumenism-part-seven\/","title":{"rendered":"Milestones in Papal Ecumenism: Part Seven"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although they are often overlooked or grouped into the Eastern Orthodox, the Oriental Orthodox make up the third largest group of Christians in the world, numbering some 85 million. Throughout his pontificate, John Paul II spent a great deal of time in dialogue with these churches, leading to much fruition. Although he received<\/a> many Oriental Orthodox leaders formally and did not publish common\u00a0declarations or do public gestures, the tenor of his pontificate, like that of his predecessor Paul VI was decidedly pro unity with the Oriental Orthodox. To this end, in January of 2003, John Paul established a commission<\/a> to dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox as a whole, and this regular dialogue continues to this day.<\/p>\n

Shortly after being elected as Catholicos of Cilicia, the penultimate see of the Armenian Apostolic Church in 1983, Karekin II made a formal visit to Rome on April 15th-19th. At the conclusion of this visit, a Joint Communique<\/a><\/em> was published calling for the two churches to enter into more intentional dialogue to promote unity with one another for the salvation of the world. This dialogue reached its culmination in a Joint Declaration<\/a> <\/em>published on December 13th<\/sup>, 1996, following an official visit of Karekin I, formerly \"462984683\"<\/a>Karekin II of Cilicia, Supreme Patriarch and Catholicos of All Armenians to Rome. This declaration stated, like that between Paul VI and the Copts that the two churches agree on the long divisive issue of how to define Christ\u2019s natures, although they have different terminology to describe it. The following month, as part of the Week of Christian Unity, The Catholicos of Cilicia, Aram I, was formally received at a papal audience<\/a> and was present at a papal Mass on January 25th, after which another Joint Declaration<\/a><\/em>, calling for the work of unity to continue. The homily<\/a>, preached by John Paul, was centered around the ecumenical mandate that is incumbent upon all Christians and was shown by the relationship between the Catholicos and the Pope.\"xaz108_full\" Yet another Common Declaration<\/a><\/em> was published by the Pope and the Catholicos of All Armenians, Karekin II (Note: different man than the Karekin II of Cilicia) on November 10th, 2000, affirming the shared faith in Christ, understanding of the sacraments, and understanding of the Church. Karekin was in Rome to commemorate the 1700th anniversary of Armenia converting to Christianity, the first country to do so. On his trip to Armenia<\/a> in 2001, to commemorate the end of the jubilee year celebrating Armenia\u2019s conversion, the first time a Pope had been to Armenia.
\nJohn Paul and Karekin jointly celebrated an ecumenical liturgy<\/a> on September 26th, and the day after this liturgy, published a final Common Declaration<\/a>, <\/em>once again affirming the call to unity.<\/p>\n