Patriarch seeks peace
ISTANBUL – Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios decried the trivialization of life and the destruction of nature in his Easter message, before exclaiming early on Sunday that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead and the world was once again ruled by life. Vartholomaios, the spiritual leader of the world’s more than 200 million Orthodox Christians, said the same fanaticism that once called for the crucifixion of Jesus was still calling for death and destruction, and said that cowardly leaders still denied their responsibility to stop it. «We call for an end to the killing of one another, and we denounce the violence and fanaticism that threatens life,» Vartholomaios said. «The victory of the resurrection must be experienced as a victory of life, of brotherhood, of the future, of hope.» Vartholomaios, bearing a silver staff and wearing a golden robe, spoke in Greek, and a translation of his speech was given to The Associated Press. At just before midnight Saturday, after nearly an hour of chanting and prayer, the lights in the crowded Cathedral of St George in Istanbul went out and Vartholomaios brought out several candles, the flame from which is traditionally brought from the site of Jesus’ grave in Jerusalem. As the procession moved to a courtyard outside, the light was passed from candle to candle until most of the congregation was carrying a flame from the same source. Believers see the passage of the flame among worshippers around the world as symbolically connecting many of the 200 million Orthodox Christians to their spiritual roots in Jerusalem. The source of the flame is a closely guarded secret, but some worshippers believe it ignites spontaneously from the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem each year, as a message from Jesus on the eve of the Orthodox Easter that he has not forgotten his followers. The lighting ceremony in Istanbul was a crowded but peaceful follow-up to the ceremony in Jerusalem, where hours of waiting, heavy security and arguments over protocol among competing Orthodox denominations led to tense clashes and scuffles among frustrated worshippers and with the police. The congregation in Istanbul, made up largely of pilgrims from Greece and members of Istanbul’s tiny remaining Orthodox population, sang in unison in Greek, «Christos anesti» or «Christ is risen.» At midnight, the church bells pealed to commemorate the event. Vartholomaios, a great advocate of inter-religious dialogue, spoke from the Patriarchate in Turkey, the 99 percent Muslim country that he calls home. But he expressed little hope that Christian teachings could change those who did not share the Christian faith, and instead called on the faithful to respect the lives of their fellow human beings. «We know that the teaching about his death on the cross remains foolishness for those who remain unbelieving and who go the way of destruction,» Vartholomaios said. «It is, however, the power of God for us who walk in faith.» Vartholomaios’s speech was a call for the exaltation of life over death, in keeping with the theme of Easter, which is celebrated on the date when Christ is said to have risen from the dead after being crucified. The Catholic and Orthodox churches split in the Great Schism of 1054, largely because of disagreements over the primacy of the pope. The issue remains the main stumbling block in ongoing efforts to reunify the two churches. Pope Benedict XVI has accepted an invitation to Turkey and is expected to meet with Vartholomaios later this year. In his speech on Sunday, Vartholomaios also applied his message of the necessity for life to triumph over death to the destruction of nature, saying the plundering of the environment «not only distorts the beauty of creation,» but also «undermines the foundations and conditions necessary for the survival of future generations.»
