"Let books be your dining table, / And you shall be full of delights. / Let them be your
mattress,/
And you shall sleep restful nights" (St. Ephraim the Syrian).


Thursday, January 24, 2013

The Ecumenical Patriarch Ecumenically Analyzed

Set for release in late May is a collection of essays from non-Orthodox Christians looking at the impact of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew* on relations between Orthodoxy and both Protestant and Catholic traditions: William Rusch, ed., The Witness of Bartholomew I, Ecumenical Patriarch (Eerdmans, May 2013), 160pp.

About this book we are told:
In this volume several theologians from different Christian traditions examine how Bartholomew I as Ecumenical Patriarch has influenced the contemporary European scene, the various dialogues between Orthodox churches and Reformed and Roman Catholic churches, the ongoing work of the World Council of Churches, and the modern ecumenical movement.

These essays, largely from non-Orthodox authors, paint a portrait of the Ecumenical Patriarch that has been often overlooked in Western circles — as a deeply Orthodox leader who wishes to relate Orthodoxy to the modern world and to have it make its contribution to the unity of Christians. 

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*A minor point of protocol: It is absurd that everyone insists on referring to him as "Bartholomew I," i.e., 'the first' even though that is never done until there is a second. E.g., in 1978, Albino Luciani, upon his election as bishop of Rome, was simply and rightly styled "Pope John Paul" and only after his death, and his successor took that same name, could he logically and correctly be called "Pope John Paul I."

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