RELIGION, AUTHORITY, and the STATE from CONSTANTINE to the CONTEMPORARY WORLD Edited by Leo D
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enical and Inter cum reli E gio or us s f D ay ia w lo th g a u P e RELIGION, AUTHORITY, AND THE STATE FROM CONSTANTINE TO THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD Edited by Leo D. Lefebure Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue Series Editors Gerard Mannion Dept of Theology Georgetown University Washington , District of Columbia, USA Mark D . Chapman Ripon College, Cuddesdon Oxford , United Kingdom Building on the important work of the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network to promote ecumenical and inter-faith dialogue, the Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue series publishes scholarship on interreligious encounters and dialogue in relation to the past, present, and future. It gathers together a richly diverse array of voices in monographs and edited collections that speak to the challenges, aspirations, and elements of interreligious conversation. Through its pub- lications, the series allows for the exploration of new ways, means, and methods of advancing the wider ecumenical cause with renewed energy for the twenty-fi rst century. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/14561 Leo D. Lefebure Editor Religion, Authority, and the State From Constantine to the Contemporary World Editor Leo D. Lefebure Georgetown University Washington , USA Pathways for Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue ISBN 978-1-137-59989-6 ISBN 978-1-137-59990-2 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59990-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2016943489 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2016 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub- lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Cover illustration: © Chris Salomon / Alamy Stock Photo Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Nature America Inc. New York To my beloved niece and nephew, Ella York Lefebure and Arthur Leo Lefebure FOREWORD CONFERENCE OPENING SPEECH GIVEN BY HIS HOLINESS, ORTHODOX PATRIARCH OF SERBIA, IRINEJ Dear Brothers and Sisters, Most Esteemed Conference Participants, I am very happy to greet you, as members of many different Churches, other faiths and traditions from all around the world, and I am more than glad that you have decided to organize your conference here in Belgrade. This is a year in which we commemorate the great event of the proclamation of the Edict of Milan as well as the person who issued the edict—Constantine the Great who was born in the city of Naissus— which I myself served as a bishop for 32 years before becoming a patriarch. Both this conference itself as well as your organization—the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network— shares a lot in common with the edict of Milan. You are here trying to fulfi ll a task, which this edict continues to present to you and to all of us. Religion in general and the Church in particular obviously continue to play a signifi cant role in today’s world. Our mission is as important as it has ever been—indeed dare I say that this mission is even more needed by the world of today than ever. Our twenty-fi rst-century world is one that is deeply divided and fi lled with hostility between nations and peoples, with intolerance between different cultures, belief systems and political ideolo- gies. In particular, recent decades have seen an increase in the intensity of the animosity between religion and the so-called secular world. This is why a conference that seeks to encourage positive dialogue across all such vii viii FOREWORD divides, such as this one, is not a luxury but a necessity for the times in which we are living. So that task, that challenge for the Church and for Christianity in gen- eral, is one of seeking to help transcend and overcome such divisions. What makes this task extremely diffi cult is the fact that Christians them- selves remain deeply divided. This is why we are frequently and justifi - ably criticized by non-Christians with the words: you should fi rst seek to overcome your own separations before trying to help others to solve their problems (“Physician, heal yourself,” Luke 4:23). And this is true—in order to be able to serve our divided world we Christians indeed need to attend to our own divisions fi rst and foremost. Of course we must remain realistic—the so-called full, organic unity of the churches is unlikely to be attained any time soon because we have been divided in so many ways across so many centuries now, but what we can and should do is to get to know each other all the better. This is a fi rst step, another challenge to which we are called. Out of such friendship and encounters, a new frame of mind may emerge that will eventually enable us to address more serious questions such as distinguishing between the realities about what we truly and already share in common us and what truly divides us. This is why such conferences and meetings such as this one are so nec- essary for all of us because they help promote what we have in common (and we must never lose sight of the fact that there is a great deal we share in common) and because they also refuse to ignore the things that set us apart but rather try to acknowledge the realities we live in and to discuss them in a constructive manner. We fi rst need to know what divides us in order to be able to build bridges, which will connect us. Each of you gathered here in Belgrade today, representatives of your differing faiths, differing Churches, of diverse universities and of diverse countries and traditions—each and every one of you has something unique and valuable to offer the dialogue that our world today so urgently needs. So it brings me great joy that you decided to organize this conference in our country because this will help communicate to the wider world how committed Serbia and its people are to playing their part in that global dialogue. You may help bring an understanding of our historic city and its deep cultural riches to that wider world as you encounter those traditions during your own stay here. Sadly, the nature of politics in our age has contributed to the fashion- ing of a very negative picture of our country for too long now. This has FOREWORD ix pained us just as it pains anyone to see their own family and home suffer. So I encourage you, in addition to the important scholarly discussions in which you will be engaged, to also immerse yourselves in our culture and history while here. I have learned that this is part of the method of the Ecclesiological Investigations Network for all of your international gatherings—that you actually seek to engage in dialogue and not just to engage in academic discourse about dialogue. That you seek to allow the delegates gathered at your events to immerse themselves in the culture, story and reality of the lands in which those encounters take place. So I encourage you to embrace the opportunity to learn about our home—visit our Churches, go to our many historical sites (Roman and Serbian alike)—immerse yourselves in the sites, stories, traditions that we are trying to preserve and renew. I wish your conference every success and I hope you will take away from your time here happy and fond memories of our people, of this city, and, if I may add, also of our Church once you go home. I pray that the Lord will bless your work here and will allow it to bear much fruit for the faith communities, the Churches and the lands in which you come from. The early Church said that love must be the force through which the world recognizes us as the followers of Christ. That injunction remains as true and necessary today. This love should not be restricted to our friends and our neighbors but it should rather be channeled outwards and shared with the entire world. + His Holiness (Gavrilović) Serbian Patriarch Irinej In Belgrade at the Opening of the Eighth Ecclesiological Investigations International Conference on “Religion, Authority and the State: From Constantine to the Secular and Beyond,” Wednesday, 19 June 2013 His Holiness Irinej Archbishop Of Pec, Metropolitan Of Belgrade-Karlovci And Serbian Patriarch ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank all the participants in the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network, especially those who attended the con- ference in Belgrade in June 2013, on which this volume is based. The delightful combination of intellectual stimulation, friendship, and concern for the world gives hope for the future.