MOZAIK 2003/1 Geometry of Unity

Kamelia KONSTANTINOVA Reconciling Denominations: Ecumenical Developments in

We live in a time that is full of contradictory thinking. Our saints CYRIL and METHODIUS, trained a large number of thoughts are like autumn colours. Every minute of our for the ministry thus preparing the ground for a days is red or yellow or orange. The differences in our ways national church. of thinking are often the reason for problems or even con- The Bulgarian State became very powerful in the Xth cen- flicts. But perhaps one of our gravest mistakes is that we tury. In 927 Constantinople recognised the king as have forgotten love. Every one of us wants to change the Emperor of the and the Archbishop of Preslav world but if we want to do that, we must have love in our as Patriarch of the Bulgarian Church. But the Byzantine hearts. God is Creator. We as children of God must create, Empire gained strength and invaded the Bulgarian too. We must create love. Empire in 971, at which time the Patriarch left Preslav and If we want to create peace, we need to be able to give love. took up residence at , . The Byzantine It is difficult to keep our identity in this pluralistic world, Empire conquered Macedonia in 1018, and reduced the when every minute of our days is pierced by globalisation. patriarchate to the rank of autocephalous archbishopric. It is difficult to love, when so often we do not feel loved but Bulgaria regained its independence in 1186, with the even then we can draw inspiration from the greatest Love establishment of the second empire based at Turnovo. embodied in Jesus Christ. It is very important to carry After lengthy negotiations, the Bulgarian Church recog- Christian love in our hearts and then to try to change the nised the supremacy of the Pope in 1204. But this agree- world. And what is love? ment ended in 1235, when the Bulgarian Emperor made APOSTOLIC FATHERS an alliance with the Greeks against the Latin Empire in My essay is an attempt to show the importance of love for Constantinople, and the Byzantine patriarch recognised a our days. And having many examples we should be able to second Bulgarian Orthodox patriarchate in return. know how to keep our Christian identity. The Apostolic Fathers are among the best examples. Their words are SCHISMS WITHIN THE ORTHODOX CHURCH lingering echoes of those who spoke “as the Spirit gave With the beginning of Turkish domination in 1393, the them utterance.” They are monuments of the power of the Bulgarian Church lost its autocephalous character and Gospel. They were made out of such material as Saint was integrated into the Patriarchate of Constantinople. In Paul describes when he says, “such were some of you” (1 1870 the Ottoman government allowed the reestablish- Corinthians 6, 11). ment of a national Bulgarian Church as an autonomous But without Christ, they might have been worshippers of exarchate. Constantinople reacted strongly and declared personified lust and hate, and of every crime. They would the Bulgarian Church schismatic in 1872. This rift contin- have lived for “bread and circus shows.” Yet to the con- ued long after Bulgaria became a principality in 1878 and temporaries of a Juvenal they taught the Decalogue and an independent kingdom in 1908. the Sermon on the Mount. Among enormous bestiality of It was only in 1945 that the Ecumenical Patriarchate humankind they reared the secret home; they created the recognised the Bulgarian Church as autocephalous and Christian family; they gave new and holy meanings to the ended the schism. The Metropolitan of Sofia assumed the names of wives and mothers; they imparted hitherto title Patriarch in 1953 and he was recognised as such by unknown ideas of human dignity; they infused an atmos- Constantinople in 1961. During the period of Communist phere of benevolence and love; they bestowed the ele- rule, which began in 1944, the government followed a ments of liberty; they sanctified human society by pro- religious policy similar to that of Soviet Union, and the claiming the universal sisterhood and brotherhood of church was compelled to play a largely passive role in redeemed humanity. society. As we read the Apostolic Fathers, we comprehend in The Bulgarian Orthodox Church has not escaped the tur- short what Saint Paul meant when he said prophetically moil that followed the collapse of the Communist system. what people were slow to believe, “the foolishness of God In 1991 the new government created a Board of Religious is wiser than human wisdom; and the weakness of God is Affairs which began to initiate reforms in the country’s stronger than human strength...but God has chosen the religious institutions. In March 1992 it ruled that the 1971 weak things of the world to confound the things which are election of Patriarch MAXIM had been illegal because the mighty; and base things of the world, and things which Communist government had appointed him. are despised, has God chosen, and things which are not, In 1992 a schism was provoked in the church by the polit- to bring to naught things that are,” (1 Corinthians 1, ical authorities in Bulgaria, resulting in the formation of a 25–28). “provisional” Synod, and later the consecration of a second Patriarch. No other Orthodox church has recognised the THE CHURCH IN BULGARIA legitimacy of this group. Following the schism, the church The churches and people of Bulgaria are emerging from has experienced complex relations with the authorities. a complex and difficult period of history. was The legal status of the respective synods of the BOC remains ambiguous. introduced to Bulgaria in 864 by Khan (Tsar) BORIS I, with an archbishop appointed from Constantinople. In Macedonia, the city of Ohrid became an active mission CHRISTIAN DENOMINATIONS During the whole of Bulgarian history, there emerged centre. Saint CLEMENT of Ohrid, a disciple of missionary problems in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. Now 85% of

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the population is Orthodox Christian, 15% Muslim, 0.8% instruments, whether from within or from outside, have Jewish, 0.7% Roman Catholic, and 0.5% other. The been ineffective. It seems that renewal could come from Orthodox Church in Bulgaria has many problems after the the lay movements. Their role will be crucial. It is also Communist period. Many people do not believe. They are remarkable that they and the Evangelical churches are everywhere and distort Christian thinking. For many peo- working together well. ple who believe it is difficult to understand other Christians, who are not Orthodox, because after MUSLIMS AND JEWS Communism there was not too much information about Muslims form the second largest religious group after them. Orthodox Christians. The largest part of the Muslim popu- In Bulgaria there are also other denominations. One can lation in Bulgaria is made up of ethnic Turks, who began to find the Armenian Apostolic Church, which was intro- settle in Bulgaria after the XIVth century and who totalled duced to Bulgaria in 1826. Then there is the Roman one million members before 1989. There are also Catholic Church. By the middle of the XVIIth century, Bulgarians who speak Bulgarian as their mother tongue Roman Catholic mission developed considerably in but whose religion and customs are Islamic. Their number Bulgaria. In the XIXth century, some Bulgarian Orthodox is approximately 250,000. considered that union with would be a solution. Secondly, large numbers of Spanish-speaking Sephardic Bulgarian Roman Catholics were re-organised in 1926, Jews settled in the Balkans after being exiled from Spain but under Communist rule, the church was suppressed. in the XVIth century. Today there remain only around 3000 Now there are 15,000 Eastern Rite Catholics and 70,000 Jews in Bulgaria, with Sephardim being a larger group Latin Rite Catholics. Finally, there are the Protestant than the Ashkenazim. Nearly all of Bulgaria’s Jews, esti- churches in Bulgaria. The Protestant mission had its mated at some 51,000, survived the war. Massive opposi- beginning in the 1860s. Today there are six main tion by the King and leading Orthodox Church figures Protestant churches registered in Bulgaria. prevented mass deportation by the Axis powers. However the period 1946-56 saw an important exodus to Israel. ECUMENICAL SITUATION The church and ecumenical situation in Bulgaria since INTERRELIGIOUS CO-OPERATION the changes in 1990 is determined by two problems: the The relationships between Christians in Bulgaria are schism within the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the clear today. What about Muslims and Jews? Often even if tensions between the minority Evangelical-Protestant there is no official interreligious dialogue the adherents of Church and the majority Orthodox Church. The schism in different religions still manage to live in peace, as they the Orthodox Church not only continues but paralyses the cherish love for each other. It is not possible to live in peace Church to the point that She is unable to function normal- without love. Christians and Muslims comprise nearly half ly and even less to respond to the challenges coming from of the world’s population. The nature of the relationship society. There is little hope that a solution would be found between these two communities is of considerable signifi- in the near future. cance for the welfare of the whole human family. Yet if the Orthodox Church was able to overcome the con- Significantly, peace is at the heart of both Islam and flict it would not only heal its own division but also open the Christianity. Christians call Jesus the “Prince of Peace.” way for dealing with many other urgent issues, especially Their prayers for God’s peace are at the heart of their spir- inter-church relations and church–state relations. As it is ituality. In Islam “as-salaam” is one of the ninety-nine most now, it seems that everything is blocked because of the beautiful names of God. When Muslims meet they greet schism. each other with “as-salaam alaikum”, which means “peace The relationships between the Evangelical churches and be upon you.” In the face of the deadly threats that confront the Orthodox Church continue to be strained, but there are both humanity and the earth itself today, there is an impor- many positive developments as well. Several leaders of the tant contribution which these two faith communities can Evangelical churches shared their deep desire for a frater- make: they can work together for social justice, for safe- nal and open relationship with the Orthodox Church and guarding and promoting religious freedom, for resolving their sadness because of the schism. They spoke about conflicts peacefully, for addressing the plight of refugees their respect for the Orthodox Church. One of them said, and displaced people. “she is also our Mother Church.” There is a National Most Christians today live out lives in actual community Council of Churches. Besides the above mentioned with people who may be committed to faiths and ideolo- Orthodox lay movements and the Evangelical Churches gies other than their own. They live in families sometimes the Roman Catholic Church and the Armenian Church are of mixed faiths and ideologies. They live as neighbours in also members of this council. the same town and village. They need to build their rela- The developments in Bulgaria point to some interesting tionships expressing mutual human care and searching considerations in a situation in which institutional church for mutual understanding. This sort of dialogue is very

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 35 MOZAIK 2003/1 Geometry of Unity / Bible Studies practical, concerned with the problems of modern life: the Dialogue can be recognised as a welcoming way of obedi- social, political, ecological, and above all the ordinary and ence to the commandment of the Decalogue, “you shall not familiar. bear false witness against your neighbour.” Dialogue helps us not to disfigure the image of our neighbours of different THE WAY OF DIALOGUE faiths and ideologies. It has been the experience of many Dialogue has to be described, experienced and devel- Christians that this dialogue is indeed possible on the basis oped as a lifestyle. As human beings we learned to speak. of a mutual trust and a respectful the integrity of each par- We talk, chatter, give and receive information, and have ticipant’s identity. discussions – all this is not yet dialogue. Now and then, it Dialogue, therefore, is a fundamental part of Christian happens that a deeper encounter arises out of our talking service within community. In dialogue Christians actively and our relationships, and an opening up of each, in more respond to the command to, “love God and your neigh- than intellectual terms, to the concerns of the other. bour as yourself.” As an expression of love, engagement This is experienced by families and friends, and by those in dialogue testifies to the experienced in Christ. With who share the same faiths or ideologies, but we are partic- God’s love in our hearts we shall keep our identity in the ularly concerned with the dialogue that reaches across dif- pluralistic world and shall have peaceful dialogue with ferences of faith, ideology and culture, even where the part- other faiths. ners in dialogue do not agree on important central aspects of human life. Suggested Reading BEHR-SIGEL Elisabeth, The Place of the Heart. California, 1992. LEMOPOULOS George, You Shall be My Witnesses. Caterini, 1993. LOSSKY Vladimir, In the Image and Likeness of God. New York, 1979. Kamelia KONSTANTINOVA is an Orthodox theologian from Bulgaria. She studied ecu- ROBERSON Ronald, The Eastern Christian Churches. Roma, 1995. menical theology in the Bossey Ecumenical Institute in Switzerland. Her email address SUNG Bum Yun, Ethics East and West. Seoul, 1947. is: [email protected]. YANNARAS Christos, The Freedom of Morality. New York, 1984.

Nienke PRUIKSMA

Reconciliation and History: Psalm 103

Archbishop Desmond TUTU of South Africa writes in his to 15 and 16, showing that God knows of the temporary book “No Future without Forgiveness”: “…my humanity is character of people’s lives. This temporariness is then caught up, is inextricably bound up, in theirs (those we do emphasised by the everlastingness of God’s love in verse not share a background with, who may even oppress us - 14 – again the love for those who fear God, keep the NP). We belong in a bundle of life. We say ‘a person is a per- covenant and remember the commandments. son through other people’. It is not ‘I think therefore I am’. It says rather: ‘I am human because I belong’. I participate, ON THE TEXT OF PSALM 103 I share.” The chapter from which this quote is copied, The Psalm uses quite some concepts that can give us a describes a third way to deal with the trauma of a divided clearer idea of what reconciliation is all about, I will pick past: the way of Truth and Reconciliation, the way that up some of them below. In verse 6 we find the word was chosen in South Africa to start coming to terms with “oppressed”. Oppression is one of the main situations the legacy of apartheid. I will use the example of South where reconciliation is most clearly needed. Where one Africa during this article several times as a reference for person is more equal than the other, relationships go lop- how in our time we can try and work reconciliation. sided, and people cannot live to their full potential any- Reconciliation is needed there where relations have gone more – there is first of all a need for liberation (see the ref- awry – be it between people or between people and God – erence in verse 7 to Moses, referring to the Exodus of the and realities are shattered. people of Israel from Egypt), but what comes after that? To go back to South Africa, this meant that after Nelson MANDELA and many others who fought the apartheid ABOUT PSALM 103 regime were freed and free elections, that brought a land- This Psalm is among those Psalms that are labelled as slide victory for the ANC, had been held, still things were “hymns or descriptive praises” (N. K. GOTTWALD), as it not right. One of the first acts of the new parliament and begins and ends with blessing God. The body of the psalm government under president Mandela was to write a new cites “general and longstanding aspects of God’s goodness constitution, which had an annex for the foundation of a and power”. The verses above are the so-called body of Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). Members Psalm 103 – I have left out the traditional opening and from this Commission came from all different groups in ending as they are less specific. Feel free to grab your own society: black, white, coloured, Indian, women, men, Bible and read the whole of the Psalm though, it always Muslims, Christians, Jews, pagans, lawyers, nurses, cleri- pays off to read the whole text, instead of some isolated cal people, etc. Archbishop Desmond TUTU was appointed verses. as president. This firmly based the Commission in a reli- Verse 6 tells us how God will act on behalf of those who gious context (too much according to some). The Truth cannot act for themselves, as God did for Israel when they and Reconciliation Commission travelled the whole of the were slaves in Egypt (verse 7). In verses 8 to 10 the country, heard the testimonies of oppressed and oppres- psalmist tells us of God’s ways, how God relates to people, sors (and sometimes the distinctions were not even all that to then show us in comparative terms in verses 9-13 how black and white). People told and learned truths, people they apply to people who fear God. Verse 14 is a prelude were heard, people received amnesty, and people received

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