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Breathing with Both Her Lungs Yves Congar and Dialogue with the East Finbarr Clancy S.J

Breathing with Both Her Lungs Yves Congar and Dialogue with the East Finbarr Clancy S.J

Louvain Studies 29 (2004) 320-349

Breathing with Both Her Lungs Yves Congar and Dialogue with the East Finbarr Clancy S.J.

One could apply the moving scene of Ezekiel prophesying in the val- ley of dry bones, and witnessing them come to life (cf. Ezek 37:1-10), to the ecclesiological and ecumenical endeavour of Yves Congar. He was called upon to breathe new life into Roman and the ecumenical movement at a critical period. Asked in 1935 to reflect on the result of a three-year survey on the causes of atheism in France, he concluded that the major contributing factor was the disfigured way in which the Church was being presented to people. An overly juridical and institutional sense of the Church only reduced it to a valley of dry bones. Congar realised that a renewed sense of the Church and its mystery was needed in order to make it more attractive. This became the inspirational source for the publication of the Unam Sanctam series of books, which was devoted to the renewal of ecclesiology through ressourcement, the nourishing return to the sources in order to enrich current explorations, while making good the defects of an older ecclesiology. The first intended volume in the Unam Sanctam series was to have been the French translation of J. A. Möhler’s Die Einheit in der Kirche, to coincide with the centenary of Möhler’s death in 1938. Möhler had been a deeply inspirational source and role model for Congar. What Möhler had accomplished in the renewal of at Tübingen in the nineteenth century, Congar had hoped to do in the twentieth century.1 Möhler was a distinguished Church historian and Patristic scholar. He was also a pioneering ecumenist. Congar’s own career would espouse all three aspects of his great mentor, to whom he had devoted his earliest researches. In his first book, Divided Christendom, Congar reflects on the sad divisions that beset Christianity. The legacy of history involved 400 years since the , and 900 years since the ‘mutual estrangement’ of

1. T. F. O’Meara, “Revelation and History: Schelling, Möhler and Congar,” Irish Theological Quarterly 53 (1987) 17-35, at 29. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 321

East and West. This weight of history is accompanied by an accumulation of prejudice, bitterness and mistakes. Congar observes that acquiescence to division often leads to persistence in division as a habit, a fact, and even a new prominent motive for living a separate life. Living without each other easily transposes into opposition to each other. We become content to live parallel lives, but seldom meet.2 This sad scenario is evoca- tively described by Congar: Thus the persistence alone of separation has become a heavy stone rolled over the mouth of the sepulchre where unity was entombed by the first misunderstanding.3 We find ourselves in a valley of dry bones. Congar, however, always held that we had no right to look on the dismantling of Christianity as being a permanent state of affairs. His own numerous writings, initiatives and contacts, in conjunction with the Unam Sanctam series, were to do much in establishing a web of rela- tionships between different Christian groupings. With genuine humility, Congar could say of : Oecumenism begins when it is admitted that others, not only indi- viduals but ecclesiastical bodies as well, may also be right though they differ from us; that they too may have truth, holiness and gifts of God, even though they do not possess our form of Christianity.4 Congar continues here by elaborating three facets of what he calls ‘oecumenical attitude’. This involves: (a) respect for other confessions and the action of the Holy Spirit in them; (b) a sense of avowal of past sins, recognising the limitations and failures of one’s own confession; and (c) the desire to know about other confessions and the gifts of God to them. These three facets act as a prelude to entering into friendly relations with others.5 In an essay from 1952 on Oriental anthropology, Congar includes a systematic comparison of Eastern and Western approaches to the same topic. The essay concludes with the following line: “ is only fully ‘catholic’ when, like a healthy organism, it breathes deeply and uses both its lungs.”6 Congar here uses a creative and suggestive metaphor to

2. Yves Congar, Divided Christendom: A Catholic Study of the Problem of Reunion, trans. M. A. Bousfield (London: G. Bles/The Centenary Press, 1939) 24. French origi- nal, Chrétiens désunis, Unam Sanctam, 1 (: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1937). 3. Ibid. 4. Ibid., 135. 5. Ibid., 135-136. 6. Yves Congar, “The Human Person and Human Liberty in Oriental Anthropology,” Dialogue between Christians, trans. P. Loretz (London: G. Chapman, 1966) 232-245, at 322 FINBARR CLANCY indicate the complementary nature of Eastern and Western approaches to anthropology. It represents the first instance of his usage of the metaphor, which was destined to have a long ecumenical future. In a later anthology of essays, from 1982, he returns to the metaphor, but now applies it to the specific area of ecumenical dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches of the East. The metaphor now applies not just to theology, but to a vision of inter-Church relations and an organic union drawing on the distinct treasures and patrimony of both traditions.7 Congar notes here, as he does in his later book, Fifty Years of ,8 how the image of “the Church breathing with both her lungs” continues to be extensively used by John Paul II in a variety of contexts.9 Perhaps through this suggestive metaphor of “breathing with both lungs” Congar is, like Ezekiel, suggesting a means by which the dry bones in the ecclesiological and ecumenical valley might find new life. In this paper I wish to explore four main areas. Firstly, to chart Congar’s own pilgrimage of contacts with Orthodoxy. Secondly, to look at his valuable diagnosis of differences of approach between East and West. Thirdly, to trace the background to the mutual estrangement between both sides. Fourthly, to explore how breathing with both lungs could enable the two Sister Churches to grow closer to each other, and so achieve the union that her founder prayed for.

I. Congar’s Encounters with the Orthodox World

In an essay from 1975, entitled “J’aime l’Orthodoxie,” Congar speaks of his immense esteem for Orthodoxy.10 This is a rich tradition which he has come to know through friends, through personal relation- ships with leading Orthodox theologians, by his study of the Slavophile

244. French original, Chrétiens en Dialogue, Unam Sanctam, 50 (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1964). 7. Yves Congar, Diversity and Communion, trans. John Bowden (London: SCM Press, 1984) 76 and 89. French original, Diversités et Communion (Paris: Les Édi- tions du Cerf, 1982). 8. Yves Congar, Fifty Years of Catholic Theology, trans. John Bowden (Philadelphia, PA, Fortress Press, 1988) 54. French original, Entretiens d’automne (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1987). 9. See B. Petra, “Church with ‘Two Lungs’: Adventures of a Metaphor,” Ephrem’s Theological Journal 6 (2002) 111-127. Petra’s list of John Paul II’s uses of the metaphor can be further extended since the publication of his article. 10. Yves Congar, “J’aime l’Orthodoxie,” Essais Œcuméniques (Paris: Le Centurion, 1984) 71-75. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 323 and Greek traditions, and most especially through the Orthodox liturgy. His earlier autobiographical sketch in the preface to Dialogue between Christians is also a valuable source for information of his early contacts with Orthodoxy.11 Congar’s first contacts with Orthodoxy stem from his early studies at the Dominican House of Studies, Le Saulchoir, then in temporary exile in the South West of Belgium. Here Pères Gardeil and Chenu intro- duced Congar to historical theology, ressourcement, and the study of Aquinas. Chenu also introduced Congar to the ecumenical movement and directed his attention towards the writings of J. A. Möhler (1796- 1838). The Dominican students had regular contact with the seminari- ans from St Basil’s Russian at Lille. This seminary had been established by the Dominicans, at the request of Pius XI, for Russian émigrés in the wake of the 1917 revolution. This early contact gave the young Congar a feel for Russian Christian culture and the issue of Uniatism. A door was opened onto Eastern theology and liturgy.12 After his in 1930, and having completed his lectoral thesis on Möhler’s ecclesiology, Congar began teaching theology at Le Saulchoir. He also attended lectures at the Institut Catholique, notably those of the Abbé Albert Gratieux (1874-1951), a Catholic expert on Orthodoxy. Congar attended his lectures on the influential Russian theologian Alexis Khomiakov (1804-1860). While at Paris Congar also frequented the Franco-Russian circle. The prestigious Institut St Serge had been founded in Paris in 1925. Here Congar met many influential Orthodox theologians like N. Berdyaev, S. Boulgakov and L. Gillet, and became acquainted with their writings. In 1932 Congar met Dom Lambert Beauduin (1873-1960) for the first time. He was a distinguished liturgist and ecumenist, having been involved in the Malines Conversations between the Anglicans and Roman Catholics. Following Pius XI’s request to the in 1924 to pray for the cause of Church unity, Dom Beauduin had founded the famous Monastery of Union at Amay-sur-Meuse, near Liège in 1925. Here Russian-Byzantine lived side-by-side with Western monks in the one monastery, following their respective liturgical traditions, while praying together for Church unity. This famous monastery was to

11. Yves Congar, “The Call and the Quest 1929-1963,” Dialogue between Christians, 1-51. See also Joseph Famerée, “Orthodox Influence on the Roman Catholic Theologian Yves Congar OP: A Sketch,” St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly 39 (1995) 409-416; A. Nichols, Yves Congar, Outstanding Christian Thinkers Series (London: Chapman, 1989) 129-138. 12. Famerée, “Orthodox Influence,” 410. 324 FINBARR CLANCY become a leading ecumenical centre, later moving to Chevetogne. At this monastery Congar also met Dom Clément Lialine (1901-1958), a of Slavophile origin and of keen ecumenical sensitivity, and the Abbé Paul Couturier (1881-1953), a diocesan priest from Lyons, who did so much to popularise the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, giving it a new and richer ecumenical emphasis than that which characterised it at its inception. Congar was invited to preach at the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity in the Basilica of the Sacré Cœur, at Montmartre in Paris in 1936. His preaching drew enormous crowds and his discourses were followed by discussions at the Institut St Serge and the Federation of Protestant Students. Congar could describe the experience as “a time of extra- ordinary grace.” His eight lectures were later published, in revised for- mat, in 1937 as Chrétiens Désunis. This was Congar’s first book and it became volume one in the Unam Sanctam series. The book was destined to be enormously influential, effectively launching the Roman into the ecumenical movement. It represented the first attempt to give a satisfactory theological basis to Catholic ecumenical activity. In a posthumous tribute to Congar, Avery Dulles could refer to this book as almost constituting a prophetic “commentary on Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism,” which was to emerge some 25 years later.13 Signifi- cantly, Congar’s first book devotes one whole chapter to a critical appre- ciation of Orthodox ecclesiology. His vision of the of the Church, which he defines as “the Church’s dynamic capacity for unity,” owes much to Orthodox emphases. Congar typifies the period 1938-1958 as being “a period of creative work tempered by extremes of adversity.” The outbreak of World War II saw him imprisoned as a (1940-1945). While still trying to foster renewed ecumenical activity and intellectual effort, Congar and others found themselves increasingly under suspi- cion by the Roman authorities. He was disappointed not to have been named among the ten Roman Catholic observers to be present at the Amsterdam Assembly of the World Council of Churches in 1948, despite invitations from and contacts with the Orthodox theologian Fr George Florovsky. Congar’s book Christ, Our Lady and the Church was published in 1951, to mark the fifteenth centenary of the . He was aware that Pius XII’s dogmatic definition of Mary’s Assumption in the previous year had caused a jolt to ecumenical sensitivities in certain

13. Avery Dulles, “Yves Congar: In Appreciation,” America 173 (1995) 6-7, at 6. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 325 quarters. His short study, influenced by Florovsky’s own approach, sketched a vision of the Church as both human and divine, historical and eschatological, horizontal and vertical. The link between the Incarnation and the Church was stressed, building on Chalcedonian terminology and insight, while attentive to the Marian connections of Christology and ecclesiology alike. This same year witnessed Congar involved in prelim- inary discussions about founding a Catholic Council for Ecumenical Questions. Eight years later these would bear immediate fruit in the founding of the Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity in the Vatican in 1959. Ever attentive to the importance of historical events and com- memorations, Congar spent the week of prayer for Christian unity in 1954 in the Middle East, visiting Cairo, Alexandria, Beirut, Allepo, Jerusalem, Halki, Istanbul and Athens. Congar was well received in all locations. At Istanbul he met personally with the Ecumenical , Athenagoras I. It was the ninth centenary of the ‘mutual estrangement’ of East and West in 1054. Many regard Congar’s vist to Athenagoras as preparing the way for the dramatic encounter between Paul VI and Athenagoras on the Mount of Olives in 1964. The ninth centenary of the Schism between East and West was also the eightieth birthday of Dom Lambert Beauduin. Congar contributed a most important study, entitled After Nine Hundred Years, to a two-volume Festschrift offered to Dom Beauduin for his birthday. This short work gives a penetrating analysis of the complex background to the ‘mutual estrangement’ between East and West, focusing on political, cultural and ecclesiolog- ical factors that contributed to the breach between the Sister Churches. A reflective concluding chapter invites the reader to learn from the lessons of history. Sadly 1954 also ushered in a period of repression of the Domini- cans in France under Cardinal Pizzardo of the Holy Office, and the Dominican Master General, Emmanuel Suárez.14 Congar found himself in temporary exile in the École Biblique in Jerusalem and in Cambridge in England, with severe restrictions on his literary activities, contacts and ecumenical initiatives. Always patient in the midst of adversity, he drew comfort from Paul’s saying that “patience brings hope” (Rom 5:4). Bishop Jean Weber of invited Congar to Strasbourg in 1955 and he was soon able to resume a teaching career at the Dominican priory there. Giuseppe Roncalli was elected Pope in 1958 and announced his

14. See T. O’Meara, “Raid on the Dominicans: The Repression of 1954,” Amer- ica 170 (1994) 8-16. 326 FINBARR CLANCY intention to convene the on 25th January 1959. Congar was immediately named among the theological consultants and experts for the Preparatory Commission and a for the Council itself. Vatican II would prove to be deeply indebted to many of Congar’s master themes. He was one of the great collaborators at the Council. In the words of Avery Dulles it was to be “Congar’s Council.”15 Congar had insisted that invitations be given to ‘Observers’ at the Council. While later lamenting how few formal Orthodox observers chose to attend the Council, he noted with deep appreciation that some 100 Oriental Catholic bishops were among the 2500 bishops at Vatican II and that their contributions to debates were highly significant. He notes appre- ciatively how Patriarch Athenagoras, who would have liked to attend the Council personally, had said to Maximos IV “You will be our voice at the Council.” This was deeply significant for Congar.16 Many of the themes that Congar had laboured over in previous years surfaced and received full orchestration at Vatican II. As he himself noted at the Colloquium at Cambridge in 1981: I was filled to overflowing. All the things to which I gave quite special attention issued in the Council: ecclesiology, ecumenism, reform of the Church, the lay state, mission, ministries, collegiality, return to the sources and Tradition.17 His deep knowledge of the history of theology, his practice of ressourcement, and his vast reservoir of experience and insight from ecumenical contacts uniquely qualified him to work on several of the Council’s documents.18 He was deeply proud of his contributions to the teaching of Vatican II, while always suggesting that Vatican II was not to be ossified as an end in itself. Rather, it was to be a point de départ for future development in theology. The period after Vatican II saw Congar devote his mature years to elaborating the Pneumatological dimension of the Church. This stemmed from two principal sources. Firstly, Congar often refers to a conversation that he had with two Orthodox observers during Vatican II’s delibera- tions over Lumen gentium. They were critical of Lumen gentium’s lack of

15. Dulles, “Yves Congar,” 6. 16. Congar, “J’aime l’Orthodoxie,” 72-73. 17. Yves Congar, “Reflections on Being a Theologian,” New Blackfriars 62 (1981) 405-409, at 405. 18. Congar worked on several of the Council’s documents, most notably Lumen Gentium, Dei Verbum, Presbyterorum Ordinis, , Gaudium et Spes, Uni- tatis Redintegratio, Dignitatis Humanae, Ad Gentes. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 327 an adequate .19 While heeding their critique, Congar was quick to defend Vatican II’s pneumatology, deny the charge of ‘Christomonism’, and draw attention to the restoration of the epiclesis in the revised liturgical rites of Vatican II.20 Given the traditional Ortho- dox emphasis on the Holy Spirit, Congar remained sensitive to the need for Catholic ecclesiology, and theology more generally, to give adequate place to the pneumatological dimension in its formulations. The second important influence on Congar’s mature focus on the Holy Spirit was a specific request from Paul VI during a general audience address in 1973. He had requested that “the Christology and Ecclesiology of Vatican II should be followed by a new study and a new cult of the Holy Spirit as an indispensable complement of Conciliar teaching.” Congar’s trilogy of books I believe in the Holy Spirit (ET 1983) and his later volume The Word and the Spirit (ET 1986), along with his numerous articles devoted to the Holy Spirit, bear eloquent witness to his endeavours to underline the importance of the pneumatological dimension to theology. Drawing extensively on Patristic sources, as well as on contemporary reflection on the Holy Spirit, from writers of dif- ferent traditions, including the Orthodox, he weaves a rich tapestry of thought. Congar creatively links the activity of the Holy Spirit with the and he also likes to speak of the Holy Spirit as “co-founder” or “co-instituting principle” of the Church.21 This approach has received favourable comment among Orthodox writers, most significantly Metropolitan John Zizioulas, who himself likes to speak of the Spirit as “con-stituting” principle of the Church.22 The vexed

19. Yves Congar, “The Spirit in Action,” in: Called to Life, trans. W. Burridge (Slough: St. Paul Publications, 1985) 60-74, at 60. The article was originally published in Proche-Orient Chrétien (1973). 20. See Congar’s numerous studies on the Holy Spirit: e.g., “La Pneumatologie dans la Théologie Catholique,” Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques 51 (1967) 250- 258; “Pneumatologie ou ‘Christomonisme’ dans la tradition latine?,” Ecclesia a Spiritu Sancto edocta: Mélanges G. Philips, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium, 27 (Gembloux: Duculot, 1970) 1: 41-63; “Renewed Actuality of the Holy Spirit,” Lumen Vitae 28 (1973) 13-30; “Actualité de la Pneumatologie,” Credo in Spiritum Sanctum: Atti del Congresso Teologico Internazionale di Pneumatologia, ed. J. A. Martins (Città del Vaticano: Liberia Editrice Vaticana, 1983), 1: 15-28; “Les implications christologiques et pneumatologiques de l’ecclésiologie de Vatican II,” Le Concile de Vatican II: Son Église, peu- ple de Dieu et Corps du Christ, Théologie historique, 71 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1984) 163-176. 21. Yves Congar, I Believe in the Holy Spirit, trans. D. Smith (London: Chapman, 1983) 2: chapters 1-5; The Word and the Spirit, trans. D. Smith (London: Chapman, 1986), chapter 5, especially the appendix. 22. John Zizioulas, Being as Communion: Studies on Personhood and the Church (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985) 123-142; “The Doctrine of God the Today: Suggestions for an Ecumenical Study,” The Forgotten Trinity, ed. A. I. C. Heron (London: BCC/CCBI/Inter-Church House, 1991) 19-32, at 28. 328 FINBARR CLANCY question of the , so long a thorn in the side of Catholic-Orthodox sensitivities, is creatively discussed in volume 3 of I believe in the Holy Spirit, nicely subtitled “The River of Life flows East and West.” The high esteem with which Yves Congar was held in the Ortho- dox Church was much in evidence in the course of his funeral at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on 26th June 1995. An address was given by Metropolitan Jeremias, on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Con- stantinople, Batholomew I. The Metropolitan referred specifically to Congar’s book After Nine Hundred Years, and his work as a theologian of the Holy Spirit, identifying the Holy Spirit as the transcendent subject of Tradition. He had vowed his life “to the re-emergence of the undivided Church.” His concern to develop a pneumatic Christology had found definite echoes in the writings of his Orthodox contempo- raries, John Zizioulas and Boris Bobrinskoy. Metropolitan Jeremias compared Congar and his role at Vatican II to that of St. Athanasius at the Council of Nicaea. Neither were bishops at the time of the respective Councils, yet each contributed greatly to the dynamic of a Church Council and the implementation of its teaching subsequently. Congar was hailed as one of the most active and most lucid fathers of Vatican II, enabling it to recover the foundations of an ecclesiology of communion.23

II. The Diagnosis of Difference

In this section I propose to look at some of Congar’s early writings with a view to noting his diagnosis of the differences of theological out- look between East and West. Commentators on Congar’s literary output often note that while his first book bore the title Divided Christendom, later works chart a progression of thought with titles like Dialogue between Christians and Diversity and Communion. We move from ‘divi- sion’ to ‘dialogue’ to a growing appreciation of ‘diversity’.24

23. For a report of Metropolitan Jeremias’ funeral address, see Irénikon 68 (1995) 265-266. 24. See for instance the helpful overview studies of Congar’s ecclesiology like: Joseph Famerée, “‘Chrétiens désunis’ du P. Congar 50 ans après,” Nouvelle Revue Théologique 110 (1988) 666-686; “L’ecclésiologie du Père Yves Congar: Essai de syn- thèse critique,” Revue des Sciences Philosophiques et Théologiques 76 (1992) 377-419; “Aux origines de Vatican II: La démarche théologique d’Yves Congar,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses 71 (1995) 121-138. See also J. P. Jossua, “L’Œuvre œcuménique du Père Congar,” Études 357 (1982) 543-555. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 329

Divided Christendom While Congar makes many references to Orthodoxy throughout Divided Christendom, he also devoted an entire chapter to “An Orthodox Ecclesiology.” In this chapter he chiefly has the Slavophile branch of Orthodoxy in mind, especially as evidenced in the writings of S. Bulgakov and A. Khomiakov. Chapter 6 opens in irenic fashion noting that “despite our unhappy divisions we have practically everything in common with Eastern Christians.”25 Both have recourse to the same Patristic sources, display a similar sacramental economy, venerate Our Lady and the , manifest an in ministry, and have a mystical and ascetical tradition. The only real point of divergence is the Roman pri- macy. Despite these points, which establish us as belonging to “the same family,” Congar notes that “the fact remains that we differ profoundly from one another.” While we may hold the same basic truths, they are apprehended differently. Congar proceeds to outline some of the characteristic features of the Eastern mentality, contrasting them with Western nuances of empha- sis. In terms of theological temperament the East has always been spon- taneously and deeply Platonic, while the West, not ignorant of Plato, tended to follow Aristotle more closely. Thus, for the East the present world is an epiphany of the spiritual and is related to it not only extrin- sically, but also in its inner reality. The West, adopting a more empirical approach, sees the world as one of natures, causes and potentialities. It does not emphasise the epiphany-like role of pointing to something beyond itself. Corresponding to these two different world outlooks are two styles of anthropology. For the Eastern mind the Christian life involves “a pro- gressive transfiguration into the likeness of God, a realisation of the eter- nal in time, the spiritual in the sensible, and a transforming illumination of human nature.”26 The West speaks more of the human pilgrimage in terms of beatitude rather than deification. Grace is seen as a new prin- ciple of action leading to activities rendering the attainment of God pos- sible. While the East espouses a religious and mystical conception of human nature, the corresponding Western influence is more ascetical and moral in outlook. In its ecclesiology, the East sees the Church in terms of the inbreak- ing of the eternal into time, the invisible into the visible. She is Christ’s sacrament, theophany or icon. The Church is the realm of the deifying

25. Congar, Divided Christendom, 198. 26. Ibid., 201. 330 FINBARR CLANCY transformation of humanity, by worship and the sacraments. In the East, Congar notes, “the mystery of the Church is saturated with the mystery of divine life which is unveiled in her.”27 The West, while not denying the mystical, Christological and Pneumatological dimensions, sees the Church more in institutional terms, possessed of certain powers and pre- rogatives, over against civil society. While mystical, she is also militant and concerned with the realm of moral behaviour and social engagement with the world. The West, having had to grapple with Donatism and , movements unknown in the East, has come to assert more strongly her power, structures and rights. Congar does not remain uncritical in his exposition of the Slavophile stance on certain points. Its Church organisation leans towards monastic ideals, with corresponding emphasis on the spiritual and mys- tical. He sees these features as typical of the Orthodox outlook.28 He warns about the hidden danger of a certain dualism in this stance that could lead to a fuga mundi mentality, a lack of appreciation of the hier- archical and institutional elements of the Church, and a stultification of active virtues for engagement with the world. Congar was well aware from living in the West that the Church had to be ready to engage actively with the forces of atheism and indifference.29 Congar strongly rejects the unjust caricature of the Catholic Church among certain Russian writers, where she is portrayed as reneging on her spiritual voca- tion, being preoccupied with administration and juridical obedience to a sovereign authority. Towards the end of this chapter on Orthodox ecclesiology Congar attempts to draw up a balance sheet of values. In irenic fashion he notes the many points of overlap and common concern between East and West. He acknowledges that the Catholic West may have given too little atten- tion to the mystical and inner reality of the Church in the past: If we have in times past set too little store by this deeper aspect, we are today demonstrating our repentance in the most genuine and practical fashion by living and thinking more than ever before on these lines.30 He invites the Orthodox, however, to give more attention to the militant aspect of the Church in her engagement with the world. While accepting Bulgakov’s description of the Church as an ‘icon’ of the king- dom, Congar cautions that the icon is not yet perfect because of the

27. Congar, Divided Christendom. 28. Ibid., 205. 29. Ibid., 207. 30. Ibid., 221-213. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 331 earthly and pilgrim nature of the Church and her composition ex hominibus. Congar typifies the Slavophiles, most notably Komiakov, as displaying inadequate attention to the human side of the Church. He cites Soloviev in his warning about the danger of ‘ecclesiastical docetism’ if we disregard the human side of the Church and her engagement with the world.31 As if by way of an inclusio, we witness Congar return at the end of this chapter to a point that he raised earlier on. He had earlier stated that by grasping something about the differences of outlook between East and West, we would realise that the question of reunion was “as much and more a matter of catholicity as of unity.”32 This is an important Congarian insight. Chapter 3 of Divided Christendom had been devoted to the topic of the catholicity of the one Church. There Congar had defined catholicity as “the dynamic universality of her unity, the capac- ity of her principles of unity to assimilate, fulfil and raise to God in oneness with him all men and every man and every human value.”33 Towards the end of chapter 6 Congar returns to the notion of catholic- ity, wishing to integrate into the fullness of the Church’s unity the par- ticular values of Slavophile ecclesiology, while realising that they need to be complemented by Western insights also. Thus he states: We are very far, however, from wanting to see our Orthodox brethren lay aside their temperament and Latinise their genius. On the con- trary, that temperament and genius have their own contribution to make to catholicity.34 If the East could learn from the West to complement her mystical emphasis with the militant, and appreciate also the institutional and human side of the Church, the reciprocal direction of influence would benefit the West, enabling her “to know and to experience a more interior and mystical outlook, a fellowship of the love of God by the Spirit of Christ.”35 Indeed Congar’s own sketch of the Church’s unity in chapter 2 of Divided Christendom had already eloquently outlined such a vision. Inspired by , he described the Church using the formula Ecclesia de Trinitate, in Christo, ex hominibus.36 This text already antici- pates the opening paragraphs of Lumen gentium of Vatican II.

31. Congar, Divided Christendom, 214. 32. Ibid., 200. 33. Ibid., 94-95. 34. Ibid., 218. 35. Ibid., 220. 36. Ibid., Chapter 2 “On the Unity of the Church,” 48-92. 332 FINBARR CLANCY

Dialogue between Christians This book, first published in French in 1964 (ET 1966), contains an anthology of Congar’s essays from the 1930’s to the late 1950’s. Two of the essays are devoted to Orthodoxy, the first dealing with the topic of deification, the second with Oriental anthropology. In his later work The Word and the Spirit, Congar can refer back to these “youthful essays, as still being worthy of being read, despite their limitations.”37 The essay on deification, from 1935, is a review of three articles on the topic by another French writer. As such it predates his sketch of Slavophile ecclesiology in Divided Christendom. His discussion of deifi- cation is prefaced by the remark that even a rudimentary acquaintance with Eastern thought should convince us of the potential enrichment that it brings to theological discourse. He notes how the Scholastics, notably Aquinas, were nourished on the Greek Fathers, integrating the best elements of the Greek tradition into their own synthesis.38 In the second part of the essay on deification Congar engages in his customary comparison of East and West, noting their similarities and differences. Differences in philosophical outlook lead the East to emphasise ontology, whereas the West stressed the realm of operations. Corresponding with these are different understandings of grace and dif- ferent anthropologies. The East typically stresses the mystical and the religious, while the West’s anthropology focuses on moral action. If the goal of the spiritual journey is the same in both traditions, it is conceived differently. The West stresses the arrival at beatitude through morality, the East favours thought on deification by the gradual illumination of being. Congar links these two anthropologies with different attitudes to the cos- mos. The West is characterised by an attitude of “using and dominating,” while the East sees the divinised soul as helping to inaugurate the regen- eration of nature and the creation of a “new earth.”39 Different approaches to knowledge also obtain in East and West. For the East, philosophy finds its goal in spiritual wisdom. The West favours a more compartmentalised approach to natural and spiritual knowledge. The East luxuriates in an apophatic approach to knowledge about God who lies hidden in the darkness of inaccessible light. The West often links knowledge of God to comprehension of his mercy, and understands self-knowledge in terms of one’s misery needing this mercy.40

37. Congar, The Word and the Spirit, 117. 38. Congar, Dialogue between Christians, 217 n. 2 and 228 also. 39. Ibid., 226. 40. Ibid., 227. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 333

While East and West are united in venerating the Paschal Christ as Saviour and Lord, the East typifies his role as regeneration, re-creation, re-spiritualisation of human nature. The West stresses Christ’s role as reconciler, enabling ruptured relations with God to be repaired. The is envisaged in the West as conferring a greater intimacy and union with Christ. The East will lay stress on the Eucharist as “the leaven of incorruption and the pledge of a total renewal penetrating the whole human race until the return of the Lord in glory.”41 Congar continues by contrasting the ecclesiological outlooks of the two traditions, basically using similar categories to those already outlined in the section above on Divided Christendom, noting once more the Eastern weakness on the militant aspect of the Church. Congar is well aware that his schematic comparisons of East and West may oversimplify the true story, individual comments sometimes requiring further qualification. Nonetheless, he expresses the wish that “renewed contact with the great catholic tradition of the East” might contribute to a “rejuvenation and fertilisation of theological studies.” The two traditions that he compares are considered to be “more parallel or convergent, than opposed,” a point that he further links with the quest for the service of “catholic truth.”42 He laments the fact that too many concepts in theological discourse have become “rigid and attenuated in the course of scholastic disputations and later in a wilderness of several centuries of addled and indifferent theological teaching, traversed by the straggling trail of the manuals.” He notes, by contrast, that the great theologians and mystics in the West, Aquinas, Bernard, , Albert, Tauler, were all very open to or “replete with the most vital ele- ments of Eastern doctrine.”43 The second essay on Orthodoxy in Dialogue between Christians is devoted to Oriental anthropology and it comes from 1952. By now familiar comparisons between East and West are once more given, but with some new insights also added. He notes that the East dislikes the West’s juridicism and external approach to so many matters in theology. East and West differ fundamentally in terms of anthropology. Whereas the West tends to think of mutual relations between individual persons, the East is imbued with a more intimate social and communal sense, best typified by the Russian term sobornost.44

41. Congar, Dialogue between Christians, 227. 42. Ibid., 229. 43. Ibid., 228. 44. Ibid., 234. 334 FINBARR CLANCY

The whole sacramental economy and the priestly role of the Church find prominence in the Eastern mind. The Church renders present the divinising power of the Spirit. Once again a typical Congarian concern is evident in his comment that for the East, the Church is more a reve- lation and communication of sanctity than a militant society: “More a hagiophany and a theurgy, rather than an organiser of human life for the conquest of heaven, more mystagogue than pedagogue.”45 Differences in the interpretation of asceticism prevail between East and West. From the Oriental perspective of transformation and transfiguration, asceticism is understood more in terms of the liberation of spiritual nature. The West tends to envisage it more in terms of penal satisfaction. Congar contrasts the “highly intuitive and tentative judgements” that the Easterners so often make, with the Latin preference for intel- lectual analysis and proof.46 Linked with this is the close association in the East between dogma and discipline, doctrine and rite. For the East- ern mind the community receives the revelation and communication of divine mysteries through a unified body of symbols. Consequently, a change of rite is equivalent to a change of faith. Congar perceptively notes that, unlike the West, the East has never known either Scholasti- cism or a Renaissance, two great intellectual movements characterised by a clear distinction between the natural and the supernatural, and by an autonomous use of reason. The term ‘supernatural’ is a rare word in the vocabulary of Orthodoxy.47 The East posits a far greater continuity between the two orders which the West so clearly distinguishes. The East prefers to speak of the configuration of nature in the likeness of God and its consequent transfiguration. This is gradually realised by the process of divinisation whereby human being become partakers of the divine nature. Concluding his comparison of the two traditions, Congar notes that the affirmation of the absolute dignity of the human person is upheld by both. The West may have emphasised the autonomy of the individual, with only secondary consideration being given to social relationships. This leads to the negative consequence of individualism, and an inade- quate appreciation of the communal elements. While extolling the features of Eastern anthropology Congar wondered, back in 1952, if it would survive in a rapidly changing world. He poses the question as to whether a theophorous and mystagogic Church would prove to be

45. Congar, Dialogue between Christians, 237. Congar is here quoting the phrase of Prince Eugene Troubitskoi (1863-1920), a Russian Orthodox religious philosopher. 46. Ibid., 241. 47. Ibid., 242. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 335 sufficiently pedagogic? As he had indicated in Divided Christendom, a more militant and socially engaged Church may be called for. Despite potential shortfalls, Congar expresses the view that the Eastern tradition raises our minds to very profound religious and mysti- cal concepts. He sees the recovery of some of these insights by Catholic theology as helping to provide a corrective to the excessive naturalistic rationalism of theology and the overly analytical and dialectical manner of thinking which developed from the twelfth century onwards. Once again appealing to the notion of the ‘catholicity’ of the Church, he notes that the analytical and dialectical approach, while not valueless, was not always “commensurate with the plenitude of Catholic tradition.” This leads him to introduce his famous metaphor of the ‘two lungs’: It is not in vain that the Christian world has always contained an East and a West from the beginning; this is an indispensable feature of its providential character. Theology is only fully ‘catholic’ when, like a healthy organism, it breathes deeply and uses both its lungs.48

III. After Nine Hundred Years – ‘A Tale of Mutual Estrangement’

In his important book After Nine Hundred Years, written in 1954, Congar invites his readers to look back over the complex series of events that preceded the sad split between Rome and Constantinople in 1054. The placing of the bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia by Cardinal Humbert in 1054 is described by Congar as “a monument of unbelievable lack of understanding.”49 With great sensitivity Congar states that 1054 “though far from being the date of total alienation, is a fatal one, since it seems to mark one of the greatest misfortunes that has ever befallen Christianity.”50 After Nine Hundred Years is a richly annotated and thoughtful study of the complicated history of the split between East and West. Congar’s preferred term throughout is “estrangement,” rather than schism. He argues that schism only results from the acceptance of estrangement.51 He

48. Congar, Dialogue between Christians, 244. 49. Yves Congar, After Nine Hundred Years (New York: Fordham University Press, 1959) 71. The French original was “Neuf cents ans après,” which appeared in 1054- 1954: L’Église et les Églises: Neuf siècles de douloureuse séparation entre l’Orient et l’Occi- dent: Études et travaux sur l’unité chrétienne offerts à Dom Lambert Beauduin, Irenikon (Chevetogne, Éditions de Chevetogne, 1954) 3-95. 50. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 73. 51. Ibid., 89. 336 FINBARR CLANCY is at pains to stress many times throughout this study that while 1054 marked a decisive date in the estrangement, it was only the culmination of a long and complicated historic tale of alienation between the two parts of the Church. The three central chapters of the book outline sequentially the polit- ical, cultural and ecclesiological factors that contributed to estrangement. Among the political factors Congar singles out the Emperor Constantine’s decision to relocate the centre of the Empire in the newly built Con- stantinople as a decision fraught with ecclesial consequences. The close ties between the Emperor and the Church at Constantinople led to a quasi-sacerdotal role for Constantine. He was “a bishop from without,” to quote ’ Life of Constantine 4.24. He saw himself exercising power conjointly with the bishops. The divine order was reflected in the earthly order and the Emperor fulfilled a vital role as a focus for unity. Eastern Christianity inculturated itself in regionally diverse areas. Congar notes how it tended to think of local churches gathered together in a fraternity or communion. The West, reflecting a more analytical outlook, considered the unity of the Church as the primary datum, before accepting a diversity of local churches. This was reflected liturgi- cally in that the Roman Canon prayed for the unity of the Church, while the liturgy of St prayed for the prosperity of the holy churches of God. The West, prizing unity, sees disunity or separation as a scandal, an amputation or a mutilation. The East, seeing unity as an ideal, is more tolerant of division and separation on occasion.52 Tensions between Rome and Constantinople were also intensified by the conversion of Western Barbarian tribes and their leaders to Chris- tianity, the rise to prominence of as ruler in the West, and the spread of Islam in the Mediterranean region which restricted contact between East and West. Byzantium and the Patriarch of Constantinople became important foci of consolidation in the face of Islamic conquests. The period of the , most notably the Fourth Crusade, was accompanied by a rapid decline in relations between East and West. The resultant policy of Latinisation of the East touched on matters both liturgical and theological. The memory of the Crusades runs deep in the Eastern mind as an example of “Latin aggression.”53 Strained relations between East and West were accompanied by Eastern charges against the West of proselytism, a “colonisation psychology,” and a condescending attitude. Seeds of distrust all too readily grew in this environment. As

52. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 13-14. 53. Ibid., 26. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 337

Congar notes: “There is no complex more powerful than distrust, especially when it is grafted on an esprit de corps and serves to justify the feeling of being different.”54 In surveying the cultural factors that have contributed to the estrangement of East and West. Congar focuses on the issues of language, liturgical expression in a specific rite, theological method, and the process of solidification that characteristically happens in a given tradition. Divisions in the Christian world closely reflected language boundaries, leading to a Latin speaking West and a Greek speaking East. This in itself contributed to a lessening of the spirit of communion. Provincialism of language often resulted in provincialism of thought, perspective and judgement. The Greeks often viewed the Latins with contempt as Barbarians lacking in culture. The Latins often saw the Greek language as being excessively subtle.55 Nuances of meaning in one particular lan- guage did not always transfer accurately into another language, as every student of Christological and Trinitarian doctrine in the Patristic period well knows. Difficulties of achieving exact understanding have deep theological and ecclesiological consequences. The East also tended to pride itself in a better educated and more theologically literate com- pared to the West, where learning and theology tended to be the preserve of the cleric or the monastic environment. Congar has always had a keen interest in the phenomenon of a Rite which he defines as: “Christian life itself collectively perceived and felt in a particular way and which creates for itself its own personal and communal manner of expression.”56 It includes the totality of symbolic forms by which a community gives complete expression to and lives its Christian faith. Clearly it involves language, rubric and liturgical cere- monies, but also an underlying theology, a specific pattern of Church organisation, and the details of the religious life of a people. Congar diag- noses that the Eastern conception of ‘Rite’ is richer than its Western counterpart. For the Eastern consciousness Rite and faith are intimately connected. It is often accompanied by a piety that is simple, but deep. Rite, faith and Church are united in a seamless whole, fashioning a single living attitude. In terms of theological method, Congar notes that from the eleventh and twelfth centuries onwards a move towards scientific empirical method began to prevail unilaterally in the West. The East always favoured and

54. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 28. 55. Ibid., 29-32. 56. Ibid., 34. 338 FINBARR CLANCY adopted the symbolic and synthetic approach, priding itself in favouring Tradition over against analysis. He typifies the different approaches in terms of: “the attitude of synthetic perception in quest of the relation of the parts to the whole, and an analytical attitude.”57 The East has known no , and neither was it to experience the effect of the Refor- mation or the rationalism born of the Enlightenment. Thus, “the East remained foreign to the three influences that have shaped modern Catholicism.”58 Characteristically the West feels a need to define, whereas the East feels a corresponding desire not to define. Congar invites his readers to have respect and reverence for the ethos or pietas of a tradition, especially one different from one’s own. This is so because, despite both East and West having much in common, things are “differently felt, interpreted, construed, expressed and experienced.”59 Differences are to be respected, while not elevating them into absolutes. He argues that the solidification of ideas or making local and cultural elements into absolutes militates against union. Already anticipating his later views, Congar appeals to the catholic principle whereby the con- tributions of all cultures and peoples could find a place in a framework of reunion. In assessing the ecclesiological factors contributing to the estrange- ment, Congar sketches for us the complicated differences between two ecclesiologies in the East and the West. The Patriarchate of Constan- tinople grew in prominence from the seventh century onwards, though claims of privilege and honour for the ‘new Rome’ were already in evidence in canon 3 of Constantinople I (381) and canon 28 of Chal- cedon (451). This rise in prominence took place just as the Papacy was being bolstered by the influx of Barbarian converts in the West. Charle- magne’s rise to power was perceived as a threat by the Eastern Basileus. He had raised difficulties over the Acta of Nicaea II and had sought to impose the filioque on the faithful in his realm, despite the reservations and diplomacy of Leo III.60 Congar notes that the East displayed a greater feel for the local Church, rather than the universal. This was characterised by a respect for freedom and particularism that fitted in easily with an emerging synodal structure. Greater autonomy was granted to the local churches with only grave matters being brought before a Council for decision. The West, by contrast, adopted a more authoritative role, often intervening in local

57. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 40. 58. Ibid., 41. 59. Ibid., 43-45. 60. Ibid., 52-53. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 339 affairs, solicitous for their welfare, the preservation of unity and the purity of doctrine. The primacy of the see of Rome began to be stressed in the West and the rise of authoritative Papal Decretals became an instrument of expression of this. Congar regards the rise to prominence of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in the East, with its growing desires for autonomy from other sees, notably Rome, and ambitions for hegemony over the entire East as one of the chief contributing factors to the split between East and West.61 An additional complicating factor was the canonical tradition associated with the Quinisext Council or Second Council of Trullo (692). The canons of this particular Council, which made particular claims of greater autonomy for local churches, were never accepted by Rome, yet they became central in the Eastern tradition and continue to underpin grievances over rites, customs and points of discipline. The emergence of strong personalities on both sides also contributed to the split between East and West. Estrangement between the two sides deepened under the Patriarch Photius in the ninth century, whom Congar accuses of increasing “the psychological tension and misunder- standing by transforming simple ‘differences’ into ‘oppositions’ by stren- uous polemics.”62 The late tenth and early eleventh centuries proved to be a barren period for any hopes of reconciliation. Indeed there was a growing desire for Constantinople’s independence from Rome as is evident from Patriarch Eustathius’ letter to Pope John XIX in 1025. In Congar’s estimation the ‘combative and stiff-necked Cardinal Humbert’ was matched by the equally intransigent Patriarch Michael Cerularius in the sad episodes of the eleventh century. Cerularius wanted a complete independence from Leo IX and the Emperor Constantine Monomachus, whose policy of entente with Leo in opposing Norman activity in southern Italy he openly opposed. Congar describes Cerularius as want- ing to render the breach between East and West as permanent: “By his violent polemic he poisoned the atmosphere.”63 Cardinal Humbert, on his side, espoused rigid views about and power. His own sentiments are reckoned to have influenced the two letters which he brought from Leo IX to Cerularius. The purpose of his visit was crystal clear. The estrangement between East and West had reached a critical stage with mutual excommunication between Rome and Constantinople being the result.

61. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 54. 62. Ibid., 70. 63. Ibid., 71-72. 340 FINBARR CLANCY

IV. The Dialogue of Love between Sister Churches

Congar devotes Part 2 of his book Diversity and Communion (1982) to “Looking towards the East.” Five short essays explore Orthodox- Roman Catholic relations and the dialogues of love and of theology between these two Sister Churches. They are creative and insightful chapters, written in the aftermath to Vatican II, from the perspective of his own deep study of the Holy Spirit, and in the optimistic climate of bilateral dialogues between the Roman Catholic Church and other Churches and ecclesial communities. In what follows I limit my com- ments to just three of his essays. Given the over-arching theme of “Diversity and Communion,” Congar devotes one essay to a reflective exploration of the themes of “Duality in Unity” and “Complementarity.” He begins by noting the age-old problem of the one and the many and how it engaged the philosophical minds of antiquity. The patterns of nature, the anatomical structure of the human body, and even certain features of Biblical thought follow a hidden law of “duality in unity.”64 Congar proposes the thesis that a duality between East and West constitutes a significant fact for both the unity and catholicity of the Church. In a manner familiar to us from his previous studies Congar outlines in lucid fashion the characteristic features of the Eastern tem- perament and outlook, comparing them with their Western counterparts. He focuses on theological emphases, the appeal to vital sources, attitude to philosophy, the apophatic approach in contrast to the rational, and the prominence of synthesis over analysis. The Easter mystery illuminates the Orthodox outlook, leading to a cosmic optimism about the person, whose destiny is divinisation, and about the world awaiting its trans- figuration. Ever full of awe and reverence for the Orthodox liturgy, Congar refers to its mysterious character, penetrated by the Trinity, the presence of the and the saints. It is, as Vladimir of Rus so aptly observed, having attended the Divine Liturgy in Hagia Sophia in the tenth century, a taste of “heaven on earth.” For the Orthodox: “The liturgy is utterly penetrated by the tradition, handing it on in a vivid way and making it live.”65 Congar also contrasts the different Eastern and Western approaches to the Church, pattern of Church government, sacramental celebrations, monasticism, and piety, including the use of

64. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 70-71. 65. Ibid., 72. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 341 icons. Despite nuances of difference in these last five areas, there are important points of agreement, consensus and overlap. He observes that the revised liturgical rites of Vatican II have brought the Western liturgy closer to the rite and spirit of the East. Similarly he states: “Westerners are at ease in the prayer and among the mysteries of Orthodoxy.”66 The rise in popularity of icons in the West and the appreciation of their role in the liturgical and spiritual life is surely significant in this respect. With reference to monasticism, Congar notes that unlike the West, the East has no proliferation of religious orders and congregations, founded in response to different apostolic needs. Rather there is but one eschato- logical monastic state, devoted to the other world. Eastern monasticism has always played a major role throughout history “embodying and expressing the conscience or Orthodoxy, sometimes with quite stubborn violence.” 67 The pivotal place of Mount Athos in the Orthodox world has no parallel in the West. Having engaged in his customary comparison of East with West, Congar is led to the conclusion that “this is truly the same Church on the spiritual level.” Reflecting on his wide reading, careful study, and extensive network of relationship with the Orthodox world, he can say: “Where the supernatural mystery is expressed in our world, East and West are the same Church.”68 Liking Paul VI’s evocative phrase about a “universal and holy Church of Christ which always embraces the two Sister Churches,” Congar proceeds to explore the attractive notion of “complementarity” or “diversity in unity.”69 Congar creatively uses the doctrine of complementarity, which had been developed by the physicist Neils Bohr to explain the properties of electrons in sub-atomic physics. Bohr’s theory had suggested that the full characteristics of electrons could only be comprehended by describing them in terms of waves and particles. His theory enjoyed a widespread popularity and was applied, by Bohr himself and by several others, to different areas of life. While attractive as an epistemological principle, Congar was not unaware of its limitations. Not all of the different ways of seeing the same reality necessarily qualify them as complementary. Nonetheless, citing an important text from Vatican II’s Decree on Ecumenism, he notes how the Council had recognised that there is a

66. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 73. 67. Ibid. 68. Ibid. 69. Paul VI had used the phrase in the bull Anno ineunte, sent to Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople on 25th July 1967, marking the nineteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Sts Peter and Paul. 342 FINBARR CLANCY legitimate plurality of theological expression. Sometimes one particular tradition arrives at a fuller appreciation of a mystery of faith or a better description of it. The text had continued: “In such cases, these various theological formulations are often to be considered as complementary rather than conflicting.”70 Congar goes on to apply the insight to his own contemporaneous study of the filioque controversy, where East and West employ different formulations of the same mystery. Again citing Paul VI’s statement about the one holy Church of Christ embracing two traditions, Congar hopes for a communion that might accommodate diversity. Significantly here he also juxtaposes the image of the Church breathing with her two lungs. He had first used this metaphor in 1952 concerning theology being truly ‘catholic’ when it breathed with two lungs. Some thirty years later we meet him here employing the metaphor in the additional sense of the one Church of Christ breathing with her two lungs, the Eastern and the Western traditions in harmony, unity in duality, diversity in communion.71 A further essay in Diversity and Communion, entitled “Diversity of Dogmatics in the Unity of Faith,” continues reflection on this same theme of complementarity. He once again employs Unitatatis redinte- gratio 17, this time complemented by two texts from John Paul II’s speeches in 1979. The first is from a letter to Cardinal Slipyi, while the second is from his address at the Phanar in Constantinople, on the occa- sion of the inauguration, with Patriarch Dimitrios I, of the International Commission for Dialogue between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The Pope had spoken of “the riches of two traditions” and how they were to be preserved as “vital and complementary.” Congar’s chief focus in this second essay is on the filioque. While he realises that it was and remains a serious issue in East-West relations, it was not the primary issue leading to estrangement. In encouraging mode he notes that contemporary theologians of both traditions do not see it as an insurmountable contradiction between the dialogue part- ners. History itself has shown that the Church lived for three centuries with divergent Trinitarian , even within the East itself, with- out a resultant schism. Indeed, Congar approvingly cites the Orthodox theologian Paul Evdokimov saying that: “the lack of practical conse- quences indicates that the conflicting formulae have an inadequate dogmatic basis.”72

70. The text in question is Unitatis redintegratio, 17. 71. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 76. 72. Ibid., 99. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 343

While not wishing to relativise the importance of dogmatic formu- lae, Congar argues that we need to distinguish underlying faith and its dogmatic formulation: The primary reality is not theoretical adherence to dogmatic formulae, however useful and holy they might be, but a vital thrust of the heart, openness, and the total gift of all one’s being to Christ, our way towards God, the truth and the life.73 He cites by way of example here the important witness value of the early martyrs, even when their grasp of doctrine may have been imperfect. He also cites relevant comments from (“I possess the reality, although I do not understand it”) and (“The assent of faith does not end with the formula but with the reality”). Given his own personal love of the Church’s liturgy, and deeply aware of how central the liturgy is for Orthodoxy, Congar notes that the confessing ecclesial community “lives out its faith by celebrat- ing it.” He himself could state personally elsewhere: “I don’t just study the mysteries, I celebrate them, and this celebration is also a source of understanding the faith.”74 The Church prays, sings and celebrates her faith. This leads Congar to see dogma as “only a landmark, holy though it may be, in the Church’s experience of the fullness of its faith which it attains by celebrating it.”75 Twice in the course of the present essay Congar refers to an impor- tant incident that happened during the pontificate of Leo III in 810 AD. Charlemagne had sent a delegation to Leo III urging him to accept the filioque as an insertion into the text of the Creed. While Leo consented to the doctrine involved, he refused to insert it into the Creed. Further- more, he had the text of the Creed inscribed on two silver scrolls, in Greek and in Latin, each without the filioque, and these were destined to hang on either side of the High Altar in St Peter’s in Rome.76 Congar suggests that a fitting manner of celebrating the sixteenth centenary of the First Council of Constantinople in 1981 would have been to imitate Leo III’s diplomatic gesture. This would have meant receiving the ancient creed in its original formulation and consenting to drop the filioque, while not abandoning its doctrinal significance for the West. He regrets that such a gesture did not accompany the celebrations in 1981. Congar also likes the suggestion of Evdokimov that the original creed of 381 be

73. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 99-100. 74. See his “Reflections on Being a Theologian,” 406; “Let God be God (Fr Congar’s prayer),” in Called to Life, 3. 75. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 100. 76. Ibid., 101-103. Congar also cites the incident in After Nine Hundred Years, 45. 344 FINBARR CLANCY used by East and West alike, accompanied by a theological commentary, so that it could be professed with one mind and heart by both sections of the Church, reconciled to each other.77 In a third essay from Diversity and Communion, entitled “The Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church,” Congar again employs the metaphor of the Church “beginning to breathe through its two lungs.”78 He does so, convinced that there is a fundamental unity underlying the Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches. Each understands the Church as a unity of faith, a sacramental reality, and as a spiritual organism. Citing Frs. Dumont and Bouyer, recognised experts on Orthodoxy, Congar notes the strong Catholic conviction of this fundamental unity, while recognising that not all Orthodox theologians share this view. A major section of this essay is devoted to an exploration of the theme of ‘Sister Churches’. Congar gives a most valuable historical note on the usage of the term from the early Patristic period up to the present day.79 He regards it as “a theology of extreme importance.” He particularly focuses on the use of the term in Unitatis redintegratio 14, and in the correspondence and personal meetings between Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras, during and after Vatican II. A dialogue of love had commenced which was of enormous theological and ecumenical significance. Congar often mentions his admiration for the creativeness of Paul VI’s ventures and ecumenical gestures, which were so well received in the Orthodox world.80 He particularly liked a section from Paul VI’s bull Anno ineunte sent to Patriarch Athenagoras on the occasion of the nineteenth centenary of the martyrdom of Saints Peter and Paul in 1967: Now after a long period of division and mutual incomprehension, the Lord has allowed us to rediscover ourselves as sister churches, despite the obstacles with which we had been confronted. In the light of Christ, we see how urgent is the need to transcend these obstacles, so that we can bring to its fullness and perfection the communion existing between us, which is already so rich.81 Commenting on this text, Congar affirms that the Church of East and West is “the same Church” which lives “according to two dif- ferent traditions.”82 He makes the important point that, because of the

77. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 103. 78. Ibid., 89. 79. Ibid., 86-89. 80. Ibid., 88, and his “L’œcumenisme de Paul VI,” Essais Œcuméniques, 154-170. 81. Ibid. 82. Ibid., 89-90. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 345 common apostolic origins of both Churches, their relationship is that of sisters, not mother and daughter. He documents the protests by Nicetas of Nicomedia in dialogue with Anselm of Havelberg in 1136, and of Patriarch John X Camateros with Innocent III in the thirteenth century, concerning Rome’s self-description as mater et magistra.83 This is not the appropriate language of Sister Churches. Patriarch Athenagoras had referred to Constantinople as “younger sister” (neotera adelphe), in his speech of welcome to Paul VI at the Phanar in 1967. This raises impor- tant questions as to how the Church of Rome and the Papacy see, and will see, themselves in relation to the other Sister Churches. The final section of this third essay looks at the place of “ecumenical Councils” in both the Eastern and Western parts of the Church. He examines three related issues: (a) the determining features of an ecu- menical Council; (b) the fact that both Churches acknowledge the first seven ecumenical Councils, but that each Church has subsequently held separate Councils; and (c) the phenomenon and prospect of each Church recognising the Councils that the other may have held. Various criteria of ecumenicity are reviewed, Congar favouring the aspect of reception by the Church as being a key factor. The West has recognised 21 Councils as being ecumenical. Congar supports the views of Darwell Stone, Venan- tius Grumel and Louis Bouyer that the first seven Councils have a unique authority in both the East and the West, while other Councils enjoy a different level of authority. Following Bouyer, Congar states that all that the West could ask of her Sister Church in the East is that she provi- sionally accept the teaching of subsequent Western Councils, pending opportunities for further discussion. He argues that, in reciprocal fash- ion, the West could afford a similar acceptance of separate Eastern Coun- cils. Congar also indicates that “it has always been thought that union with the Catholic Church could be achieved only in a joint Council,” that is to say one involving the two Sister Churches.84 Congar favours seeing the first seven Councils, those accepted by East and West, as being primary norms, along with the Scriptures, the Fathers, and the tradition of the undivided Church of the early centuries. Other Councils could rank as secondary norms, not in the sense of being doctrinally inferior, but in terms of their dependence on those of the primary order. Congar is well aware of the tentative nature of this sug- gestion, suggesting that it will need sensitive theological deliberation in the light of the on-going bilateral dialogue between the Sister Churches.

83. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 90. 84. Ibid., 92. 346 FINBARR CLANCY

It may involve what Congar calls “re-reception” of doctrines, especially those connected with papal prerogatives and infallibility: What is needed is re-interpretation and reception accepting what a better knowledge of history and openness to the truth of others through dialogue shows us that we should have accepted earlier. It is simply a question of greater truth.85

V. Conclusion

A vital ingredient in Congar’s theological method is the careful study of history. It is intimately connected with his deep sense of Tradition. For Congar, history is our great teacher: “History provides us with expe- riences of the past which can prepare us for the future.”86 The lessons of history teach us that manifold differences in the Sister Churches gave rise to mutual estrangement. Difference all too easily becomes an ingrained habit, hardened by cumulative accretions of mistrust and mutual ignorance. The Sister Churches can get used to a separate exis- tence, in isolation from each other. Congar advises us that we can react or respond to differences in either of two ways. We can search together for common areas of agreement. Alternatively, we can push individual positions into absolutes that are in formal opposition to other positions. Adopting this latter position involves changing contrasts into contraries. Further decline sets in when we no longer want even the possibility of union. An atmosphere of distrust and disdain only succeeds in blocking the path to unity.87 Throughout his book After Nine Hundred Years Congar’s favourite descriptive word for the split between East and West was “estrangement” rather than “schism.” It is a helpful word. While estrangement can spawn further suspicion and distrust, it need not do so. Neither side, Congar optimistically notes, has ever resigned itself fully to estrangement. While there has been estrangement, there has also been a chronicle of noble endeavour, good will and efforts to facilitate hands reaching across the divide. While the metaphor of “breathing with both lungs” does not appear in After Nine Hundred Years, Congar did speak there of the living tissue of the Church being torn apart by the sad events of 1054, and that it was still unmended.88 He also expressed the hope that “a true

85. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 95-96. 86. After Nine Hundred Years, 75. 87. Ibid., 78. 88. Ibid., 82-83. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 347 sympathy and a warm esteem for the Christian East will enter the living tissue of Latin Catholicism.”89 To the extent that this might take place the wound of estrangement will be healed. In his helpful sketch of what it is that he most admires about Ortho- doxy, Congar singles out its profound sense of Tradition and its love of the Liturgy. Following the genius of the Fathers, Orthodoxy preserves a web of connectedness between the different elements of revelation. Every- thing is connected to the mystery of the Trinity and enlightened by it. The celebration of the sacramental mysteries enables contact with the life of the Trinity. Orthodox Christians live the life of the Spirit intensely and pride themselves in being bearers of the Spirit. As he has had occa- sion to mention many times, the East’s sacramental conception of the Church matches our Western insight and so unites us deeply with them.90 Congar greatly appreciated the presence of up to one hundred Oriental Catholic Bishops at Vatican II and their important contributions to the Council’s debates. Their presence was a reminder to other participants of the Eastern part of Christianity. He was personally deeply disappointed at how few Orthodox representatives attended the Coun- cil as observers, despite the invitations given. Many Orthodox observers came in private capacities rather than being official delegates.91 Congar, with sadness in his heart, observes that while the West is often encour- aging by its happy rediscovery of what it lacks and what the East might help provide, the same is often not true of the opposite direction of influence.92 He notes that he has often found on the Orthodox side a frightening lack of interest in the Catholic and Latin world. While not evident everywhere, he feels it is fairly widespread. While the West can rejoice in what it perceives the East might bring to it from its own unique tradition, this tends to be less true of what the East feels it might gain from the West. Congar himself has always been a keen student of St. Augustine. He notes that with the exception of Orthodox scholars like Fr. George Florovsky and Fr. Boris Bobrinskoy, it is rare to find Eastern theologians who are well acquainted with Augustine’s thought. This is clearly a major weakness, especially in terms of the all too common branding of Augus- tine as the bête noire responsible for the whole filioque controversy. Con- gar stresses the deep affinity between the Latin and Greek Fathers and our need to build on this tradition. The Council of Florence (1439) had

89. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 88. 90. Congar, “J’aime l’Ortodoxie,” 71. 91. Ibid., 73-74. 92. Ibid., 72: “Et cela me remplit d’une grande tristesse.” 348 FINBARR CLANCY sought to build on this basis. It is incumbent upon us to develop the common heritage of the two Sister Churches. The rediscovery of a lost but profound kinship is accomplished by what Patriarch Athenagoras called “the dialogue of love.” This was realised many times during the Second Vatican Council, most notably in the mutual embrace of Paul VI and Athenagoras I on the Mount of Olives in January 1964, the restoration of the relics of St. Andrew to the Greek Orthodox Church at Patras, and Paul VI’s exchange of letter with the Eastern Patriarchs. The dialogue continues today through mutual visits between Rome and Constantinople, on the patronal feasts of the respec- tive sees, and the slow but hopeful theological dialogue between the two Sister Churches. While doctrinal differences remain, they need not be perceived as being insurmountable. Different approaches to the same mystery can coincide without one being reduced to or superimposed on another. Con- gar always valued the utility of Dom Lambert Beauduin’s phrase “united, not absorbed,” first employed in the Malines Conversations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion in 1925. Vatican II’s teaching on collegiality proved to be a helpful counterbalance to the emphasis on at Vatican I. Congar clearly sees the issue of the Papacy and its exercise as a difficult doctrinal issue to be explored in the bilateral dialogue between the Sister Churches. In After Nine Hundred Years Congar cites a helpful tale that can function as an ecumenical parable. A certain person once approached the saintly Swiss Nicholas de Flüe (1417-1487) for advice about a social problem. Nicholas tied a knot in his rope girdle and handed it to his petitioner, asking him to untie it. The task was easily accomplished. Nicholas replied that so we must work at untying life’s problems as we might undo a knot. When his interlocutor protested that life was not always so easy as this, Nicholas replied: “You would not be able to untie this rope either, if we both pulled on each end, and that is always the way people try to untangle their difficulties.”93 The Sister Churches cannot persist in pulling in opposite directions, or the knotty impasse of disunion will never be untied and they will never learn the revitalising art of breathing with both her lungs. Congar once remarked that “everything begins with a seed.” He was well aware of the long and complicated history behind the estrangement between East and West. He was equally aware that the journey towards unity would neither be easy or instantaneous. He loved the symbolism

93. Congar, After Nine Hundred Years, 78-79. BREATHING WITH BOTH HER LUNGS 349 of gestures, particularly as performed by Paul VI whom he regarded as a “,” as much as by Athenagoras whom he saw as a “prophet.”94 Their mutual embrace on the Mount of Olives in 1964 was a gesture so full of meaning for Congar, symbolising as it did the meeting of the two Sister Churches. Nonetheless the ecumenical pilgrimage would be an arduous one. Congar realised that “the Cross is the condition of every good work,” and with St Paul he held “patience breeds hope” (Rom 5:4).95 The germination and growth of seeds takes time and requires patience. The untying of historical, ecclesiological and ecumenical knots on the Christian rope takes time and requires patience. Patience is an ecumeni- cal virtue. Perhaps Congar’s life long battle with a debilitating illness schooled him in the art of patience. Congar often cited significant lines from the poetry of Alfred Lord Tennyson, especially the line “Ring in the Christ that is to be,” from Tennyson’s In Memoriam. In this particular poem we also meet the lines: “Ring out a slowly dying cause, and ancient forms of party strife … Ring out the thousand wars of old, ring in the thousand years of peace.”96 Perhaps these hopeful words can be applied to the two Sister Churches as they take their steps together, breathing with both lungs, through the third Christian millennium. To leave the final words to Congar: “Le chemin est encore long et difficile avant le parvenir à l’union. Mais il est ouvert.”97

Dr. Finbarr Clancy is Senior Lecturer in Systematic Theology and Director of Evening Programmes in Theology at the Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy, Dublin. He is a Jesuit priest, a patristics scholar and an authority on the thought on Yves Congar. He has contributed articles to various scholarly journals and his paper entitled “Augustine’s Commentary on the Emmaus Scene in Luke’s ,” delivered to the 14th International Conference on Patristics Studies in Oxford, will be published in the Studia Patristica Series at Peeters Publishers, Louvain. Address: Faculty of Theology, Milltown Institute of The- ology and Philosophy, Dublin 6, Ireland.

94. Congar, Diversity and Communion, 85. 95. Congar, Dialogue between Christians, 45. 96. The Poems of Alfred Tennyson 1830-1863 (London: J. M. Dent & Co., no date), In Memoriam, stanza CV. In some editions of Tennyson’s works the stanza is given as CVI. 97. Congar, “J’aime l’Orthodoxie,” 75.

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