wfn.org | Fordham University confers Honorary Doctorate of Laws on Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

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> Stavros Papagermanos
> pressoffice@goarch.org

> October 28, 2009

FORDHAM UNIVERSITY BESTOWS HIGHEST HONOR ON ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW

NEW YORK ? Fordham Univversity conferred yesterday its highest honor,
the Honorary Doctorate of Laws, to His All Holiness Ecumenical
Patriarch Bartholomew â??for his remarkable service to the world
community and for the principles that he continues to uphold.â??

The solemn and historic conferral ceremony was held in the University
Church at the Rose Hill Campus in Bronx, NY and was attended by many
hundreds of people, University officials and trustees, professors and
students, clergy of the Roman Catholic and the Greek Orthodox
Churches, honored guests and hundreds of faithful.

â??It is a grace to welcome your All Holiness,â?? said Stephen
Freedman, Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer, acting as
the Master of Ceremonies. His Excellency Timothy M. Dolan, the Roman
Catholic Archbishop of New York offered the invocation.

â??AXIOSâ?? (meaning â??worthyâ?? in Greek), was  exclaimed several
times by Fordham University President, the Reverend Joseph M. McShane,
S.J., as he highlighted the Ecumenical Patriarchâ??s work in the
advancement of ecumenical dialogue, his devotion to the promotion of
peace and his dedication to the cause of environmentalism.

His Eminence Edward Cardinal Egan, Papal Delegate of His Holiness
Benedict XVI conveyed the welcome and brotherly greeting of the Pope
and in his comments underlined the importance of dialogue which one
day will lead to becoming one as â??it is the wish of our Lord Jesus  Christ.â??

Fr. McShane read the Citation and along with, John N. Tognino, the
Chairman of the Board of Trustees conferred to His All Holiness the
honorary degree. The Fordham University Choir sung the Ecumenical
Patriarchâ??s Polychronion (a prayer hymn for health and many
productive years).

His All Holiness delivered a very important address entitled
â??Discerning Godâ??s Presence in the Worldâ?? in which he  emphasized
â??the primacy of ecumenicity or the value of opening up in a world
that expects us â??always to be prepared to give an answer to everyone
that asks us to give the reason for the hope within us.â??â?? (1  Peter
3:15)  In concluding the address, His All Holiness summarized the
theme of his remarks:

â??Opening up to the heart; opening up to the other; and opening
up to creation. Our age demands no less than openness from all of us.
We hear it stated often that our world is in crisis. Yet, never before
in history have human beings had the opportunity to bring so many
positive changes to so many people simply through encounter and
dialogue.â?? (see full text below)

His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios of America offered a thoughtful and
edifying benediction at the conclusion of the ceremonies.

A reception followed for all in attendance, and the University
President hosted a dinner for the Patriarchal party and other honored  guests.

ADDRESS OF HIS ALL HOLINESS ECUMENICAL PATRIARCH
B A R T H O L O M E W

â??DISCERNING GODâ??S PRESENCE IN THE WORLDâ??

> At the Convocation and Honorary Degree
> In Honor of His All Holiness
> Fordham University Church

> (October 27, 2009)

> * * *

Most Learned President, Father Joseph McShane,
Esteemed Members of the Board of Trustees and
Beloved Brothers of the Society of Jesus,
Most Learned Professors and Students,
Your Eminences and Graces,
Distinguished Guests,
Beloved children and people of God,

Introduction: The Ecumenical Imperative

It is with sincere gratitude that we accept this invaluable honor of
being received into the doctoral college of this esteemed Jesuit
school. We welcome this privilege as a recognition of the sacred
ministry of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, an Apostolic institution with
a history spanning seventeen centuries, throughout retaining its See
in Constantinople.

Yet, our Church is no worldly institution; it wields no political
authority. Instead, it leads by example, coordinating Pan-Orthodox
Christian unity by virtue of a primacy of love and honor ? a ministry
emanating from its supra-national authoority. This universal
consciousness gave rise to the first seven ecumenical councils,
articulated the â??Symbol of faithâ?? (or Nicene Creed) and
established the New Testament Canon; it also gave birth to Churches
from the Caspian to the Baltic, and from the Balkans to Central
Europe; today, its jurisdiction extends to the Far East, Western
Europe, Australia and America.

Of course, this ecumenicity constitutes both an ancient privilege and
a lasting responsibility, demanding an open ministry within our own
communions, among other Christian confessions, as well as toward the
worldâ??s faith communities. Within our ecumenical initiatives, the
international theological dialogue with our â??sister Churchâ??  of
Rome ? instituted in the 1960s as the â??dialogue of loveeâ??  and
continuing today as the â??dialogue of truthâ?? ? comprises  our
foremost encounter of â??speaking the truth iin love.â?? A  concrete
example of this encounter here at Fordham is the Orthodox Christian
Minor Studies Program, which is the first of its kind at a major
university in the United States. This program complements the existing
annual â??Orthodoxy in America Lectureâ?? and the Orthodox  Christian
Fellowship, and demonstrates a practical synergistic spirit, modeling
for Orthodox and Roman Catholics everywhere a shared common purpose
based in truth and in love.

Nevertheless, our purpose this evening is not to outline for you the
manner in which the ecumenical imperative defines our Church but,
rather, to inspire in all of you the primacy of ecumenicity or the
value of opening up in a world that expects us â??always to be
prepared to give an answer to everyone that asks us to give the reason
for the hope within us.â?? (1 Peter 3.15) In this regard, we would
like to draw your attention to three dimensions of â??opening upâ? ? or
â??ecumenical consciousness.â??
(i)    Opening up to the heart,
(ii)    Opening up to the other, and
(iii)    Opening up to creation

(i) Opening up to the Heart: The Way of the Spirit

As faith communities and as religious leaders, it is our obligation
constantly to pursue and persistently to proclaim alternative ways to
order human affairs, ways that reject violence and reach for peace.
Human conflict may well be inevitable in our world; but war certainly
is not. If the twenty-first century will be remembered at all, it may
be for those who dedicated themselves to the cause of tolerance and
understanding.

Yet the pursuit of peace calls for a reversal of what has become
normal and normative in our world. It requires conversion (metanoia)
and the willingness to become individuals and communities of
transformation. The Orthodox Christian spiritual classics emphasize
the heart as the place where God, humanity, and world may coincide in
harmony. Indeed, The Philokalia underlines the paradox that peace is
gained through witness (martyria), perceived not as passivity or
indifference to human suffering but as relinquishing selfish desires
and acquiring greater generosity. The way of the heart stands in
opposition to everything that violates peace. When one awakens to the
way within, peace flows as an expression of gratitude for Godâ??s love
for the world. Unless our actions are founded on love, rather than on
fear, they will never overcome fanaticism or fundamentalism.

In this sense, the way of the heart is a radical response, threatening
policies of violence and politics of power. This is why peacemakers
threatened the status quo. Indeed, the Sermon on the Mount shaped the
pacifist teaching of Leo Tolstoy, whose work The Kingdom of God is
Within You was molded by the writings of the Philokalia and in turn
profoundly influenced both the nonviolent principles of Mahatma Gandhi
(1869 â?? 1948) and the civil rights activism of Martin Luther King
(1929 â?? 1968). Sometimes, the most â??provocativeâ??  message is
â??loving our enemy and doing good to those who hate usâ?? (Luke
6.27). Some may announce â??the end of faithâ?? or â??the  end of
history,â?? blaming religion for violent aberrations in human
behavior. Yet, never was the peaceful â??protestâ?? of religion  more
necessary than now; never was the powerful â??resistanceâ?? of
religion more critical than today. Ours is the beginning, not the end
of either faith or history.

(ii) Opening up to the Other: The Way of Dialogue

This is why the interreligious gatherings initiated by the Ecumenical
Patriarchate are crucial for paving the way toward peaceful
coexistence between the worldâ??s peoples. Such dialogue draws people
of diverse religious beliefs and cultural traditions out of their
isolation, instituting a process of mutual respect and meaningful
communication. When we seek this kind of encounter, we discover ways
of coexisting despite our differences. After all, historical conflicts
between Christians and Muslims are normally rooted in politics and not
in religion. The tragic story of the crusades is a telling example,
bequeathing a legacy of cultural alienation and ethnic resentment.

Speaking, then, of an inevitable and inexorable â??clash of
civilizationsâ?? is incorrect and inappropriate, especially when such
a theory posits religion as the principal battleground on which such
conflict is doomed to occur. National leaders may provoke isolation
and aggression between Christians and Muslims; or else demagogues may
mobilize religions in order to reinforce national fanaticism and
hostility. However, this is not to be confused with the true nature
and purpose of religion. Christians and Muslims lived alongside each
other during the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires, usually supported
by their political and religious authorities. In Andalusia Spain,
believers in Judaism, Christianity and Islam coexisted peacefully for
centuries. Such historical models reveal possibilities for our own
pluralistic and globalized world.

Moreover, any theory about â??the clash of civilizationsâ?? is
invariably naïve inasmuch as it oversimplifies differences between
peoples, cultures and religions. How ironic that religion promotes a
more â??liberalâ?? position than the â??realismâ??  of a political
scientist! The visit in November 2006 of Pope Benedict XVI to the
Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul was historical not only for
relations between the Eastern and Western Churches but also for
Christianity and Islam. The then newly-elected Pope continued a
tradition established by his predecessors, the late Popes Paul VI and
John Paul II, who both visited the Phanar in 1967 and in 1979, respectively.

We affectionately recall how Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras
(1886-1972), an extraordinary leader of profound vision and ecumenical
sensitivity, a tall man with piercing eyes, would resolve conflict by
inviting the embattled parties to meet, saying to them: â??Come, let
us look one another in the eyes.â?? This means that we must listen
more carefully, â??look one anotherâ?? more deeply â??in  the eyes.â??
As St. Nilus of Ancyra wrote: â??You are a world within the world;
look inside yourself and there you will see God in the whole of
creation.â?? Each of us comprises a living icon of the divine Creator.
And we are, furthermore, always ? whhether we know it or not ? closer
to one another in more ways than wwe are distant from one another;
closer than we might ever suspect or even imagine.

(iii) Opening up to Creation: The Way of the Earth

Speaking of icons when it comes to God and creation leads us to our
final point. For nowhere is the sense of openness more apparent than
in the beauty of Orthodox iconography and the wonder of Godâ??s
creation. In affirming sacred images, the Seventh Ecumenical Council
(Nicaea, 787) was not primarily concerned with religious art but with
the presence of God in the heart, in others and in creation. For icons
encourage us to seek the extraordinary in the ordinary, to be filled
with the same wonder of the Genesis account, when: â??God saw
everything that He made and indeed, it was very good.â?? (Gen.
1.30-31) The Greek word for â??goodnessâ?? is kalos, which  implies ?
both etymologically and symbolically ? a sense of â??calling.â? ? Icons
are invitations to riise beyond trivial concerns and menial
reductions. We must ask ourselves: Do we see beauty in others and in our  world?

The truth is that we refuse to behold Godâ??s Word in the oceans of
our planet, in the trees of our continents, and in the animals of our
earth. In so doing, we deny our own nature, which demands that we
stoop low enough to hear Godâ??s Word in creation. We fail to perceive
created nature as the extended Body of Christ. Eastern Christian
theologians always emphasized the cosmic proportions of divine
incarnation. For them, the entire world is a prologue to St. Johnâ??s
Gospel. And when the Church overlooks the broader, cosmic dimensions
of Godâ??s Word, it neglects its mission to implore God for the
transformation of the whole polluted cosmos. On Easter Sunday,
Orthodox Christians chant:

Now everything is filled with divine light: heaven and earth, and all
things beneath the earth. So let all creation rejoice.

The principal reason for our visit to the Unites States this month was
our hosting of an environmental symposium along the Mississippi River,
focusing on its impact on New Orleans; this journey was also a
personal pilgrimage after our original visit to New Orleans soon after
the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. The symposium was the eighth in
a series of international, inter-faith and inter-disciplinary
conferences, which gather scientists and theologians, politicians and
journalists, in an effort to raise awareness on regional ecological
issues that have a global impact on our world. After all, we are
convinced that recalling our minuteness in Godâ??s wide and wonderful
creation only underlines our central role in Godâ??s plan for the
salvation of the whole world.

> Conclusion:

Opening up to the heart; opening up to the other; and opening up to
creation. Our age demands no less than openness from all of us. We
hear it stated often that our world is in crisis. Yet, never before in
history have human beings had the opportunity to bring so many
positive changes to so many people simply through encounter and
dialogue. The interaction of human beings and ethnic groups is today
direct and immediate as a result of technological advances in the mass
media and means of travel. While it may be true that this is a time of
crisis, it must equally be underlined that there has also never been
greater tolerance for respective traditions, religious preferences and
cultural peculiarities.

The human heart, the other person, and the natural creation each
comprise profound icons of the living God. May you always remain open
to the heart, to others, and to creation. This is the only way to
discern the presence of God in our world.