“All togheter”: mission, the end and means of the ecumenical journey
The meeting between the Pope and the Syro-Malankaran Church Mar Thoma closed with a proposal for an ecumenical synod on evangelization
What is mission? For Pope Francis, who on Nov. 11, met at the Vatican with members of the Holy Synod of the Syro-Malankara Mar Thoma Church, “it is not only the end of the ecumenical journey, it is also its means.”
A statement that, in the face of one of the church communities whose origins date back to the missionary work of St. Thomas the Apostle, takes on special significance.
As Fides Agency points out, in fact, it is “a historic meeting today” because for the first time “the Holy Synod of the Syro-Malankaran Church Mar Thoma is visiting the Church of Rome to exchange the embrace of peace with its Bishop.”
Ecumenism, then, is not preached but done. It is not only the ultimate goal toward which to strive, but also the tool through which to forge alliances and give life to common paths. So that together we can grow and also bear witness to the whole world of a merciful closeness, on the basis of respect, dialogue, and confrontation.
Ultimately, to use the Pope’s words at the end of the meeting, we must “walk all togheter so that the world may believe“, in the certainty that “the Mar Thoma Church, which carries within itself this missionary dimension, can offer much”.
The same concept was expressed last week on the occasion of the visit of Assyrian Patriarch Mar Awa III: that “desire for unity” (which St. John Cassian called desiderium unitatis) must become the aspiration and inspiration of all, and especially of divided Christians.
For them, witnessing together to Jesus may prove to be “the best way to draw closer”.
Keeping in mind the theology of the Orthodox Metropolitan of Pergamum Ioannis Zizioulas – who, until his death in February 2023, contributed strongly to the attempt to find in the sacrament of the Eucharist a point of consensus between Orthodox and Catholics on the role of the Bishop of Rome – Pope Francis appealed for a “path of ecumenical synodality.”
The meeting concluded, then, with a revival of the proposal for an ecumenical synod on evangelization “to ensure, pray, reflect and commit together for a better Christian witness.”
Source:
- Fides News Agency 11/11/2024
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