Friday, October 22, 2010

Met. Georges Khodr at the Catholic Synod for the Middle East

Met. Georges Khodr is the official observer for the Patriarchate of Antioch at the Catholic Synod of Bishops for the Middle East. This is the summary of his intervention that was published on the Vatican website. English version from here.

- H. Em. Georges KHODRE, Greek-Orthodox Metropolitan of Byblos, Botrys and Mount Lebanon (LEBANON)

“This communion within the Universal Church is manifested in two ways: firstly, communion in the Eucharist; secondly, communion with the Bishop of Rome”.
The ambiguity of this statement rotates around the use of the term Catholic Church as well as the tie of the Eucharist with the Pope. Now, the expression begins with Saint Ignatius of Antioch, and designates communion in a local Church united in Orthodox faith to his bishop in such a way that the liturgy mentions him without referring to another ecclesial authority. The mention of the Bishop of Rome in the liturgy outside of one’s own diocese introduces the idea of a universal Church mentioned in the Instrumentum laboris and repeated in the inaugural Mass of this synod. The word introduces a numeric, spacial, sociological note while the Catholic Church is constituted herself first locally by Lord as His Body. Does not the Universal Church have as her corollary the existence of a universal bishop who would exercise a jurisdiction over a world independently of the Eucharist, the only sign of communion between Christians? It is the Eucharist that makes us everywhere a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation”.
In mentioning the Pope of Rome in the Eastern liturgies we are inviting the Churches to a practice the East has never known.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

In an Orthodox celebration, the name of the Patriarch is never mentioned?

Philippe

Samn! said...

Philippe,

The commemoration rules for non-hierarchical liturgies vary a little bit between each Orthodox church. But, I think that Met. Georges' point is more that the Pope is not traditionally seen kind of super-patriarch over the other patriarchs, but rather one patriarch among the others (yes, this is problematic from a Catholic perspective...), and so traditionally should be commemorated at a patriarchal liturgy as the first on the diptychs, but would not be commemorated at other liturgies. At least, this would be the way it would work in the Orthodox system....

ag_vn said...

Videos of Met. Georges Khodr at the Synod

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MixP2__Y9o

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDT_Neyvs5U