Orthodox dispute in Romania

Saturday, 14 June 2008 12:52

The Romanian Catholic Church, an Eastern rite, has defended an Orthodox archbishop who faces sanctions for receiving Communion at an Eastern Catholic Divine Liturgy.

"This man of humanism, dignity and dialogue has helped create excellent Catholic-Orthodox ties in our region," said Bishop Alexandru Mesian of Lugoj, Romania. "He wishes to be in communion with other Christians and we've welcomed his unprecedented, progressive gesture with great joy. We are sad he's now being attacked with such ferocity for it."

Bishop Mesian said Orthodox laypeople regularly go to confession and receive Communion at Eastern Catholic churches in Romania.

Orthodox Metropolitan Nicolae Corneanu of Banat, a region of Eastern Europe partly in Romania, will appear before Romanian Orthodox leaders in July to explain why he received Communion during the dedication of an Eastern Catholic church in late May.

Father Constantin Stoica, spokesman for the Orthodox church's Bucharest Patriarchate in Romania, said Metropolitan Corneanu's action would be "analysed and dealt with" when his church's governing synod meets from July 8-9.

"We hope we'll be able to take the final step of communion together once our theological dialogue has improved and we've achieved unity," Father Stoica said. "For now, though, Catholics and Orthodox are not prepared for this. Such a decision must be taken by the whole church, not by individuals."

Ties have long been tense been Romanian Catholics and Orthodox over the Orthodox church's refusals to return Catholic churches which were taken away during Communism.

Bishop Mesian said that Metropolitan Corneanu had been the only Orthodox leader to return Catholic properties in his Banat Archdiocese, and had been criticised by his church previously for relations with Catholics.

In a June 3 statement, the Archdiocese of Fagaras and Alba Iulia, Romania, said it respected "the freedom of Orthodox brethren to attend" the Catholic liturgy and viewed the incident as a private "response to the Holy Spirit."

However, Metropolitan Corneanu's action, which was reported extensively in Romanian newspapers, was criticised in a May 31 Orthodox patriarchate statement, which said Catholic-Orthodox dialogue was "very fragile," and "cannot be assisted, but rather complicated, by gestures considered prophetic or problematic."

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