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Published by The National Herald, November 12, 2004

The Return of our Saints to their Home

By Theodore Kalmoukos

Reports that the Pope has decided to return the relics of Saints John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian to the Greek Orthodox Church were very welcome news.

After all, those two great Saints belong to the Ecumenical Patriarchate because they were Archbishops of Constantinople. St. Gregory served as Archbishop of Constantinople from 379 to 381 AD and St. John served from 398 to 404.

Given the number and the context of various communiqués I received since breaking the story in our previous issue, I gather that it was not a widely known fact that the holy relics of these two sacred repositories of God’s divine grace were kept for 800 years in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome. They were taken – stolen, actually, would be more accurate – after the sacking of Constantinople by Latin crusaders during the Fourth Crusade by the Roman Catholic Church in 1204.

It was a courageous act on behalf of His All Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to raise the issue to the Papacy during his June visit to the Vatican on the feast day of the Apostles Peter & Paul. Moreover, persuading the Pope to decide in favor of returning the relics to Constantinople is, indisputably, a tremendous achievement and should be credited to Bartholomew’s Patriarchy.

Those who understand the stubborn mentality of the Vatican can certainly appreciate the degree of leniency and goodwill demonstrated by the Pope in honoring the Patriarchal request.

One could argue that the relics of the two Saints were stolen, and thus, they belong the Orthodox Church. I do not think there is any one who can objectively dispute this plain and simple truth, but the fact remains that, for 800 years, the Saints have arguably been held "captive" in Rome.

It is therefore a significantly hopeful sign that, in contrast to his predecessors, Pope John Paul II seems to be considerably more cognizant of the magnitude of the catastrophe that the crusaders inflicted on the Great City of Constantinople and its sacred possessions and places.

That is the main reason this Pope has dared, time and again, to ask for forgiveness on behalf of the Roman Church. He realizes the extent of the crusaders’ murderous behavior against their Eastern Christian brethren.

It is not at all my intention to promote any kind of animosity toward the Roman Catholic Church and its communicants. I am referring to historical matters, and while history is certainly subject to interpretation, it can not easily be erased. It can be distorted by revisionists and their textbooks, of course, but so long as responsible scholars and historians retain their memories, what actually transpired can not be denied.

In any case, the Patriarch therefore deserves to be praised for his decision to travel to Rome in person on November 26 to personally retrieve the precious relics of his predecessors.

Bartholomew is the 270th successor of St. Andrew, the First-Called Apostle of Christ and founder of the Church of Byzantium, the first Bishop of that Church, which went onto become the First Throne of the Orthodox Church on Earth. The fact that the Patriarch is the bearer of such rich history and ecclesiastical succession is something that the human mind can not easily apprehend.

Just imagine, for a moment, the deep route of history and all that has transpired during the passing of centuries. Just try to think that the holy relics, which are about to be returned to Constantinople, belong to the authors of the Divine Liturgy and Holy Week services which we continue to celebrate today after 17 centuries.

It is the Liturgy which makes the gathering of the faithful a genuinely Eucharistic and Doxological Community, an Ecclesia par excellence. Ecclesia is not simply an edifice, neither is it an administration, nor a series of programs. Ecclesia is a mystic supper, the Paschal Supper of Christ, to which we are called to partake not in a theoretical way, but in a very real way by communing with the Body and Blood of Christ in substance.

The relics of the holy Patriarchs John Chrysostom and Gregory the Theologian will soon return where they belong, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the primary see of the Orthodox Church.

For those who appreciate Orthodox history and ecclesiology, the Ecumenical Patriarchate is, and always has been, the center of Orthodox unity, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
If we study history, we should realize how wrong the dismantling of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was with the establishments of various Autocephalous and Autonomous Churches around the world.

I do not intend to ignore the historic and geopolitical circumstances in which have impacted the Patriarchate within the fabric of space and time.

But we do not have the ability or knowledge to fully appreciate the immense value of the Church of Constantinople and the role She has played in Christianity’s 2,000-year history, particularly Her role in the cultivation and propagation of Orthodoxy.

Thus, it is indeed most prudent that the Patriarch has invited representatives from all the world’s Orthodox Churches to welcome the two great Saints home. Their participation will be a visible sign of unity in the Pan-Orthodox Church.



Volume 6 Number 46 - Tuesday, November 16th, 2004	A Publication of the ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN LAITY