DAY OF SAINT ANDREW: PATRIARCH BARTHOLOMEW’S ADDRESS TO THE VATICAN DELEGATION (2)

Bartholomew reminded the delegation that it was Patriarch Atenagoras and Pope Paul VI who had begun, for the very first time, to exchange delegations on the occasion of the days of the respective Patron Saints. In promoting this initiative – recalls Bartholomew –, the Patriarch and the Pope were moved by the "deep wish" for the two Churches, "separated for one whole millennium", to be able to live "a period of dialogue in love and truth". The "same deep wish" still moves "the bilateral dialogue" between Rome and Constantinople, and "we – says Bartholomew I – rejoice for its continuation and progress". "On one side, the dialogue of love purges our relations of any proselytism and action that contradicts the spirit of mutual respect and love; while on the other side the dialogue of truth, which the international joint commission is committed to, continues its difficult, tiresome task". The ultimate purpose of this dialogue is "the full restoration of complete unity" between the two Churches. "To this – concludes Bartholomew – we are called, not only "by respect for the sacred memory" of the apostles Peter and Andrew, "but also by our responsibilities for the contemporary world, which is upset by a variety of conflicts and urgently needs the message of reconciliation".