Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos

Pope Benedict’s message to Albanian Orthodox

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From Zenit:

Christ’s Saving Message Has Borne Fruit in Your Country

VATICAN CITY, DEC. 4, 2009 — Here is the address Benedict XVI delivered today upon receiving in audience Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana, Durres and All Albania, who is the head of the Orthodox Autocephalous Church of Albania.

* * *

Your Beatitude,

Abp. Anastasios

“Grace to you and peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess 1:2). I am pleased to extend a fraternal welcome to Your Beatitude and to the other distinguished representatives of the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania accompanying you today. I recall with gratitude, in spite of the sad circumstances, our meeting at the funeral of the late Pope John Paul II. I also remember with satisfaction how my same venerable Predecessor had the occasion to greet you in Tirana during his Apostolic Visit to Albania.

As is well known, Illyricum received the Gospel in Apostolic times (cf. Acts 17:1; Rom 15:19). Since then, Christ’s saving message has borne fruit in your country down to our own day. As the very earliest writings of your culture bear witness, through the survival of an ancient Latin baptismal formula along with a Byzantine hymn about the Lord’s Resurrection, the faith of our Christian forefathers left wonderful and indelible traces in the first lines of the history, literature and arts of your people. Continue reading →

Orthodox Hierarchs Gather for Unity Conference

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No, not that kind.

The Conference of European Churches, an ecumenical organization, is preparing for an assembly in Lyon, France, July 15-21. The theme for the gathering is “Called to One Hope in Christ,” and attending, the CEC says, are Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, Archbishop Anastasios of the Orthodox Church of Albania (also delivering the opening sermon), and Patriarch Daniel from the Romanian Orthodox Church.

According to the CEC press office, “each Assembly day will have a different focus: – Thursday 16 will be the “Hope” day, with reflections on the Assembly theme; – Friday 17 July will be the “Vision” day, looking forward to the future of the ecumenical movement in Europe,” etc.

Zeibekiko? No, ecumenical dancing at CEC

Hasapiko? No, ecumenical dancing at CEC

The Russian Orthodox Church suspended its membership in the CEC late last year over a dispute involving the status of the Estonian Orthodox Church. I can’t find any indication that they’re back in. Given the statements of warming relations between Moscow and Constantinople recently, we may see less of these sorts of squabbles:

… during the recent CEC Central Committee meeting, the CEC President, Rev. Jean-Arnold de Clermont, with the support of the Patriarchate of Constantinople representatives made repeated attempts to defer discussion on the CEC membership application from the Estonian Orthodox Church. It was argued that the status of Orthodox jurisdictions in Estonia was not settled between the Patriarchates of Moscow and Constantinople. This issue however does not have anything to do with discussion on the Estonian Orthodox Church’s application for CEC membership since the only criteria for refusal to admit a Church is her failure to conform to the membership criteria. The desire to reach consensus among all the CEC member churches was given as another reason for deferring the consideration. However, this demand for consensus was not set forth in considering the EAOC’s application and the Russian Orthodox delegation had to abstain in the vote because the EAOC leaders had ventured upon unfriendly statements and actions against the Estonian Orthodox Church.

More than two dozen church members, clergy and laity, gathered in Ierapetra, on the island of Crete, for the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Consultation for the XIII Assembly of CEC (April 27-30). The Russians did not attend. The document that came out of this meeting, “The Orthodox on the way to Lyon — Called to One Hope in Christ” included this statement:

… all Christians are called to the One Hope in Christ as the way of love, forgiveness and reconciliation. As Europe today experiences a deep crisis of Faith and passes through the “desert of secularization”, the duty of European Christian Churches in the light of Christ’s hope is to engage in a deep dialogue and closer cooperation among themselves and with all peoples of this continent.

Yes, indeed.

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Using ‘Human Rights’ to Squelch Free Speech

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In the June issue of Reason Magazine, Ezra Levant details his long and unnecessary struggle with Canadian human rights watchdogs over charges that he insulted a Muslim extremist, who claimed to be a direct descendant of the Prophet Muhammad. This sorry episode also cost Levant, the former publisher of Canada’s Western Standard magazine, about $100,000. Read “The Internet Saved My Life: How I beat Canada’s ‘human rights’ censors.” (HT: RealClearPolitics). Levant sums it up this way:

The investigation vividly illustrated how Canada’s provincial and national human rights commissions (HRCs), created in the 1970s to police discrimination in employment, housing, and the provision of goods and services, have been hijacked as weapons against speech that offends members of minority groups. My eventual victory over this censorious assault suggests that Western governments will find it increasingly difficult in the age of the Internet to continue undermining human rights in the name of defending them.

In a review of “Facing the World: Orthodox Christian Essays on Global Concerns” by Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos (St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2003), I talked about the archbishop’s critique of human rights laws and how they should be properly understood by Christians.

In the essay “Orthodoxy and Human Rights,” Anastasios takes a critical view of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, and the later development of these declarations into exhaustive lists of economic, social, and political rights. Anastasios makes an important distinction between rights declarations, and their enforcement through legal and political forms of coercion, and Christianity’s preferred method of persuasion and faith. “Declarations basically stress outward compliance,” he says, “while the gospel insists on inner acceptance, on spiritual rebirth, and on transformation.”

Anastasios reminds us of Christianity’s contribution to the development of political liberty. “Human rights documents,” he says, “presuppose the Christian legacy, which is not only a system of thought and a worldview that took shape through the contributions of the Christian and Greek spirit, but also a tradition of self-criticism and repentance.” Those words should be hung from banners everywhere new constitutions and declarations are being drafted. Continue reading →

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