Author: Maria Antoniadou
April 7, 2011
THE ROMANIAN DANIEL THREATENS BARTHOLOMEW Concerned Greek-speaking patriarchs and archbishops are nervously following the Patriarch of Romania who is pursuing new “spheres of influence”. A new “threat” is now appearing in Orthodoxy. Source: unofficial translation of an article found at http://www.romfea.gr
This is about a dynamic and assertive appearance made by the Patriarch of Romania +Daniel who, by his attitude, is “threatening” the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, torpedoing his efforts to convene a Sacred Holy Synod, the first since the Schism between the Churches of East and West in 1054.
He is concurrently trying to gain new spheres of influence “attacking” the Holy Land and “threatening” the spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Jerusalem +Theophilus. + Daniel seems to have prepared for years for the emergence of the Romanian Orthodox Church as a sovereign power. Meaningful are reports such as that of U.S. Ambassador L. F. Taubman in Bucharest, which in a telegram broadcast by WikiLeaks said: “After decades of Patriarch Teoctist rule, there is a new breeze in the Romanian Church”. As indeed he adds, “Patriarch Daniel has extensive experience, speaks fluent English and other languages, and is fully aware of the power and influence of the Church in shaping public opinion”. The meeting of the Primate of the Romanian Church with the American ambassador in 2007, was held only a short time after his election, and the main theme of the meeting was to address prostitution and trafficking in firearms.
Since then three years have passed and the main force 20 million faithful, the 14,500 priests, about 9,000 students of theological schools, seminaries and church schools, and above all, hundreds of monks and nuns, the Patriarch of Romania, + Daniel is the new large and strong power of the Orthodox, who is coming to threaten the rights and jurisdictions of the Greek-speaking Primates, especially the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the Patriarch of Jerusalem, +Theophilus. The first ostentatious demonstration and de facto concern for Greek-speaking Primates of the strength and the demands made by the Romanian Church were in late February in Geneva, where representatives of the Orthodox Churches were discussing how to grant Autocephaly in attempting to prepare for the Sacred Holy Synod, which will be the first meeting of Orthodox after the Schism. All representatives of the Greek-speaking churches, notably the Church of Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Cyprus and Athens were ready to face the possible arguments to be made by Slavophones and led by Orthodox Russia.
But suddenly “new lightning” flashed and a friend became a foe. It was the representative of the Romanian Orthodox Church, a lay person, a lecturer in canon law, who, according to Greek clergy, charted his own way forward. For the first time, the Romanian Orthodox Church appeared not to accept the special privileges of the Ecumenical Patriarch. So, he refused to accept the proposal of Metropolitan John of Pergamon, who proposed that whenever Autocephaly is granted to an Orthodox Church, the first to sign would be the current head of the Church of Constantinople who would sign followed by:”approves” while the other Primates would sign followed by: “together approve”.
The first skirmishes between the Greeks and Romanians were made in southern Italy on the occasion of the Monastery of St. John the Harvester and, according to Italian press, even required the intervention of the Carabinieri in order to avoid conflict. The monastery, however, after the intervention of the local area government administration, went to the administration of the Romanian Orthodox Church, despite the appeals of the Greeks to take into consideration their longstanding presence in the region. Today, Italy, Spain and Portugal are the three Western European countries where thousands of Romanian economic migrants now live, those who left Romania after the fall of the Ceausescu regime. The metropolitans and bishops who are appointed by the Romanian Orthodox Church in these countries are often impetuous and assertive, which often results in conflicts with the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who have the role of coordinators among the orthodox.
“The battle is tough and we might see that the Romanian bishop will meet the king and queen of Spain on his own, while the local bishop representing the Ecumenical Patriarchate will learn of this from press releases” said a Metropolitan from Central Europe to the “Vima” newspaper. Everything depends, he adds, “on the ability and power of each bishop of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to avoid the ‘pitfalls’ ” …
The “City of discord”, Jericho, the oldest city of the Holy Land, known worldwide through the Old Testament, is now the “City of discord” between the Patriarchates of Jerusalem and Romania. The reason for the controversy that has erupted between the two churches is the local church built by the Romanian Orthodox Church, the church where services are held, even though that area is part of the spiritual jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Jerusalem. The church began to be built about ten years ago and, as stated in the Patriarch of Jerusalem’s letter, “The objections and the protests of our Patriarchate could not stop the construction of this church”.
According to +Theophilus, “If other Orthodox Churches would follow the example of the Romanian Orthodox Church, then we would have permanent delegations of 13 Autocephalous Orthodox Churches in the Holy Land, which become an arbitrary polyphony of orthodox pluralism and overlapping duplications, very difficult to lead administratively…” So far, and as Patriarch +Theofilos declared to +Daniel, “the Patriarchate of Jerusalem has faced this uncanonical situation planted in her bosom, with deep regret and with much tolerance and moderation, limiting itself to suspending the Romanian Church’s prime representative, Archimandrite Fr. Ieronymon Cretu, from taking communion, and this without defrocking him or even stopping the elevation of the Romanian Church in the dyptichs as it had every right to do.” However, if the Church of Romania does not comply, Jerusalem threatens to interrupt the commemoration of +Daniel, as was done in mid-2000 by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in reference to the late Archbishop Christodoulos, responding to the case of the so-called New Territories.