VATICAN CITY, JUL 1, 2004 (VIS) - Made public yesterday afternoon was the Holy Father's speech of June 29 in which he addressed Bishop Makarios, auxiliary of the Greek-Orthodox archdiocese in Switzerland, and the rector and students of the Institute of Higher Studies of Orthodox Theology of the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Switzerland.
The Pope expressed his joy at the visit of the group to Rome on the Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles, in light of the relations maintained in recent years between the Orthodox Center and the Catholic Committee for cultural collaboration that is within the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
"I hope," John Paul II said, "that the spiritual aspect of your life and your gathering with the great tradition of faith nourished by the Church of the Apostles Peter and Paul allows you to discover once again everything that we share in our millennium-long effort to proclaim the Gospel of Christ."
The Holy Father emphasized that the Institute's "first 'study and information visit'" has coincided "with the fortieth anniversary of the historical embrace of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I in Jerusalem. I thank God for this marvelous witness of fraternity offered to the Church and I encourage you to work so that the commitment established in the land of Our Lord may become a responsibility for everyone."
Since the Institute was founded in 1997, seventy-one students from ten Orthodox Churches have studied there, half of whom have received a certificate in specialization in Orthodox theology. In the past, the Catholic Committee for cultural collaboration has given scholarships to students to study French. These students provide an important service to the Churches and to the ecumenical dialogue of the Orthodox Church with other Christian Churches.
AC/INSTITUTE ORTHODOX THEOLOGY/MAKARIOS VIS 20040701 (300)
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