This is to thank The Catholic Register for its excellent section on the Eastern Churches (March 10, 1997). 

          I fear, however, that our Roman Catholic brethren are being led astray when they are led to believe that a Patriarch of Constantinople can lift an anathema laid down by an Orthodox Council. No doubt, the Pope has the power to do this in his Church , but the Orthodox have no equivalent of the Pope. The Patriarch of Constantinople is merely first among equals and has no more authority than any other bishop in the Church. An anathema leveled by a Council, may only be lifted by another Council. 

          Of course, as Father Robert Barringer, the Superior General of the Congregation of St. Basil says: "The world needs the common witness of both of us", (Roman Catholics and Orthodox), but this common witness must be based on truth. Although, as Father Barringer says, "We have the best change in 1,500 years of developing unity," we must not dictate the time-table to the Holy Spirit. On the Western Easter, I heard a newscast which reported that "A common date of Easter by the year 2,000 was a "fait-accompli". 

          The present Patriarch of Constantinople may have papal pretensions for himself, but I trust that the Orthodox people will not long encourage him in this delusion. 

          St. Maximus the Confessor, (580-662), resisted the heretical pretensions of the Constantinopolitan Patriarch of his day: "When the Patriarch returns to Orthodoxy, I will return to the Patriarch, but though the whole world return to him, I alone will not." For this, his hand and his tongue were cut off. 

          The Orthodox people will also resist a premature union with Rome, regardless of Constantinople, unless such a union is grounded in truth. 

          Our Roman Catholic Brethren should be aware that Constantinople does not speak for the Orthodox people, but only for itself.
 

Sincerely,
	Father David Belden