Nostra Aetate - In Our Time

21 our Excellency Apostolic Nuncio, Your Excellencies, Excellency Ambassador, members of the Diplomatic Corps, dear distinguished religious leaders, ladies and gentlemen. I would like to echo what has already been said about the events that we have lived through over the past few days in Paris. Yesterday the usually busy airport was almost empty and there was a palpable fear hanging over what is normally a lively city. These are attacks on civilisation by people who have no civilisation, attacks in the name of religion by people who have no religion. This thought urges us to contemplate the tragedy and to strengthen our hope in dialogue, civilisation and love. Today we have come together to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate . Listening to His Eminence the Cardinal earlier, I thought that this is an opportunity for love between nations, and that the removal of all racial and other discrimination is something very important to contribute to interreligious collaboration. And thereby to nations and to the triumph of good, freedom, and peace in the world, and for the well-being of contemporary people, independent of their religious traditions. It is understood that this cooperation excludes all syncretism as well as any attempt on the part of any reli- gion to impose itself on the others. For instance, in the various and diverse Orthodox Churches both Eastern and Oriental, there has been a long history of peaceful coexistence between Orthodox and other religions. As Orthodox Christians we strongly believe that other religions should not be simply rejected as wrong, but con- sidered in the perspective of their relation to the Logos Himself. As the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew once declared: “We should keep in mind that dialogue is more unbiased than debate, more honest than polite conversation, and more agreeable than discussion.” We have to come to this view, not simply through an abstract theological, or even philosophical reflection, but rather through our long experience living next to or amongst people of different religions. In this way we can learn to approach other religions, not simply with an abstract or theoretical view, but from the point of view of their spirituality. We, as religious leaders, have the mission through our intensive cooperation to promote, at a national and international level, the human dignity that we consider to be the very image of God. I would like to conclude this modest address to you by quoting the first lines of Nostra Aetate that we commem- orate today: “In our time when, day by day mankind is being drawn closer together and the ties between differ- ent peoples are becoming stronger, the Church examines more closely the relationship to non-Christian religions. In the task of promoting unity and love among people, and indeed among nations, we have to consider above all in this declaration what men have in common and what draws them to fellowship.” Thank you. Y ECUMENICAL PERSPECT I VES OF NOSTRA AETATE Above: His Eminence Metropolitan Emmanuel speaking at the European Media Forum on the universal human rights of freedom of religion and freedom of expression, 2015 Pictured top: high level Christian and Muslim leaders from the Middle East meeting to endorse the Athens Declaration, 2015