Pope John Paul II Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ==== Eastern Orthodox Church ==== {{Main|Pope John Paul II's relations with the Eastern Orthodox Church}} In May 1999, John Paul II visited Romania on the invitation from Patriarch [[Teoctist Arăpaşu]] of the [[Romanian Orthodox Church]]. This was the first time a pope had visited a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the [[East–West Schism|Great Schism]] in 1054.<ref name="Teoctist" /> On his arrival, the Patriarch and the [[President of Romania]], [[Emil Constantinescu]], greeted the pope.<ref name="Teoctist" /> The Patriarch stated, "The second millennium of Christian history began with a painful wounding of the unity of the Church; the end of this millennium has seen a real commitment to restoring Christian unity."<ref name="Teoctist" /> On 23–27 June 2001, John Paul II visited Ukraine, another heavily Orthodox nation, at the invitation of the [[President of Ukraine]] and bishops of the [[Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church]].<ref name="Ukraine" /> The Pope spoke to leaders of the All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations, pleading for "open, tolerant and honest dialogue".<ref name="Ukraine" /> About 200 thousand people attended the liturgies celebrated by the Pope in [[Kyiv]], and the liturgy in [[Lviv]] gathered nearly one and a half million faithful.<ref name="Ukraine" /> John Paul II said that an end to the Great Schism was one of his fondest wishes.<ref name="Ukraine" /> Healing divisions between the Catholic and [[Eastern Orthodox Churches]] regarding Latin and [[Byzantine]] traditions was clearly of great personal interest. For many years, John Paul II sought to facilitate dialogue and unity stating as early as 1988 in ''Euntes in mundum'', "Europe has two lungs, it will never breathe easily until it uses both of them."{{cn|date=October 2022}} During his 2001 travels, John Paul II became the first pope to visit Greece in 1291 years.<ref name="Macedonian" /><ref name="Associated" /> In [[Athens]], the pope met with [[Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens|Archbishop Christodoulos]], the head of the [[Church of Greece]].<ref name="Macedonian" /> After a private 30-minute meeting, the two spoke publicly. Christodoulos read a list of "13 offences" of the Catholic Church against the Eastern Orthodox Church since the Great Schism,<ref name="Macedonian" /> including the pillaging of [[Siege of Constantinople (1204)|Constantinople by crusaders]] in 1204, and bemoaned the lack of apology from the Catholic Church, saying "Until now, there has not been heard a single request for pardon" for the "maniacal crusaders of the 13th century".<ref name="Macedonian" /> The pope responded by saying "For the occasions past and present, when sons and daughters of the Catholic Church have sinned by action or omission against their Orthodox brothers and sisters, may the Lord grant us forgiveness", to which Christodoulos immediately applauded. John Paul II said that the sacking of Constantinople was a source of "profound regret" for Catholics.<ref name="Macedonian" /> Later John Paul II and Christodoulos met on a spot where [[Paul of Tarsus]] had once preached to Athenian Christians. They issued a common declaration saying, "We shall do everything in our power, so that the Christian roots of Europe and its Christian soul may be preserved.... We condemn all recourse to violence, [[proselytism]] and [[fanaticism]], in the name of religion."<ref name="Macedonian" /> The two leaders then said the [[Lord's Prayer]] together, breaking an Orthodox taboo against praying with Catholics.<ref name="Macedonian" /> The pope had said throughout his pontificate that one of his greatest dreams was to visit Russia,<ref>{{cite news |title=The Distance Between the First and Third Rome |url=https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/the-distance-between-the-first-and-third-rome?barrier=accesspaylog |work=[[Project Syndicate]] |date=12 January 2001}}</ref> but this never occurred. He attempted to solve the problems that had arisen over centuries between the Catholic and [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] churches, and in 2004 gave them a 1730 copy of the lost icon of [[Our Lady of Kazan]].{{cn|date=October 2022}} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page