In a joint declaration signed on Friday, Pope John Paul II and Catholicos Karekin II of the Armenian Apostolic Church acknowledge each other’s religious traditions, saying that their doctrines are “complimentary rather than in opposition.”
The joint statement also points toward the prospects for another meeting of the two religious leaders, to be held in Armenia.
During an ecumenical ceremony on Saturday, the Catholicos will
speak of the “great hope” that Pope John Paul will visit his
country next year, and the “impatience” of the Armenian people to
see the Pontiff.
The Pope and the Armenian Church leader “together confess” their faith in God, in Jesus Christ, and in “one, holy, catholic, and
apostolic Church.” They explicitly recognize the validity of each
other’s sacraments, and promise to intensify their search for
closer communion, noting that each Church has a great deal to offer the other.
Pope John Paul spoke of the “communion that already exists” between the two churches– which have been drawing steadily closer since Vatican II. But he looked forward to the day when “full communion” is restored. Each day, he observed, “our Eucharistic celebrations suffer by the absence of the brother who is not there.” He mentioned that his own ministry as Bishop of Rome involves serving as the focus of unity among Christians, and said that he hopes “to exercise that ministry more and more as a service of love.”
The statement also contains a call for peace in the Middle East. The two leaders note that the Armenian community is heavily
represented in the Holy Land. And Karekin II offered his thanks to
Pope John Paul for having paid his respects to the Armenian
Patriarch Torkom II Manoogian in Jerusalem during his March visit
there. The ecumenical ties between the Catholic and Armenian
Apostolic churches will be readily seen on Saturday, when the Pope and the Catholicos together preside at a solemn ceremony in St. Peter’s Basilica. During that ceremony the Pope will transfer
custody of the relics of St. Gregory the Illuminator to the
Armenian Church. Those relics, which have been kept in the Naples cathedral for years, will be brought into St. Peter’s by Naples’ Cardinal Michele Giordano in a formal procession; they will
eventually be preserved in the new Armenian cathedral in Erevan.
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