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Significance of Benedict XVI’s Trip to Turkey

ZENIT News Agency, The World Seen from Rome
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Significance of Benedict XVI’s Trip to Turkey
Presented by Archbishop Marini, Master of Papal Liturgical Celebrations

VATICAN CITY, NOV. 26, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is the Introduction to
the missal that Benedict XVI will follow during his apostolic journey to
Turkey, this coming Tuesday to Friday. It was prepared by Archbishop
Piero Marini, master of the liturgical celebrations of the Supreme
Pontiff.

* * *

PRESENTATION

1. The Significance of the Apostolic Journey

In the footsteps of his predecessors Paul VI and John Paul II, His
Holiness Pope Benedict XVI has chosen to honor the land of Turkey with one
of the first Apostolic Journeys of his Pontificate. Turkey is spread
over a vast region which, not without reason, has been called “the Holy
Land of the Church”. It was there that the Christian community,
particularly in the great centers of Antioch and Ephesus, became conscious of
her identity and consolidated her growth. There the Church opened out to
the ancient world in a process of inculturation and adaptation which
made her truly “catholic”, open to all cultural expressions. Furthermore,
this land was the starting-point for the first evangelization of both
the Far East and the Slav peoples.

It was not by chance that most of the writings that make up the New
Testament originated in this land or were addressed to its Christian
communities. Two of those biblical authors, Paul of Tarsus and Luke of
Antioch, are among the first witnesses to a Church that in the course of the
centuries saw a rich flowering of outstanding figures who left their
mark on the whole of Christianity. We need but recall the Cappadocian
Fathers, and those of Antioch and the Syria, to say nothing of the ranks
of martyrs and ascetics whom even today the liturgy offers us as models
of Christian life.

The journey of the Bishop of Rome to Turkey takes place between two
significant dates that recall those illustrious witnesses of the faith:
the seventeenth centenary of the birth of Ephrem the Syrian (306) and the
eighteenth centenary of the death of John Chrysostom (407).

Both are splendid rays of that “light from the East” which the Holy
Father John Paul II, in his Apostolic Letter “Orientale Lumen” (1994),
wished to reaffirm, so that the universal Church would treasure the rich
witness, wisdom and spirituality of the Christian East and would look
back with nostalgia to the first Christian millennium, when the Church
lived in unity.

In a pluralistic age like our own, the manifold riches of the various
religious traditions, past and present, found in the land of Turkey bear
witness to the fact that pluralism in liturgical and spiritual
expressions, and unity of faith in Christ the Lord, can be combined
harmoniously. The Holy Father has rightly spoken of dialogue as a “polyphony of
cultures”.

This principle is true for the various Christian confessions, but it is
also applicable to the dialogue between Christians and the followers of
Islam. Shadows from the past cannot obscure the light radiating from
the daily “dialogue of life”, the “dialogue of charity” and the “dialogue
of religious experiences” which has marked relations here between
Christians and Muslims.

The journey of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey is a part of this history,
and must be understood in the light of that history. It is a pastoral
journey, an ecumenical journey and a journey of dialogue with the Islamic
world.

1. A pastoral journey

The Catholic Church in Turkey, with its various ritual expressions
(Latin, Armenian Catholic, Syrian Catholic, Chaldean) is a small minority
in a prevalently Sunni Muslim world. Like the Apostle Peter who, wrote a
letter (1 Peter) from Rome to the Christian communities in diaspora in
present-day Turkey, his Successor now speaks to those same communities,
not only in words but also by his presence. Saint Peter urged the
Christians there “to account for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15). In
our own times, which have seen the rise and spread of forms of religious
intolerance, Pope Benedict XVI, through the preaching of the word and
the celebration of the sacraments, comes to confirm the Catholic
community of Turkey in hope and in fidelity to Christ.

There are two celebrations of the Eucharist with the Catholic faithful
of Turkey. The first takes place at the national Marian shrine of
Meryen Aria Evi (the House of Mother Mary) in Ephesus, the city where the
Council of 431 proclaimed her divine maternity, but also where —
according to a pious tradition — Mary dwelt for some time with Saint John.
The shrine is a point of encounter and prayer for Christians and Muslims,
who acknowledge in Mary the ever-virgin mother of Jesus, the woman
chosen by God for the good of humanity.

The second Eucharistic celebration takes place on 1 December in
Istanbul, in the Cathedral Church of the Holy Spirit. Representatives of the
various Eastern Rite Catholic communities in Turkey will take part in
the Mass, which will be celebrated in the Latin rite; their presence will
be emphasized by a number of ritual expressions proper to each Rite.

2. An ecumenical journey

From the very beginning of his Petrine ministry, Pope Benedict XVI has
made commitment to ecumenism a priority of his Pontificate. As he
stated on 20 April 2005, in a homily delivered in the Sistine Chapel the day
after his election, “the present Successor of Peter feels personally
responsible in this regard, and is prepared to do everything in his power
to advance the fundamental cause of ecumenism. In the footsteps of his
predecessors, he is fully determined to encourage every initiative that
seems appropriate for promoting contacts and understanding with the
representatives of the different Churches and Ecclesial Communities”.

The Pope’s journey to Istanbul is to be seen against this background,
and finds a first significant moment in his meeting of prayer and
dialogue on 29 November with His Holiness Bartholomew I in the Patriarchal
Cathedral. At the end of the common prayer, the relics of Saint Gregory
the Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom will be venerated. The heart of
the visit to the Ecumenical Patriarch takes place on 30 November, the
liturgical memorial of the Apostle Andrew. The Holy Father’s
participation in the Divine Liturgy is followed by a brief common prayer and the
unveiling of a stone commemorating the last three Popes who visited the
Patriarchate, and concludes with the reading and signature of a Joint
Declaration by His Holiness and Patriarch Bartholomew I.

The ecumenical character of the journey of the Bishop of Rome to the
Sister Churches of Turkey is also emphasized by a visit that same day to
His Beatitude Patriarch Mesrob II Mutafyan at the Armenian Apostolic
Patriarchate.

The moment of personal encounter, common prayer and the unveiling of an
inscription in Armenian and Turkish commemorating the visits of Paul
VI, John Paul II and now Benedict XVI, is meant to signify the ties
linking the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Catholic Church.

In the same spirit of fraternal communion in Christ, the Holy Father
later that afternoon receives, in the Papal Representation in Istanbul,
the Syrian Orthodox Archbishop and several heads of Protestant
communities.

3. A journey under the banner of interreligious dialogue

It is significant that the Holy Father’s first journey to a
predominantly Muslim country begins in the very land from which Abraham, the
common patriarch of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, undertook his journey
of faith in God. It was from Harran, a village in present-day Turkey,
that he set out in a spirit of total dependence upon God, trusting solely
in the word that had been revealed to him.

The renewed memory of these common roots linking the three religions,
which the Holy Father wishes to evoke in his journey, is an invitation
to overcome the conflicts between Jews, Christians and Muslims that have
taken place over the centuries.

Here, we cannot fail to recall that during his nine year stay in
Turkey, the Apostolic Delegate Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, later Pope John
XXIII, came to recognize the urgent need for interreligious dialogue, which
found expression in the Declaration “Nostra Aetate” of the Second
Vatican Council, which he called as Pope.

Recently, Pope Benedict XVI referred to that Declaration as the Magna
Charta of the Catholic Church in her relations with the Islamic world
(cf. Address to the Diplomatic Corps, 25 September 2006).

The Holy Father’s journey to Turkey — in continuity with the thought
of Pope John Paul II — is meant to reaffirm the Catholic Church’s
conviction of the pressing need for interreligious dialogue. Turkey, an
officially secular state, which acts as a bridge between Europe and Asia
and is home to various religious traditions, is, as it were, a balcony
looking out on the Middle East, from which the values of interreligious
dialogue, tolerance, reciprocity and the secular character of the State
can be reaffirmed.

II. The liturgical book for the journey

The Office for the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff, as
is customary for papal journeys, has also prepared a liturgical book for
the Pope’s Apostolic Journey to Turkey.

The volume, intended especially for the Holy Father himself and the
concelebrants, contains the texts and the rubrics of the celebrations
planned for the journey.

1. Celebrations with the Catholic community

The Holy Father presides at three celebrations of the Eucharist:

— Wednesday, 29 November, at the Shrine of Meryem Ana Evi in Ephesus;

— Thursday, 30 November, at the Chapel of the Papal Representation in
Istanbul;

— Friday, 1 December, at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul.

The celebration at the Shrine of Meryem Ana Evi

The Eucharist is celebrated in an open place near the Shrine of Meryem
Ana Evi, and is marked by clear mariological and ecclesiological
themes.

The Mass is that of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The euchological texts and
the biblical readings stress the mystery of Mary’s maternity with
reference to her presence, with the Apostle John, beneath the Lord’s Cross.
Jesus’ words from the Cross: “Behold your son … Behold your Mother” (Jn
19:26-27), have been seen by the Church as a special testament, by
which Christ the Lord “entrusted to the Virgin Mary all his disciples to be
her children”, while at the same time entrusting his Mother to the
disciples.

In addition to Latin, the celebration uses Turkish, Italian, French,
English and German.

The celebration in the Chapel of the Papal Representation

The texts of the celebration are from the Feast of the Apostle Andrew.
The Mass is celebrated in Latin, while the readings are proclaimed in
the vernacular.

The staff of the Papal Representation will take part in the
celebration.

The celebration in the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit

The texts for the celebration in the Cathedral of Istanbul are drawn
from the Votive Mass of the Holy Spirit. The celebration has an explicit
pneumatological dimension, linked not only to the fact that the
Cathedral is dedicated to the Holy Spirit, but also to the particular nature
of the assembly taking part, which is made up of various groups of
different languages and rites, united in the same faith, by the same love
and by one Spirit.

The celebration, both in its use of these languages and certain ritual
sequences, is meant to express the diversity of the Catholic community.

The languages used are: Latin, Turkish, French, German, Syriac, Arabic
and Spanish.

A number of ritual sequences emphasize the presence of the various
Eastern rites: Armenian, Chaldean, Syrian. The Armenians will chant the
entrance song and the Sanctus; the Chaldeans will chant the responsorial
Psalm and the offertory song (in Aramaic); and the Syrians will chant
the Gospel in accordance with their own ritual usage.

2. The ecumenical celebrations

There are three ecumenical moments of prayer:

— Wednesday, 29 November: Prayer service in the Patriarchal Church of
Saint George in the Phanar:

— Thursday, 30 November: the Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom
in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the Phanar;

— Friday, 1 December: the Liturgy of the Word in the Armenian
Cathedral of Saint Mary.

The prayer service in the Patriarchal Church of Saint George in the
Phanar

The evening prayer service is made up of a brief Akolouthia composed
for the occasion, using various elements drawn from the different hours
and feasts of the offices of the Byzantine Church.

As the Pope and the Patriarch enter the Church, seven antiphons are
sung, five of which are taken from the Psalter and from texts of the
Byzantine night service for Sunday. The first antiphon, drawn from Psalm
88:16-17: “They shall walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance; in
your name shall they rejoice all the day, and in your righteousness
shall they be exalted”, contains a reference to the theme of light which
links the service to the evening hour when it is celebrated. The other
Psalm antiphons are invitations to praise the Lord in his glory. The
third and the sixth antiphons, drawn from the Sunday service, make explicit
reference to the Holy Spirit bestowed upon the Apostles: “The Holy
Spirit is the fount of all wisdom, for from him comes grace to the
Apostles… The Holy Spirit is the source of divine treasures, for from him comes
wisdom, awe and understanding…”.

The office opens with the initial blessing found in all the services of
the Byzantine tradition: “Blessed is our God, always, now and forever
and to the ages of ages”.

Six troparia chosen for the celebration are then chanted: the first is
from Pentecost, the day when the Lord, by sending the Holy Spirit, made
fishers men of wisdom for the salvation of the world. The second and
third troparia are from the feast of Saints Peter and Paul, Patrons of
the Church of Rome, and the feast of Saint Andrew, Patron of the Church
of Constantinople. The fourth troparion honors Saint Benedict. The fifth
is a “new” text, used first for the visit of His Holiness Pope Paul VI
to Istanbul in 1967: it sings the joy of the city of Constantinople in
receiving the one who presides over the Church of Rome and sits in the
Chair of Peter. The last of the troparia is the kontakion chanted in
the weeks prior to Christmas, which describes the joy of the world at
seeing the Virgin ready to give birth to the Eternal Word of God.

The third part of the office contains six verses of the doxology
concluded by the Trisagion. There then follows a litany with seven
intercessions and a final prayer, recited by the Patriarch. There are
intercessions for the Pope, for the Patriarch, for the Churches and for the whole
world.

A biblical reading follows, taken from the prophet Zechariah (8:7-17).
The voice of the prophet calls the peoples from East and West and
assembles them in Jerusalem.

The recitation of the Our Father follows the reading, introduced by the
customary invitatory from the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom: “Make
us worthy, Master, with confidence and without condemnation, to dare
call you, the heavenly God, Father, and to say…”. The chant of the Our
Father ends with the verse which ordinarily concludes the proclamation of
the Gospel: “Glory to you, O Lord, glory to you”.

This is followed by the veneration of the relics of Saint Gregory the
Theologian and Saint John Chrysostom. A portion of the relics of these
two sainted Fathers of the Church of Constantinople, preserved in the
Basilica of Saint Peter, were given by Pope John Paul II, of venerable
memory, to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in the course of a
moving celebration in the Vatican Basilica on 27 November 2004. During the
veneration of the relics, the choir chants two troparia, those of Saint
John Chrysostom and Saint Gregory the Theologian.

The Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom in the Patriarchal Church
of Saint George in the Phanar

The Byzantine Liturgy is common to all the Churches of the Byzantine
tradition, both Orthodox and Catholic: those of Greece, the Middle East,
Eastern Europe and southern Italy. The Byzantine Churches use three
anaphoras or Eucharistic prayers, also called simply “liturgies”: those of
Saint John Chrysostom — used almost daily; Saint Basil — used ten
times a year; and Saint James — used only once a year. The Byzantine
Divine Liturgy, like that of all the Eastern Churches, is celebrated facing
East. The priest and all the faithful look to the East, whence Christ
will come again in glory. The priest intercedes before the Lord for his
people; he walks at the head of the people towards the encounter with
the Lord. At different moments the priest turns to the people: for the
proclamation of the Gospel, for the dialogue preceding the anaphora, for
the communion with the holy gifts, and for all the blessings. These
symbolize moments in which the Lord himself comes forth to meet his
people.

The Byzantine Divine Liturgy has three parts: the preparation of the
priest and the gifts of bread and wine (prothesis); the liturgy of the
catechumens (liturgy of the word); and the liturgy of the faithful.

A. The preparation of the gifts has two parts. First, the preparation
of the priest, which includes the prayers and his clothing with the
sacred vestments. In the prayers the priest asks the Lord in his mercy to
make him worthy to offer the sacrifice, to intercede for the people, to
call down the Holy Spirit.

There follows the preparation of the gifts of bread and wine. Although
the rite of preparation is performed by the priest alone, the whole
Church, in heaven and in earth, is symbolically present.

B. The liturgy of the catechumens calls for the participation of the
catechumens, who are then dismissed after the proclamation of the Gospel.

The Divine Liturgy begins with an invocation of the Holy Trinity:
“Blessed be the kingdom of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…”.
Three litanies follow, a longer one and two shorter ones, which invoke the
Lord’s mercy upon the whole world and the entire Church. Mention is
made of the Church, her members and all those in need. These litanies
always include an invocation to the Mother of God, who intercedes for
everyone and for the Holy Church. After the second litany the christological
hymn, “Only-Begotten” is sung; this is an ancient liturgical hymn that
summarizes the principal dogmas of the Christian faith: the Trinity,
the Incarnation of the Word of God, the divine maternity of Mary, the
salvation that is bestowed on us by Christ’s passion, death and
resurrection. There follows the “Small Entrance”. In a solemn procession, the
priest and the deacon take the Gospel from the altar, show it to the
faithful and set it again on the altar, in order to indicate the beginning
of the proclamation of the word of God: originally this was the entrance
procession. Before the readings the Trisagion is chanted: “Holy God,
Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal…”. Two readings are then proclaimed from the
New Testament. The Gospel is usually followed by a homily.

C. The Liturgy of the Faithful. The third part of the Divine Liturgy is
the liturgy of the faithful, in which those who are baptized
participate fully. It begins with the “Great Entrance”, the procession with the
bread and wine towards the altar. The choir sings the hymn: “We who
mystically represent the Cherubim…”, another ancient liturgical text in
which the Church of heaven and earth is united in praise and thanksgiving
to God for his gifts. The priest incenses the altar, the church, the
gifts and the faithful, all of which are icons of Christ. He then
solemnly takes the paten and the chalice, and after asking the Lord to
remember all those who have been commemorated and the whole Church, he sets
them on the altar and covers them with the veil. The priest then recites
for himself and the whole Church the words of the Good Thief from his
cross: “Remember me, Lord, in your Kingdom…”. The gifts, a symbol of
Christ, the Lamb who was slain, are then placed on the altar, as if in the
tomb from which, after the consecration or sanctification, the
life-giving Body of Christ will be given to each of the faithful. After the
entrance, litanies are sung, the sign of peace is exchanged, and the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed is recited. There follows the anaphora of
Saint John Chrysostom, which has a structure similar to that of the other
anaphoras of the Eastern and Western liturgies: an initial Trinitarian
dialogue, Preface, Sanctus, anamnesis, institution narrative,
epiclesis, intercessions and conclusion.

This is followed by the Our Father, the breaking of the bread and
communion. Before communion the priest pours some boiling water (called the
“zéon”) into the chalice as a symbol of the outpouring and presence of
the Holy Spirit, as well as a sign of the life which comes from
communion in the living and life-giving Body and Blood of Christ himself.
Communion is received under both species.

The Divine Liturgy concludes with the final blessing.

The Liturgy of the Word in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral of Saint
Mary

The prayers and ritual sequences making up the prayer service have been
drawn from various elements of the Eucharistic celebration of the
Armenian Liturgy.

Before the entrance procession in the Cathedral, in accordance with the
Armenian national tradition, the Holy Father is presented with bread,
salt and rose water as symbols of welcome and good wishes.

As His Holiness and His Beatitude enter the Cathedral, the choir
performs the chant Herasciapar Asdvadz (“O Wondrous God”), which recounts the
story of the conversion of the Armenian people to Christianity through
the efforts of Saint Gregory the Illuminator.

At the foot of the altar, a prayer is said. The Holy Father and His
Beatitude then take their places before the sacred altar, from which the
Gospel, carried in procession from the entrance of the Cathedral, is
solemnly proclaimed.

The prayer service in the Armenian Apostolic Cathedral expresses the
joy of the Armenian Apostolic Church at the visit of His Holiness Pope
Benedict XVI.

III. Conclusion

The Office of the Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff is
most grateful to all those who assisted in the publication of the present
volume.

Thanks is first due to the Bishops of the Turkish Episcopal Conference:
meeting in Istanbul on 18 September 2006, the members of the Conference
provided general guidelines regarding the texts, languages and ritual
expressions to be used.

A particular expression of gratitude is also due to the Ecumenical
Patriarchate of Constantinople for the fraternal cooperation shown in the
preparation of the texts in English and in Greek for the Prayer Service
of 29 November and the Divine Liturgy of 30 November.

Appreciation is also expressed to the authorities of the Armenian
Apostolic Cathedral.

Finally, a word of thanks to the members of the Liturgical Commissions
established for the occasion by the Bishops of Izmir and Istanbul.

The present volume will stand as testimony to the Pope’s love for the
Turkish people, for the Sister Church of Constantinople, and in
particular for the Catholic community in Turkey. The celebration of the
Eucharist and the preaching of the word of God by the Bishop of Rome to the
communities of Ephesus and Istanbul are an encouragement and a gift which
the Successor of Peter makes to the Church in Turkey, so that it will
remain united in faith and love, in communion with its own Pastors and
with the Roman Pontiff, and remain open to ecumenical dialogue, to
interreligious dialogue and to preserving and promoting for all men, peace,
liberty, social justice and moral values” (“Nostra Aetate,” 3).

+ Piero Marini

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