The election of Athenagoras I only exacerbated this situation. The new patriarch had lived in the United States for sixteen years, became an American citizen, and made no secret of his friendship with President Truman. His message of 1950 on the occasion of the Triumph of Orthodoxy was very unfavorably received by the Churches in the East, where a cry of neo-papism arose. The Ecumenical Patriarch recognized Bulgarian autocephaly in 1945. In 1953, the head of this Church, who bore the title of exarch, was elevated to the rank of patriarch without any consultation with Constantinople, but with the full approval of Moscow. Constantinople expressed its surprise. But everything remained so.

The date of 1953 has a special significance: Athenagoras I decided to put an end to a process that threatened to lead to the dismemberment of Orthodoxy. His true greatness was evident here: he loved the United States, where the Greek diaspora flourished, his very election took place partly within the framework of the policy of "containment" of Soviet pressure, he counted on American support for the reconciliation of Greeks and Turks and respect for the interests of the Orthodox minority in Constantinople. And at the same time, being faithful to his vocation to "preside in love," he understood that Orthodoxy rises above ideological boundaries, that there can be no unity of Orthodoxy without or against the Russians.

* * *

He

Acting without the Russian Church has been and will always be fraught with schism. In order to avoid this, it was necessary not only unselfishly, but also through heavy sacrifices, to involve this Church in the process of Orthodox unification and movement towards the unity of all Christians, which meant making this process, in which all sister Churches must participate, irreversible. The Russian Church, in spite of all the vicissitudes and temptations that have occurred in its history, has always retained ties with Constantinople, from which Russia received Christianity. The Russian soul remains illumined by the vision of divine beauty that touched the envoys of Grand Duke Vladimir in the Church of Hagia Sophia. St. Gregory Palamas was a theologian of light, but only the Russian, Andrei Rublev, was able to express this light in painting. Up to the 19th century, Russian Orthodox thought was nourished by Greek thought, but this was the case until the Russians themselves became the first in theology and religious philosophy. Remember the role of Maximus the Greek in the sixteenth century, the Likud brothers in the seventeenth, the "Philokalia" of St. Nicodemus of the Holy Mountain in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries... Even after the awakening of the great Russian thought, Khomiakov greeted the message of 1848 with enthusiasm, finding in it an impulse and a nourishing medium for his idea of free ecclesiastical communion. Throughout the Ottoman period, the Russians helped our Patriarchate with inexhaustible generosity. For its part, Constantinople helped the brotherhoods of the laity to successfully resist the onslaught of the Uniates in the Western Russian lands when they were in the hands of Poland. The Russian people dreamed of "Tsargrad", its pilgrims and monks filled Athos for centuries. And in the south of Russia there were and still are numerous and prosperous Greek colonies.

The Greeks, as I have told you, are often critical of my love for the Russians. But I love Holy Russia, which today remains hidden, but which will one day return to its spiritual mission on the historical stage. I love her for her saints, for her theological thought, but especially for her martyrs... That is why it is necessary for the Russian Church to be with us.

I

But can those who run it be trusted, determined to save what can be saved within a system that methodically seeks to turn Christianity into a superstition in order to deal with it more conveniently?

He

I know that there are problems within the Russian Church as well. But rest assured, the majority of Russian bishops think first of all about how best to serve the Church. I have already told you: for me, the Russian Christians are 630

have not already defeated communism in their country. I am not speaking of the social system, for the Church has nothing to say on this subject, but of atheistic totalitarianism. They defeated him with their suffering, their ability to suffer. Outwardly, this is not yet visible. But the atheistic ideology is mortally wounded, and therefore the powerful of this world stubbornly defend their power and look for scapegoats: intellectuals, Jews, maybe Christians! In this most difficult transitional situation, some people at the top of the Russian Church have to sacrifice themselves. Believe me, there are plenty of martyrs in Russia.

In 1951, in a message addressed to the sister Churches, the Patriarch expressed his desire to convene a general council. However, he had to wait until 1959 to propose a preliminary meeting. In order to better prepare him, he decided to go on a pilgrimage to various Orthodox Churches. He began with the apostolic patriarchates of the Middle East, the oldest witnesses of the pentarchy.

In November 1959, for the first time in several centuries, the Ecumenical Patriarch left the Phanar, on the 17th he was received in Alep by the city authorities and the Archbishop. On the way to the south, he visits villages with an Orthodox population with the utmost ease. Thousands of believers meet him in Omsa, the ancient Emes.

In front of Damascus, Patriarch Theodosius of Antioch and ministers of the Syrian province (Syria was then part of the United Arab Republic), Christian and Muslim religious leaders rode out to meet him. In his speech at the Patriarchal Council, he speaks of the glorious past of the Church of Antioch and the close cooperation between the two sees: