The mighty and the evil of this world were on guard. For them, East and West were bound to collide once again. Immediately after the conference, which recommended pilgrimages to the most revered shrines of Orthodoxy, the Greek government, under the pretext of an election campaign, opposed the pilgrimage to Mount Athos, which the Russian delegation sought with the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Politicians know how to convince themselves that their fears are justified. However, the vigorous protests of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the Greek Church showed that something had happened that the politicians did not expect.

This "something" was what Metropolitan Iakovos of Mytilene called "the miracle of unity." From the moment when the heads of all the delegations concelebrated the Great Vespers of Holy Pentecost, according to the custom of the ancient councils, "love drove out fear," in the expression of the Scriptures, which the Ecumenical Patriarch was so pleased with, and received its final expression in 636

final message. National and political problems, the confrontation between the East and the West, without completely disappearing, were sufficiently relativized. Political issues have never been in the spotlight. Of course, distrust played a role. But it did not prevent everyone from working together.

A great mystery at this conference was the position taken by Metropolitan Nikodim, chairman of the Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate and head of the Russian delegation. He showed himself above all to be a man of the Church: accommodating, capable of making concessions, like the young and assertive representative of Constantinople, Metropolitan Chrysostomos Konstantinidis. Of course, at the first meeting, Vladyka Nikodim made a statement in a strictly Soviet spirit – about peace, disarmament, colonialism. But he limited himself to this, and the final document of the conference spoke only of "the peace of Christ, the peace of our Lord."

But while political considerations ultimately played only a secondary role, ecclesiological problems gave rise to serious discussions at the very first closed-door sessions. Constantinople, which had taken the initiative to convene the conference, sought, by virtue of its prerogatives, to preside over the conference. The Russians and Romanians, on the contrary, believed that each of the local Churches should preside for one day. There is a danger of the usual confrontation of two concepts – unity based on some discipline and an overzealous commitment to diversity. The synthesis was achieved thanks to the moderation of the Ecumenical Patriarch: Constantinople would preside. But under its representative, a collegium of six members is established, which includes representatives of the old Eastern Patriarchates and two autocephalous Churches, which follow in seniority after the ancient patriarchal sees: the Russian Church and the Serbian Church... The final document was worked out by Constantinople, but then it was revised at the collegium and the conference.

* * *

The work of the conference consisted in the development of an "agenda" for the pre-conciliar conference. The Greeks as a whole showed themselves to be conservatives. They removed from this agenda the mention of the possibility of priests marrying after ordination, which was especially insisted on by Patriarch Athenagoras, who, however, did not consider himself defeated. Some of the Greek delegates did not even dare to touch upon the dogmatic problems, for in this sphere everything had already been said. Vladyka Nikodim, a conservative in the liturgical field, showed openness in other areas. The Ecumenical Patriarchate strove to open new paths and to creatively renew Holy Tradition.

As far as the life of the Orthodox Church itself was concerned, the conference carried out important work on the comprehension and clarification of its principles based on biblical sources, patristic heritage and traditional ecclesiology. We cannot, of course, reproduce here the list of issues discussed. It should be noted that the Commission on Faith, Dogma and Worship emphasized that Scripture is an expression of Revelation, and that it is necessary to distinguish Tradition (as a living perception of truth in the Holy Spirit) from church traditions of varying significance. The conference resolutely spoke out in favor of the implementation of a scientific edition of the Byzantine text of the New Testament. She spoke in favor of the Bible sounding more often and more intelligibly during divine services, so that the Gospel readings would be better distributed, as well as for the introduction of regular Old Testament readings (these readings, so common in the ancient Church, were pushed into the background because of the flourishing of hymnography). Finally, it raised the problem of returning to a wider participation of the laity in liturgical life and in the whole life of the Church in general.

The commissions that worked on the problems of "church administration and structure" and "the relations of the Orthodox Churches among themselves" expressed the wish that the election of bishops and primates would again be carried out in greater harmony with tradition, and that the local Churches should coordinate their actions with the universal Church. They touched upon the most important problems: church provinces, autocephalous Churches and "relations of autocephalous Churches with each other and with the Ecumenical Patriarchate in accordance with the canons and history."

* * *

Another part of the conference's work, leaving aside the ecumenical relations discussed in the previous chapters, was devoted to the relations of Orthodoxy with the modern world (Commission on Orthodoxy and the World). Here they feared clashes between the Churches located on opposite sides of the Iron Curtain. But nothing of the kind happened. In the program of the pre-conciliar conference drawn up by the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Russians added a mention of "the contribution of the Church to the strengthening of the ideals of peace and brotherhood of peoples," of "Orthodoxy and racial discrimination," and of "the duty of Christians in developing countries." They replaced "mission development" with "evangelical teaching," because the word "mission," they said, had become obsolete because of past "colonialist" abuses. Finally, after a stubborn struggle, they replaced the wording "methods of struggle against atheism" with the words "methods of spreading Orthodoxy in the world." This apt expression meant a change from a defensive position to a positive affirmation of faith.

* * *

The conference revealed a sincere and unanimous desire to begin the process of preparing for the Council, the first stage of which should be a pre-conciliar conference. The final document, where the influence of the Ecumenical Patriarch is so felt, opens with the glorification of the Holy Trinity, for the Church is "the unity of love in the fulfillment of the new law," created "in the image of the unity of the Holy Trinity." "Our Church is not made of walls and roofs, but of faith and life." She prays "for people" created "of one blood" and for all Christians, "that they may be one." The epistle concludes with John's blessing: "May grace, mercy, and peace be with you from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love" (2 John 3).