Orthodoxy’s Shaky Citadel

During the summer a bill was introduced in the Turkish parliament to force out of the country the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul and to close the Orthodox theological school on the nearby island of Halki (Heybeli).

Greek newspapers charged that the bill threatened to mark a tragic final chapter in the long harassment of the patriarchate by the Turks. It was submitted for consideration by Resad Ozarda, a deputy said to be independent of the major parties. Ozarda told fellow parliamentarians that the patriarchate stood as “a symbol of Greek imperialism” and a “torch of self-deceit for the re-establishment of the Byzantine Empire.”

The patriarchate was said to have been “a poisonous nest of traitors for 513 years” (i.e. since the fall of Constantinople). “For centuries it was the center of political penetration of the Russian Czars, but now, supported by the United States, it aims to become a state within a state.”

The bill stipulates that within ten days of its acceptance, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras must leave Turkey and the Halki school must close. There is little chance, however, that this will go through.

In a letter to German Bishop Otto Dibelius, who had expressed concern for the Patriarch’s position, the Turkish Ambassador to the Federal German Republic stressed that in Turkey freedom of religious practice has always been guaranteed. “If this is indeed a constitutional principle,” said a British observer just returned from Turkey, “one might wish it were more widely known throughout the ambassador’s homeland.”

Meanwhile, Greek Orthodox communities on the Turkish-owned islands of Imroz and Tenedos (Bozcaada) are being subjected to “unbearable oppressive measures,” according to reports reaching Athens. Harsh strictures, for which the Cyprus dispute is blamed, involve expropriation of lands held by Greek nationals, as well as cultural and religious restrictions.

“Livestock face starvation,” said the reports, “because grazing is prohibited.

Many people have been compelled by the authorities to leave their homes and are being panicked into selling their properties at very low prices. Meanwhile, Greeks are denied employment at the urging of the Turkish authorities.”

“Greek education,” the reports continue, “has become a principal target of the Turkish persecution. All lessons must be taught in the Turkish language. Greek Orthodox schools have been forbidden and Greek children are forced to attend Turkish schools.”

Turkish authorities are accused of hindering Orthodox church services and of destroying ikons and other religious symbols. At Easter, it was said, the Metropolitan of Imroz was forced to go to the cathedral in civilian clothes.

The reports charged also that the Turks had transferred 480 convicts to Imroz and allowed them to wander about the island freely in an attempt to provoke the Greeks into compromising incidents. Many of the inhabitants, seeing no future there for themselves and their children, have left the island and gone to Greece or to Australia.

In Turkish eyes, the Greeks are often still seen in terms of Greece’s ancient dreams of expansion to the east. Persecution of them is in some sense regarded as an extension of the old Holy War against the infidel—and the new Turkish government has shown itself aware of the voting potential of the pious rural areas that have always resented the idea of the laic state. It is to this resurgence of Islam that some foreigners attribute Turkey’s odd neglect of its undoubted tourist potential.

Moreover, many of the Greek minority in Istanbul, with a highly developed commercial instinct, have prospered exceedingly, a fact by no means irrelevant to the recent expulsion of Greeks from the country. This is seen also as a reprisal for the Cyprus situation, where the 18 per cent Turkish minority has undoubtedly suffered cruelly from the regime of an Orthodox archbishop. That Makarios is not everyone’s dream of what a father-in-God should be has been exploited and exaggerated by the Turks. The traveler in Turkey today will be told candidly that Turkey would long since have invaded Cyprus but for American influence—a more potent factor than the presence of U. N. troops in the island republic.

The Turkish foreign minister has denied any intention of expelling the Ecumenical Patriarch, whose position is safeguarded by the Treaty of Lausanne. Nevertheless, the government is chipping away at his position by leaving him with scarcely any local constituency. (The patriarchate has, however, a measure of jurisdiction also over Mount Athos, Rhodes and the other Dodecanese islands, Crete, Western Europe, America and Australia.)

The present patriarch is 80, and it seems likely the Turks will play a waiting game till he dies or (most unlikely) resigns, before taking decisive action. Then they will probably refuse to acquiesce in a successor resident in Istanbul.

Turkish officials disliked intensely the new luster given the patriarch on his historic meeting with Pope Paul VI in Jerusalem, an event that might ultimately make it harder to dislodge Athenagoras. They dislike him also as the last survivor of that Byzantine power that revolted against the Turks last century in southeastern Europe.

It cannot have escaped Turkish notice, on the other hand, that should the patriarchate be removed from its historic base, the Patriarchate of Moscow, with its suspect political affiliations so detested by the Turks, might then aspire to be the international leader of Orthodoxy and become “a third Rome.” Even in an Islamic state, this factor might paradoxically prove decisive.

Ramsey Vs. Canadian Press

A storm of protest greeted the Archbishop of Canterbury, Arthur Michael Ramsey, this month as he returned from a month’s tour of Canada. The furor was over statements about Billy Graham, particularly this one in the Vancouver Sun: “I don’t think Billy Graham is what we really need. We don’t need his type of evangelism.”

After a protest letter in the Times of London from Lord Luke and other Britons, the archbishop replied: “Nor did I use any phrase about Dr. Graham not being ‘needed.’ I am very sorry that an incorrect story transmitted across the Atlantic should have given distress to many people.…”

But Vancouver reporters insisted they told the truth. In fact, the archbishop had said the same thing across the country. He told the Hamilton Spectator, “I don’t think Billy Graham’s kind of evangelism is needed in our time.” The Toronto Globe and Mail reported that Ramsey “didn’t think Mr. Graham’s type of evangelism was what was needed for the present.” A Calgary Herald article said: “Commenting on evangelists such as Billy Graham, Dr. Ramsey said he didn’t think they were ‘what we need for these days.’ ” Thus the leader of the world’s 44 million Anglicans seems to accuse the whole Canadian press of falsification.

Graham’s reply to the reported criticisms: “The archbishop’s statement is an interesting one in view of his ecumenical claims.”

Those claims were prominent in Ramsey’s visit to Canada, on invitation of Canada’s Anglican Primate Howard Clark. If it was just a courtesy call, some commissioners at the biennial meeting of the United Church of Canada thought it ill-timed. While the UCC debated working principles of union with Canadian Anglicans (see Sept. 30 issue, page 15), Ramsey was less than 100 miles away at Niagara Falls but put in no appearance.

Ramsey holds strong opinions on the ordination of women, a major unsolved issue in UCC-Anglican negotiations. The UCC seems committed to ordination of women (it now has sixty-five who have been ordained), and there may be no union unless the Anglicans accept this. In Calgary, Ramsey repeated his opposition to women priests and advised his Canadian brethren “to compare notes with Anglican churches elsewhere in the world.”

A real clash with Anglican apostolic succession will result if the UCC goes ahead with present plans to adopt episcopal government before union. Ramsey has stated Anglicans can unite only on the basis of the “Lambeth quadrilateral”: Holy Scripture, creeds, sacraments, and the historic episcopacy.

On these counts, Anglicanism has more in common with Rome than with the non-liturgical, non-sacerdotal, pro-Reformation United Church. In Canada, Canterbury saw his visit to Pope Paul as the greatest breakthrough yet toward a united Christendom, and he praised Anglican-Roman cooperation in Canada. “I think that in the united church of the future,” Ramsey mused, “the Bishop of Rome might have a place as a presiding bishop among equals.”

Although Canadian Anglicans turned out in large numbers to give a rousing welcome to Ramsey, it is unlikely that Mother Canterbury will have much influence on her daughter’s marriage on the other side of the Atlantic.

J. BERKLEY REYNOLDS

Protestant Panorama

Episcopal Trials. The Episcopal House of Bishops, meeting this week, will again consider heresy action against Bishop James A. Pike. When he resigned the leadership of the Diocese of California, Pike was named “Auxiliary Bishop,” but he revealed October 12 that he had asked to be downgraded to “Retired Bishop” to “disassociate” the diocese from the heresy issue. The two Floridians behind the anti-Pike move claimed support from twenty-eight other bishops.

One locus of Pike opposition is the Anglo-Catholic wing of the denomination, whose American Church Union met in Chicago this month and registered strong opposition to the “principles upon which the work of the Consultation on Church Union has been proceeding.” The ACU, which renamed itself just “Church Union” because of growing Canadian membership, favors work toward “a unity of mind” and then a “reunion” of “Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Protestants and others, based on the faith of the New Testament church.”

Presbyterian Pact. If they unite, the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. (Southern) and the Reformed Church in America would be called the Presbyterian Reformed Church in America. This agreement was reached by the joint committee from the two denominations, meeting earlier this month. The joint group also discussed a first draft of a constitution, which will be refined in Chicago November 7 and 8 and sent to local churches early in 1967. The denominations will meet together at their annual assemblies next June.

Southern Baptist Soundings. A symbolic church exodus is in the works in Fort Worth, Texas. Pastor Frank Minton of the Evans Avenue Church says his all-white congregation is leaving its predominantly Negro neighborhood and merging with a white church seven miles away because of racial prejudice. The result: “a vacuum of witness.”

A different spirit was at work at the first Christian Ethics Workshop at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. John Claypool of the SBC Christian Life Commission said churches should move beyond such personal problems as smoking and drinking into “larger social issues like race, politics, and economics.” Rather than negative, authoritarian approaches or implying that “moral rules are the enemies of good times,” he said Baptists should explain their reasoning, and picture morality as “liberating.”

Meanwhile, the SBC’s invasion of the Northeast isn’t going as well as planned. At a meeting last month, SBC members from eight states dropped a January, 1968, target date for organizing a regional convention, because there will not be enough members by that date.

United Church Restructure. President Ben Herbster, in Cincinnati to lay groundwork for the United Church of Christ biennial meeting there next June, said restructure will be high on the agenda. “We recognize there are some things we do differently now than we did ten years ago when we merged. The day that the church is operating in is different and demands more flexibility.”

Anglican Burials. Prayers for the dead are now part of the Church of England’s official liturgy. Late last month the House of Laity of the Church Assembly approved the service previously passed by the Houses of Bishops and Clergy.

The new service is similar to one in the 1928 Prayer Book that, though widely used, was not legal because it lacked approval by Parliament. The book’s illegality was spotlighted in June when evangelicals led the Laity in rejecting the book’s confirmation service, which had been approved by the bishops and clergy.

Laymen would have votes in doctrinal legislation for the first time under recommendations of a special Anglican commission that issued a report last month. A General Synod would combine legislative and other powers now divided between the Church Assembly (which includes laymen) and the Convocations of Canterbury and York (composed of bishops and clergy).

Welfare From War To War

Church World Service, born after World War II, continues work within another war during its twentieth anniversary this month. It will provide $300,000 in 1967 to Viet Nam Christian Service, through which it works with Lutheran and Mennonite agencies. VNCS Director Atlee Beechy reports the deepest needs are among the one million refugees.

CWS is also a major contributor to National Christian Council of India relief, which will help feed one million persons this year. The Rev. Donald Rugh, a Virginia Methodist, is en route to India to assist the growing food program.

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