"On the Road Again," Tuesday, 31 October 2023
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10:13:33 pm
Back in Cluj, and at the CMD monastery once again. As I think back on today, one event stands out from all the rest: a liturgy celebrated for the repose of the soul of Cardinal Alexandru Todea, the predecessor of our current Major Archbishop, at the Chapel of the Hierarchs (Capela Arhiereilor) in Blaj. Bishop Virgil Bercea served as protos, or main celebrant, surrounded by his brother bishops, and assisted by a number of priests and a deacon. Once more, seminarians provided the responses, which resonated beautifully despite the number of faithful in the church. I was particularly moved by a stirring basso profundo rendering of our traditional hymn, Ridica-voi ochii mei la ceruri, (”I will lift up my eyes to heaven”) at communion. The service concluded in the crypt of the chapel, where the first Metropolitan Archbishop of our Church, Alexandru Șterca-Șuluțiu, is buried, along with his successors (although Cardinal Todea is buried in Blaj’s Holy Trinity Cathedral).
A short meeting concluded the 2023 Fall Session of the Synod. A communiqué was issued and may be found in Romanian here: https://www.egco.ro/2023/10/27/comunicat-sesiunea-ordinara-de-toamna-a-sinodului-episcopilor-bisericii-romane-unite-cu-roma-greco-catolica-2/
Following lunch, I packed up (again) and eventually returned with Bishop Claudiu to Cluj and the sisters’ warm hospitality. Tomorrow has no official business to take care of, so an old friend of mine will be coming from out-of-town for a much-anticipated visit. Then comes packing up one last time for a very early flight home—also much-anticipated!
I haven’t always been able to attend both sessions of our Synod every year. There are no other bishops of our church outside of Romania, so having two short sessions rather than one longer one seems to work better for the bishops here. The Synod has only existed since 2005, when our church was elevated to the rank of a Major Archiepiscopal church. Hard as it is for me to accept, I am the third most senior bishop in the Synod, after Cardinal Lucian and Bishop Virgil of Oradea. In other words, we are overall a rather young group, and to my mind we are still finding our way as a Synod.
I think this is of particular importance these days, with the work of Pope Francis to put the entire Catholic Church on a more synodal path. This is hardly an innovation; it is how the Church has always been governed, though synodality has not always received the same emphasis in the Western Church as in the Eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox. The movement toward a more synodal Catholic Church may prove to be the most important step we can now take in bringing Catholics and Orthodox back into communion with each other, as we had been for more than a thousand years. Still, there is something fresh and new about the way synodality is being approached today.
Eastern Churches have had much more experience in synodality than the Church in the West. There is much in our tradition that Roman Catholics can learn from us. This I see as the particular calling of Eastern Catholic Churches in our day. However, I also believe the Holy Spirit is doing something new throughout the Church. We easterners have quite a bit to learn, too. The Church, after all, is neither a monument nor a corpse. It is the living body of Jesus Christ, who, while he is “the same, yesterday, today, and forever” (Hebrews 13:8), is nevertheless alive in us, his body, and he gives us his Spirit to assure that we continue to bring the living Gospel to all the world.
