Bartholomée de Constantinople

This text is the message addressed by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I to the 8th Congress of the Orthodox Brotherhood in Western Europe, held in 1993. It is a patriarchal address of a theological and pastoral nature, centered on the theme of the congress: "Living in the Church the communion with the Other." The message develops a Trinitarian reflection on interpersonal communion, drawing on the icon of the Trinity by Rublev and on Orthodox eucharistic theology. The central idea is that all authentic communion among human beings finds its model and foundation in the Trinitarian life, and is realized sacramentally in the Eucharist. On the ecclesiological level, the text affirms the role of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as guarantor of the canonical and spiritual unity of Orthodox Christians in the Western European diaspora, who are called to transcend national particularisms within an eschatological ecclesial communion.