International congress of byzantine studies belgrade, 22 27 august 2016

Jeroen Geurts
Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands; 
[e-mail]
The Pope and the Patriarchs. 
The Lifting of the Schism in Cuba and the Saving of the Byzantine Identity
Byzantine cultural identity is reflected in the convergence of religious life in the Americas. 
Syrian and Lebanese refugees of the last quarter of the 19
th
and first quarter of the 20
th
centuries 
brought their rituals and religious objects such as the Byzantine image of the Hodegetria to their 
new homes in the West. Until the war in Syria in 2011 the ties between these immigrants and their 
Christian-Orthodox home lands in the East were strong.

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When the Great Schism occurred between Eastern and Western churches in 1054, knowledge 
of the mutual religious identities declined. The Fourth Crusade worsened relationships further. 
Negotiations at the Council of Florence and talks of a union of the Churches shortly before the fall 
of Constantinople both caused dissense among Byzantines. The first Patriarch under Ottoman rule, 
Gennadius II and others saw the West as a threat to the Byzantine existence.
Immigrants from the East could thrive in the New World. The Chedraui and Slim families 
for example. They are successful entrepreneurs, politicians or religious leaders in Mexican society. 
Antonio Chedraui and Atenagoras as leaders of the Mexican and Central American Eastern 
Churches received the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in Mexico in 2006. Together with the 
Catholic Archbisshop Norberto Rivera they sang the Akathistos hymn to the Theotokos (connecting 
her to the Virgen of Guadalupe) and exchanged gifts. This harmoneous act did help to show that the 
position of one time immigrants in Mexico seemed to be one of cultural integration, but it was still 
no official statement of lifting the Schism. Subsequent events were of small impact. In 2002 John 
Paul II had met the Ecumenical Patriarch on the occasion of a Common Declaration on ecological 
awareness. Benedict XVI and Bartholomew I met in Istanbul in 2006, where the Pope returned 
relics that had been in Rome since the Fourth Crusade, and both men used words of brotherly love. 
Forgotten seemed that Paul VI and Athneagoras already formulated a joint declaration in 1965, and 
that the mutual excommunications of the Eastern and Western religious leaders had been removed.
The meeting between the first Pope from the Americas, Francis and the Ecumenical Patriarch 
occurred in November 2014, and both presented speeches wishing an end to the Schism. The 
language and behavior the religious leaders used were characterized by humility and mutual respect. 
This, however, seemed to be a repetition of the step already made by the former Pope. It seemed 
another Patriarch would be needed to make a difference. Kirill, the religious leader of the Russian 
Orthodox Church spoke to the Pope and the world that reuniting the Churches was necessary for 
protection of the Christians in the Middle-East. In the winter of 2015-2016 it was obvious that 
Christian communities were under fire and that Russian troops were operating in the region. Kirill 
seemed to have a more resounding vote in addressing the differences between Eastern and Western 
churches than his Ecumenical colleague in Istanbul. The Pope invited him to come to Cuba, a place 
that is still boycotted by the Western powers, but an ally of Russia as well as a socialist bulwark in 
the heart of the American Catholic world. Why of all places there? Was the Schism actually lifted 
in Cuba? Was not actually the protection of old Byzantine religious identities in the Middle-East on 
the agenda? Why was not Bartholomew I invited?

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