Importance of Church-State cooperation in the European context
According to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), as amended by the Treaty of Lisbon of 2007, ‘The
Union respects and does not prejudice the status under national law of
churches and religious associations or communities in the Member States’ (article 7, paragraph 1 TFEU). Thus, ‘recognising
their identity and their specific contribution, the Union shall
maintain an open, transparent and regular dialogue with these churches
and organisations’ (article 17, paragraph 3 TFEU).
Therefore, in the European Union there is no ‘European model’ for the
relationship between religious communities and the political authority,
but the legislative systems in force in the EU Member States oscillate
from a radical separation to an almost complete identification between a
particular religious community and a State. At the same time, the
European Union aims to engage in dialogue with religious denominations
so that they may express their specific contribution to the European
construction.
Today there are four Member States with a majority Orthodox
population in the European Union (Greece, Cyprus, Romania, and
Bulgaria), where Autocephalous Churches are organized and operate, while
in other Member States there are important Orthodox communities
organized ethnically as autocephalous (Poland, Czech Republic and
Slovakia) or autonomous (Finland and Estonia). Also, in some Member
States there are consistent Orthodox communities organized ethnically as
diaspora (Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, and Austria).
Romania, with a population of 16,307,000 Orthodox believers, is the
largest country of the European Union with a majority Orthodox
population.
In the Orthodox majority states, the Church-State relation originally followed the Byzantine principle of symphonia,
that is, harmony, understanding and cooperation between two distinct
institutions, which are united by the common social life of the people
in their double status as citizens of the State and believers of the
Church.
In the Byzantine perspective on society there were two hierarchical
systems, one of the Church and the other of the Empire, coexisting in
the same space, confessing a single faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Saviour of the world, and pursuing the same purpose: the union of the
visible world with the invisible God. However, the two hierarchical
systems of the State and the Church were conceived and understood as
different and distinct, and any attempt to combine them proved to be
unfortunate.
In this regard, a good example of the relationship between the two hierarchical systems was given by the Epanagoge or the Eisagoge
(a codification of the Byzantine law promulgated in 886), in which
legislators distinctly juxtaposed the two systems, without combining
them. Hence, in the Byzantine Empire, although the Church cooperated
closely with the imperial authority, it kept its autonomy as regards
ecclesiastic activities.
However, the Church-State symphonia has never been
symmetrical in the sense of equality of the two institutions, but almost
always asymmetrical, because the Church has always been organized and
operated in the State and was constantly praying for state authorities.
This historical fact illustrates the Orthodox teaching that the
Church manifests itself in human society, which is organized in a
political community, that is, the place of the Church is always within the State.
This relationship between the Church and the State is based on the
Orthodox teaching that the Church is both a spiritual, sacramental or
mystical reality, and an institutional, social reality, and man – as a
subject of history – belongs to both the Kingdom of Heaven and to
Caesar’s Kingdom (Matthew 22:21). From a practical point of
view, this relationship takes place between certain limits and is based
on mutually invoked prerequisites.
Therefore, the Orthodox model of the Church-State
relationship includes both Church autonomy in its relation to the State
and their distinct and limited cooperation in a spirit of mutual
respect.
According to Orthodox ecclesiology, the Universal Church is defined
as the communion of Autocephalous Churches that are in dogmatic,
canonical and ceremonial unity with each other. In practice, autocephaly represents the canonical status of a local Church that enjoys full church autonomy and has the right to choose its Primate (πρῶτος – primus) by its own Synod of Bishops without any external interference.
Consequently, the autocephaly of a local Church is also an
expression of the concept of freedom in communion, that is, the freedom
of local Churches towards one another, while preserving at the same time
the unity of faith, sacramental life and canonical discipline.
This ecclesiological conception is based on the thorough experience
Orthodoxy has in relation to the Mystery of the Most Holy Trinity,
understood as the supreme communion of life and eternal love between
equal and distinct divine Persons. Therefore, the unity of the Church is
the communion of the trinitarian grace-filled life communicated by the
Holy Spirit to those who believe in Christ in order to reach communion
with the Father. In this regard, trinitarian life is at the same time a source of and a model for ecclesial communion (John 17:21-22).
As the Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are equal, distinct and consubstantial, so too the Church is understood as a communion of equal, distinct and consubstantial
local Autocephalous Churches, meaning that each and every one of them
separately and all together share the same fullness in the truth of
faith, in sacramental life and in ecclesiastical discipline.
This means that every Autocephalous Church has the right to establish
its relationship with the State in which it is organized and operates.
In the European context, however, each Autocephalous Church must foster
practical cooperation and Christian solidarity to unite the national
freedom and the European co-responsibility of the Church.
Only five days before Romania’s accession to the European Union, Law no. 489/2006 was promulgated, which (re)introduced the system of recognized religious denominations,
supplemented with some elements of Byzantine origin, especially with
regard to the practical way of Church-State cooperation. This new law
guarantees the autonomy of the recognized religious denominations in
their relation to the State and regulates the distinct cooperation
between the State and the recognized religious denominations, as well as
their support by the State.
The new law also indicates the 18 denominations recognized in
Romania, providing them the status of legal persons of public utility
and recognizing their spiritual, educational, social-charitable,
cultural role in the life of society, as well as their status as
‘factors of social peace’ in partnership with the State.
The current Romanian legislation on Church-State relationship
therefore reflects to a certain extent the fact that Romania is the only
country with a majority neo-Latin population of Orthodox tradition,
belonging to the Christian East through its ecclesial life, but also to
the West though its Latin linguistics. This unique specificity
represents the personal responsibility of Romania to contribute both
spiritually and culturally to the promotion of cooperation in the
European Union, especially in terms of good cooperation between the
State and religious denominations.
We congratulate the organizers of this international conference and
we bless all its participants, expressing our hope that its results will
contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of the
cooperation between the State and religious denominations in the
European Union.
† Daniel
Patriarch of Romania