ACCEPTANCE ADDRESS BY ECUMENICAL PATRIARCHON THE OCCASION OF THE CONFERRAL OF DOCTORAL DEGREE HONORIS CAUSA THE DIMITRIE CANTEMIR CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

 

Acceptance Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew on the Occasion of the Conferral of Doctoral Degree Honoris Causa – The Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University (Bucharest, October 25th, 2025)

Your Eminence Metropolitan Nifon of Târgoviște, honorable representative of His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel of Romania,

Your Eminences, 

Your Excellencies, 

Dear Professor Dr. Corina Adriana Dumitrescu, University President and President of the Senate,

Esteemed Faculty and Students, 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Beloved Brothers and Sisters in Christ, 

It is with profound gratitude and humility that we accept this high academic distinction from the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University. We accept it not as a personal honor, but as a recognition of the enduring commitment of the Orthodox Church, in general, and the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in particular, to the work and service of dialogue and reconciliation among Christians, affirming the profound conviction that the ecumenical movement is a vital catalyst for global peace and harmony. We are particularly moved by the fact that this institution of higher learning bears the name of the late prince, great statesman and distinguished scholar Dimitrie Cantemir, who studied in the Queen of Cities at our Patriarchal Great School of the Nation, while the latter’s current building was erected at a property that belonged to him.

Furthermore, we are filled with joy and gladness to be once again in Romania, at the invitation of our brother in the Lord, His Beatitude Patriarch Daniel, for the celebration of the 140^th anniversary since the granting of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Romania and the 100^th anniversary since its elevation to the Patriarchal dignity by the Mother Church of Constantinople, as well as for consecration of the mosaics of the People’s Salvation Cathedral. His Beatitude’s own contributions to theological education and inter-Christian dialogue are widely respected and valued, which make this honor, bestowed upon our humble person, a sign of the bonds of brotherhood that unite our Churches in a common, Christian vocation of witness and service, of martyria and diakonia.

The principle which inspires our humble ministry for these many decades – of which this honorary degree so graciously acknowledges – is the ministry of dialogue. Dialogue, for us Christians, is neither a political strategy nor a pragmatic tool of diplomacy. It is a spiritual and theological imperative, a reflection of the very mystery of the Triune God, in Whom diversity and unity coexist in perfect communion and harmony by the primacy of love. When we encounter one another with prayerful respect and openness, seeing one another as living icons of the one God, we participate in that same divine life of communication and self-giving.

In His earthly life, our Lord, God, and Savior Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Logos of God, stretched out His hands to all, inviting all into dialogue with Him, especially with those on the margins, be it a consequence of social rejection and isolation or social privilege and power. Christ encountered all people without prejudice from the Samaritan woman and the bleeding woman, to the lepers and the blind, the Roman centurion and the Pharisees, to Gentiles and Jews, to the faithful and the sinful. Thus, the Holy Gospel, at its heart, is the story of God entering into dialogue with humanity and through humanity, seeking not condemnation but transformation, forgiveness, and salvation (cf. John 3:17). Consequently, the mission of the Church is nothing else than to proclaim the love of God in every moment of encounter manifested in dialogue and service of God and our neighbor. 

Much like the Church, the university is a space of encounter, where minds are molded and transformed through the meeting and reckoning of ideas. Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University, bearing the legacy of a great scholar and humanist, embodies the creative dialectic between faith and reason, tradition and renewal, hope and rationalism. As the incubatory of critical thinking, empathy, and moral discernment, the academia plays a vital role in nurturing a culture of dialogue in our wider world. Rooted in spiritual and ethical values, education is truly an exercise in peacemaking and consensus-building, reminding us that the faculties of human expression and encounter – thinking, speaking, listening, creating, acting – are not merely intellectual acts, but moral choices with incarnated or real world implications. In our time of global strife and deep polarization, the search for truth calls us not to isolation but to collaboration — a collaboration wherein faith and reason are synergized as both are gifts from God.

Since its 1920 Encyclical “Unto the Churches of Christ Everywhere,” the Ecumenical Patriarchate has been at the forefront of this call for dialogue, most notably through the modern ecumenical movement. This year, we had the opportunity to celebrate one of its major milestones: the centenary of the Life and Work Conference convened in Stockholm in 1925. As such, we have always understood the call to dialogue and unity not as a luxury, a preference, or an option, but as the fulfilment of Christ’s prayer, “that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:21). The participation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the foundation of the World Council of Churches in 1948 and in various bilateral dialogues, with the Roman Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Lutheran World Federation, and many others up to the present, is evidence of our Church’s efforts to live into Christ’s call of discipleship which has led us on an ecumenical journey marked by hope, truth, and perseverance.

Some may say that we are making slow progress in our ecumenical journey, that theological dialogue has reached an impasse. We must remember that true dialogue is a pilgrimage of love, not a negotiation of terms or a weighing of interests which, if it were so, would contradict the very nature of the Faith as incarnated and dynamic. As we journey with our neighbor, patience, humility, and truth-telling no matter the circumstances are imperative to true and fruitful dialogue. To paraphrase Saint John Chrysostom: “We do not conquer our brothers by argument, but by love.” In like manner, Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras offered a similar approach when he said to Professor Olivier Clément: “I believe that our Orthodox Church is the faithful and holy witness of the undivided Church. But the true theological dialogue should begin inside the dialogue of love, inside the Mystery of the Church that we share in all its fundamentals”

In this regard, we are profoundly encouraged by the deepening relationship between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church from the prophetic Jerusalem encounter of 1964 between our predecessor, the late Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI to the upcoming visit of His Holiness Pope Leo XIV to Türkiye next month. This fraternal encounter will be, God willing, an opportunity to rejoice and celebrate the roots of our common faith together as we commemorate the 1700^th anniversary of the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea as well as the patronal feast of the Great Church of Constantinople: the feast of Saint Andrew, the Holy and First-Called Apostle. As theological dialogue continues, our common commitment to address the challenges of our world are true signs of our desire to serve and bear witness to Christ together. In our journey, we will continue to shed light on today’s ecological crisis together, to respond to the plight of migrants together, and to defend the dignity of all people together. This ecumenical pilgrimage is a small epiphany of the Kingdom of God breaking into history.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

For centuries, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has upheld its ministry of unity and synodality both within the Orthodox Church and outside of its ecclesial boundaries. Geographically and theologically situated at the crossroads of East and West, the Mother Church of Constantinople has learned to live in dialogue by necessity and by conviction. Even under constrained and difficult circumstances, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has never ceased to extend its hand in friendship to other Christians, to other faiths, and to all people of goodwill, just as it was affirmed by the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church convened in June 2016 on the island of Crete. 

In receiving this academic distinction, we are reminded that dialogue is not an abstract ideal but a concrete act of hope. In a world increasingly marked by polarization, fear, and isolation, dialogue remains the language of reconciliation, the language of the resurrection. 

May this recognition from the Dimitrie Cantemir Christian University inspire all of us to renew our commitment to the ministry and discipline of dialogue. Let us work together – Church and university, clergy and laity, scholars and students, faithful and all people of goodwill – to build a civilization of love and peace, where faith enlightens reason and reason deepens faith through dialogue. For in the words of the Saint Apostle Paul: “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:18-19).

From the depth of our heart, we thank you once again for this honor, and we pray that the Lord may bless this institution, its staff, professors, and students, and the beloved Romanian people, granting you wisdom, peace, and “every good and perfect gift from above.”

Thank you for your kind attention!

 

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photo: Nicholas Papachristou