My relationship as Orthodox Christian to the Roman Catholic Church

You belong to the Orthodox Church and often exhort priests and bishops of that faith to acknowledge the Pope and to make peace with the Roman Church. For this, unfortunately, you are not welcome in some countries of your own persuasion. Why do you take up this mission? What is your idea of the Bishop of Rome and how do you foresee the future of Christian unity? One sometimes gets the impression in reading your works, however, that you stand above both churches without being committed to either. For example, it seems that you receive communion in both catholic and orthodox churches, but in your marital status you follow the custom of oikonomia. As I have said already, these observations are not meant as a personal censure as we have absolutely no right to adjudicate your conscience, but you understand our concern about the Catholic followers who may interpret these attitudes in a relativistic manner and are tempted to disregard the disciplines of their own church.

Motivations for taking up this work of unity.

I do not believe I would have ever had the courage or the zeal to face the Orthodoxy to bring them to understand the reconciliation our Lord desires from them if I had not experienced our Lord’s presence, neither would I have endured the oppositions, the criticisms and the persecutions being done on me by them. In the very beginning of God’s intervention I was totally confused and feared I was being deluded; this uncertainty was truly the biggest cross, since I never heard in my life before that God can indeed express Himself to people in our own times and had no one to ask about it. Because of this, I tried to fight it away, but the experience would not leave and later on, slowly, with time, I became reassured and confident that all of this was only God’s work, because I started to see God’s hand in it. This is why I stopped fearing to face opposition and criticism and have total confidence in our Lord, knowing that where I lack He will always fill, in spite of my insufficiency, and His works will end up always glorious.

Approaching the Orthodox priests, monks and bishops to acknowledge the Pope and to reconcile with sincerity with the Roman Church is not an easy task as our Lord says in one of the messages; it is like trying to swim in the opposite direction of a strong current, but after having seen how our Lord suffers in our division I could not refuse our Lord’s request when asked to carry this cross; therefore, I have accepted this mission, yet not without having gone through (and still going through) many fires.

You have asked: “Why do you take up this mission?” My answer is, because I was called by God, I believed and I answered Him; therefore, I want to do God’s will. One of Christ’s first words were: “Which house is more important, your house or My House?” I answered, “Your House Lord.” He said: “Revive My House, embellish My House and unite it.”

Some of the Greek Orthodox hierarchy totally reject me, first because they do not believe me ⁴ , secondly because I am a woman and thirdly because a woman should not speak. Some of the monks are suspicious of me saying that I am probably a Trojan horse sent and paid by the Pope, or that I am even a Uniate. Many do not want to hear of reconciliation or ecumenism. They consider it heresy if I pray with the Roman Catholics. That is where they see it as standing above both churches without being committed to either. I am full and wholly committed to my church but it is not heresy nor a sin if I live ecumenically and pray with other Christians to promote unity. The key to unity though, according to our Lord in the writings, is humility and love. Many of the people of the churches do not have this key yet. Many of the Greek Orthodox lay people but as well as the simple priest around the corner, up to the monk in a remote monastery would call the Roman Catholic Church to this day heretic and dangerous; they are taught to believe this since their birth and it is wrong. Yet, I believe that in their rigidity they can change through a metanoia and the power of the Holy Spirit who will make them bend and through the prayers of the faithful. In our gatherings we pray to God for this change of heart.

Nevertheless, it is not a question of them alone bending. Everyone must bend in humility and love. The people of each church should be willing to die to their ego and to their rigidity and then through this act of humility and obedience to the truth, Christ’s presence will be shining in them. I believe that through this act of humility, the churches’ past and present failures will be washed away and unity will be accomplished. I never lose hope to approach the Orthodox and this is why I always keep returning to them to give them my testimony. My testimony is given reminding them of our Lord’s words: “may they be one in us, as you are in me and I am in you, so that the world may believe it was you who sent me,” (Jn 17:21). In this manner, despite the obstacles, a few ecumenical prayer groups were formed in Athens and in Rhodes with Orthodox priests included in them. All these prayer groups start by praying the Rosary, then other prayers. Nevertheless, it is not only rejection I get from the Orthodox hierarchy because of the reasons I mentioned above, but our Lord has provided me with a good number of Greek Orthodox clergy friends as well.

The Bishop of Rome.

Our Lord gave me an interior vision of three iron bars symbolizing the three major Christian bodies, Catholics, Orthodox and Protestant Christians, calling their heads to meet by bending, so that they meet, but to meet they have to bend. This passage speaks of the attitude that is needed to arrive at the unity the Lord has been longing for since his prayer to his Father – “that all may be one”. This passage of the TLIG messages does not pretend to speak of unity on an ontological level, indicating that there should be no differences in which extent the various Christian groups have retained the truth Christ conferred to his church. And it is not true I claim that this calling to humility amongst Christian brothers should imply a pan-Christian approach to unity and that unity should be advanced through a bargain of truth, (like a trader, selling and buying) leading to a levelling and a relativism of truth. On the contrary, I have often spoken on the importance of remaining faithful to the truth, and even more than my speaking, the message is nothing but a calling to live by the truth of the Gospel in the One Revelation of Christ, as expressed above. The writings contain many warnings against the contrary attitude, to the point of portraying a “false ecumenism” as a Trojan horse of introducing a lifeless image of Christ:

Many messages on unity keep together these two vital aspects of ecumenism: The spiritual attitude implying humility and love towards other Christians together with the un-compromised quest for the truth of Christ. One example is a passage where the Virgin Mary speaks of the fabrics of unity:

Further down in the same passage, Jesus speaks of the truth: “Always defend to death the truth. Scathed you shall be from time to time, but I shall allow it just enough to keep your soul pure and docile” (reiterated on 05.06.1992, 25.09.1997, 22.06.1998, etc.)

I have had a few meetings with Catholic clergy in the United States, Holland and Switzerland in particular who are very liberal and very much against the Pope. I had to defend the Chair of Peter and explain it to them as well as I could through powerful messages that came from Christ, showing them how confused their minds were. In the end many of these priests came to tell me how they appreciated these clarifications. I had one or two though who did not agree telling me that I am “more Catholic than the Catholics” Although there are many unity passages that regard the unity between the churches, there are also quite a number that especially are written for a lot of Catholic clergy who are rebelling against the Pope to bring them back to faithfulness to him. Here is one early example:

Another message speaking of the future of unity puts it even clearer:

Other messages speak of the Pope as the Vicar of Christ or the Vicar of the Church. Here is one example:

The writings contain no references to how the role of Peter will relate to the roles of the various patriarchal sees, and so I cannot speak about this. But I am aware that the Pope himself in the Encyclical “Ut unum sint” does open up for a discussion of this sort:

The same encyclical confirms the necessity of East and West reuniting, allowing differences between the two communions while being in full communion:

Although the writings do not speak of structural issues regarding East and West, there are many references to the importance of the Eastern Church. Thereby, the un-compromised underlining of the importance of the role of Peter is paired in later messages by an insight that spiritual renewal very well could be inspired by the Eastern Church. Thereby it becomes even more evident why the Body of Christ needs to breathe with both its lungs – that of the western and eastern presence of the Church:

And another similar message:

Another message speaks of the role of the East in bringing the two houses together again, unifying the Body of Christ: