EASTERN CHURCHES

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30215, 21 August 1963, Page 11

EASTERN CHURCHES

Pope 1 Paul Calls I For Unity (N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) I ROME, August 19. I Pope Paul yesterday appealed strongly for I closer relations between the Vatican and Eastern Orthodox churches, and praised the recent visit of a Roman Catholic bishop to Moscow to attend an Orthodox Church celebration. He expressed the 9 hope that one day all Christians would be . united under Christ. The Pope, who was sipeak- s ing during a visit to an < Eastern Rite monastery at f Groitaferrata, south of Rome, said he wanted to join I bis appeal for unity to those I of his predecessor. The Vati- I can campaign for Christian I unity began in the reign of I Pope John. Pope Paul said: “Let us I make our voice like an I angel’s trumpet, which says: I ‘Come, down with the bar- I riers which separate us.’ Let ■ us discuss the doctrinal points on which we do not agree, ~ which are still objects of controversy, and let us try to make articulate and compact our hierarchical union.” Last month the Vatican was represented at the golden jubilee celebrations for Patriarch Alexis of Moscow. Pope Paul said his visit to the monastery served to demonstrate that there was neither reason nor desire to perpetuate differences. He said there may have been reasons in the past for such differences, “but they seem to me to be out of date now.” The division between the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Churches goes back as far as the transfer of the Roman Empire from Rome to Constantinople by Emperor Constantine. The empire splat into two divisions whose political rivalries were reflected in the church. Religious controversy over the Nicene Creed brought about the final rupture in the ninth century. Other differences include the refusal of the Eastern Church to acknowledge the absolute supremacy of the Pope of Rome, its refusal to adopt the rule of celibacy for clergy, and its insistence on the right to use the vernacular in services instead of Latin. The self-governing branches of the Orthodox Church are Jerusalem, Alexandria, Antioch, Cyprus, Constantinople, Serbia, Russia, Greece, Rumania, and Bulgaria. Money Or Sack Because of the increasing popularity of television, radio quiz programmes are dying and New Zealand’s leading compere, Selwyn Toogood, expects to be out of this sort of work in 18 months. Television sets were now in 23 per cent, of metropolitan homes, “and that’s a terrific bite out of our audience, specially when you consider how costly our shows are to produce,” Mr Toogood said “I will be retiring as a performer not because I want to, but because circumstances are such that there is no place for me in television.” For country radio listeners and also those confined to their beds, the end of the big radio shows was a pity, he said — (P.A.) the Rangiora County Council £ll 8s 3d (14 days or 10s a week); B. M. Crocker. Dunbars road, to pay Welkut Garments. Ltd.. £lO 15s (12 days or 10s a week). POSSESSION ORDERS Joseph Carter was ordered to give up possession of a house at 433 Wilsons road to the Victory Park Board and to pay arrears of rent and costs amounting to £73 7s. Clement Alexander Attewell. building foreman, Rotorua, was ordered to give up possession of a house at 38 Cridiand street. Kaiapoi. to the State Advances Corporation of New Zealand.

Mr George Alexander, an emigre Scot who works in London, has a thriving business exporting bagpipes—to Scotland.