Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthdox leaders send warnings to Anglican bishops at Lambeth

BB NOTE: Ruth Gledhill of the London Times has published excerpts of letters written by leaders of other branches of historic Christendom to the Anglican bishops assembled in Canterbury. These letters all issue warnings to the bishops to take their roles as bishops of the Church seriously and soberly and remind them that the deliberations will have serious consequences to the Anglican Communion's relationships with other historic churches from all around the world. The letters were printed in the service programs of last night's ecumenical service at the Lambeth Conference in Canterbury. Here is a sample:

"It seems to me that members of the conference have a very serious task: they have to choose between the traditional, biblical norms of morality and tendencies which consider sin and general permissiveness as manifestations of love and tolerance. That is why there is laid on members of the conference such a great, historic responsibility."

Patriach Alexy of Moscow and All Russia

"With all our heart we as Orthodox pray that the present Lambeth Conference will prove to be a council of reconciliation and unity, an occasion for speaking the truth in sincerity and without compromise, yet an occasion for speaking the truth in love."

Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople,
New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

"The ecclesiological questions which form the framework of your deliberations are a reminder that ministry conferred by ordination is bound by the apostolic faith handed down from the beginning and by the 'regula fidei' faithfully transmitted, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through the ages ... New issues that have arisen in our relationship pose a further and grave challenge to the hope for full and visible unity that has been the long-standing goal of our joint ecumenical endeavour."

Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone
Vatican Secretary of State

"May I suggest that the Conference not lose sight of the fact that the current year is the year of St Paul. This provides the Conference with a stimulus and an opportunity to reflect upon the message and the theology of the apostle to the Nations, and to examine to what degree the Church has remained faithful or has deviated from the Pauline teaching and principles, given that most of Europe was originally evangelised by the apostle St Paul and has immediate need of re-evangelisation."

Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens

"We are living in a fast-changing world. The implications of unprecedented developments, in many areas of human life, to the church's ecclesiological, moral and missiological self-understanding are significant, indeed."

His Holiness Aram I of Cilicia

Tip of the Tinfoil to Ruth Gledhill.