-Caveat Lector- Pope Emphasizes Christian Unity By PAUL GEITNER .c The Associated Press SIEDLCE, Poland (AP) - Pope John Paul II traveled to eastern Poland today for a Mass and ecumenical meeting with Orthodox Christians from the former Soviet Union. Catholic and Greek Orthodox faithful from Belarus, Kazakstan, Lithuania, Ukraine and Russia were among the estimated 400,000 people gathered in a meadow for the Mass in Siedlce, 55 miles east of Warsaw. Banners and flags in the crowd were from Belarus, the Ukraine and even Siberia and the Urals region in eastern Russia. The afternoon ecumenical meeting in Drohiczyn, 18 miles further northeast on the Bug River, was to include Orthodox Christians. Christian unity and religious pluralism are major themes of John Paul's 13-day pilgrimage to his homeland, which began Saturday. The pope is heading to Umschlagplatz monument in Warsaw on Friday to pray for Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II. ``This pope gives inspiration and hope for reconciliation between the Catholics and Orthodox,'' said Igor Sidelnyk, a Ukrainian theology student from Lviv dressed in black clerical clothes. Orthodox Christian Churches and the Roman Catholic Church have been separated since the Great Schism in 1054 in a dispute over papal authority and interpretation of their creed. John Paul is head of the Roman Catholic Church, while Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the archbishop of Constantinople, is the spiritual leader of 300 million Orthodox Christians. The dispute is rooted in a decision by Emperor Constantine in 330 to move the capital of the Roman Empire to Byzantium, later Constantinople. The decision created a power struggle between the popes and the patriarchs. Constantine also convened the council that formulated the Nicene Creed, a confession of faith that delineates the roles of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. The creed is the main theological division between the churches. In recent years, efforts at reconciliation have been hindered by Russian complaints that the Roman Catholic church was trying to proselytize what the Russians considered to be Orthodox lands of the former Soviet Union. ``Everybody defends his own religion as his own tongue. Each nation, even small ones, wants to have its own faith, its own tradition,'' said Wira Kos, 70, who arrived five hours early with a church group from Lviv to secure a good vantage point. John Paul, 79, spent Wednesday sightseeing in a pristine national park in northeast Poland where he used to lead pastoral retreats when he was a priest and bishop. No public events were scheduled, but the pope paid a surprise visit to a farm family and greeted hundreds of people at a lakeside chapel he stopped to visit. ``I'm not coming here for the first time, but it's the first and perhaps the last time as the pope,'' he said outside a chapel he used to kayak past before he left Poland for the Vatican in 1978. ``No, no!'' some of the crowd of 500 shouted. Others broke into the traditional song, ``Sto lat,'' which means ``May he live 100 years.'' ``I have tears in my eyes because he said it was his last visit here,'' said Zofia Ostrowska, 65. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://home.ease.lsoft.com/archives/CTRL.html http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
