Wishes

Ecumenism: card. Marx’s message to Metropolitan bishop Augoustinos for his 80th birthday. “Thank you for your efforts”

(Foto Siciliani-Gennari/SIR)

“The German Catholic Church is thankful to you for your generous service and for your ecumenical testimony, rooted in Christian faith. I thank you for your good relationships, for our fraternal exchanges, and for the honesty we cherish”. These are the words of card. Reinhard Marx, president of the German Bishops Conference, in a message to the Metropolitan Bishop Augoustinos of the German Greek Orthodox Church, who turns 80 today. In Germany since a young age, for over three decades the Metropolitan Bishop Augoustinos has led the See, and since 2010 he has been president of the German Orthodox Bishops Conference that he strongly wanted to have. “His heart’s desire is dialogue with the Catholic Bishops Conference as well as with the German Evangelical Church”, goes on card. Marx, who praises the Metropolitan Bishop Augoustinos’s care in “theological talks” and the “building of ecumenical bridges”. “The German Bishops Conference thanks you for your efforts”, Marx concludes. “We deem ourselves lucky to see you not just as a defender of ecumenism but also as someone who brings the Orthodox Christians’ voice in our country”.