Rome must not be new Istanbul Pope Benedict XVI would begin his state visit to Turkey late November starting with Ankara, not Istanbul (Constantinople), to allay apprehensions that it is a Christian-to-Christian affair. Yet, his meeting with Eastern Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew I in Constantinople is the event most avidly awaited. This should bring to mind Pope Paul VI's meeting with Patriarch Athenagorus I of Constantinople at Jerusalem in 1964. It led to the rescinding of the anathema (solemn curse) pronounced by the Church of Constantinople and Rome against each other in 1054.

The 'Great Schism' of the churches of Rome and Constantinople occurred in 1054, as the two had been drifting apart on theological, historical and political grounds for centuries. In 1054, Pope Leo IX and Michael Cerularius pronounced anathema against each other's church leading to mutual excommunication.

The First Crusade, convened by Pope Urban II in 1095, held out an illusory prospect of reunification of the churches. But the Crusades, envisaged as joint-endeavour against Muslim Turks, actually increased the bitterness between the two. The Catholics began to perceive Greek Orthodoxy as an impediment in their mission against Muslims. The Fourth Crusade (1203) was thus undertaken against the Greeks, not Turks, when the Crusade fleet launched from Zara (Italy) for Alexandria (Egypt) was diverted to Constantinople.

One of the objectives of the First Crusade was to baulk the advance of Turks against the Byzantine Empire, which acted as a bulwark of Christendom. Asia Minor that used to be the heartland of the Byzantine Empire is now with Turks. Europe, what was then called Christendom, is now beset with Muslim demography encroaching on its territory. How is Europe going to fashion its response?

As recent as the dissolution of Yugoslavia (1991), Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs slaughtered each other while the common and old enemy Muslims (Bosnians) were killing Christians, destroying their churches, and making Bosnia a hunting ground for jihadis. Islam, which once spread under the shade of the swords, is now spreading through bombs and demography. With a sovereign Muslim state of Kosovo likely to emerge in the vicinity of the Vatican in the near future, Christendom couldn't care less. Constantinople (now Istanbul) was built as Nea Rome (new Rome). Let Rome not become the new Istanbul.

By Priyadarsi Dutta
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