Conversations with Patriarch Afinagor. Kleman O.

This book is a story about a meeting. So represented by the famous Orthodox theologian Olivier Cleman recorded by him with the Constantinople Patriarch Athenagor. Through the prism of this meeting, the reader enters the world of Orthodoxy of the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, the United States of America, the beginning of the last century, finally into the life of the Patriarch himself, which has already become part of the history of the twentieth century. The key event of this story is the abolition of anathemas in 1965, mutually imposed on each other by Rome and Constantinople in 1054. The second part of the book “Words”, dedicated to the conversations of two Orthodox thinkers, reveals the confession of Vera Athanagor, the faith based on his inner life in Christ, a feeling of his presence in the world, amazement to them. From this sensation there is a persistent demand for Christian unity, which was behind all the words and initiatives of the Ecumenical Patriarch. Its affairs are the third part of the book, which is about both the dialogue with Western Christians, Catholics and Protestants, and about the efforts of the Patriarch to achieve unity among the Orthodox churches themselves.

The Samizdat translation of this book was made in the 80s of the last century Vladimir Zelinsky (now a priest). Her first Brussels edition of 1993 has long been dispersed. The translator added a new afterword to the new edition.