{"id":47053,"date":"2017-02-11T14:22:39","date_gmt":"2017-02-11T17:22:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fraterinternacional.org\/?p=47053\/"},"modified":"2017-02-11T14:22:39","modified_gmt":"2017-02-11T17:22:39","slug":"greece-mission-the-fraternidade-awakens-seeds-of-ecumenical-unity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fraterinternacional.org\/en\/greece-mission-the-fraternidade-awakens-seeds-of-ecumenical-unity\/","title":{"rendered":"Greece Mission \u2013 the Fraternidade awakens seeds of ecumenical unity"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The missionaries<\/a> of the Fraternidade \u2013 International Humanitarian Federation<\/strong> \u2013 who participate in the Greece Mission<\/a> report that their solidary actions open to all begin to activate the interest of people about ecumenical unity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get integrated more and more with the groups of help to refugees and with the needy, with whom we interact. Both Catholics and Orthodox begin us a lot about our work. All of them think we must belong to a church, and when we talk about ecumenism, they stare at us, admiringly\u201d, tells Teresa, one of the missionaries of the Fraternidade.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Participating in mass of Orthodox church<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cWe feel we are participating in an ecumenical movement, because they ask us from where we come, what we do and what is our religious guidance. When we answer, they perceive that we fulfill the same tasks, both in Europe and in South America. They feel glad and thank us. This strengthens the bonds in a fraternal way\u201d, states Imer,\u00a0another member of the Mission.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we explain that we relate to all children of God, regardless of their religion and of their belief, they like it very much. In Greece, the official religion is the Orthodox, and there are many Catholics, but when people like us appear, who propose to unite the religions, this becomes a very interesting novelty\u201d. Teresa tells us that \u201csomeone said once: \u2018it is like the unity of everyone\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

Visit, with Catholic nuns, to imprisoned refugees<\/p><\/div>\n

In a conference proffered on January 1, 2012, the spiritualistic philosopher Jos\u00e9 Trigueirinho<\/a>, co-founder of the Fraternidade \u2013 International Humanitarian Federation<\/strong> \u2013 explained that ecumenism is to live unity with all and everyone, not only among ideologies or religions, always from the heart and never from the mind; it is to accept that all of us have come from the same Single Consciousness, which the majority calls God, it is to learn to be inside this Single Consciousness all the time.<\/p>\n

To attain this, it is necessary to practice the exercise of going inside oneself and to stay there, without letting oneself be influenced\u00a0by the distractions of the mind, until one manages to reconnect with one\u2019s own higher level, with one\u2019s own divinity. Requirements for this is to learn to be empty of all, without expectations, without prejudices, without believing one know anything, pure and humble, open to accept the other just as they appear to be, and willing to collaborate with all, without choosing, without preferences. The complete version of this conference can be found on the CD \u201cEcumenismo<\/a>\u201d (in Portuguese), of Irdin Editora<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nowadays, the missionaries of Greece Mission support social works of the Catholic organizations Missionaries of Charity and Caritas Hellas, in Athens, as well as social works of the Orthodox church Saints Theodori, of the city of Anavissos, 50 km Southeast of the Greek capital.<\/p>\n\n\t\t