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 Just as the apostles Peter
and Andrew were brothers, so the Churches of which they are
the patron Saints: Peter of Rome and Andrew of Constantinople
ought to be united. And
what unity should they have? The unity which is expressed in
the icon, the unity of two different personalities , even different
roles in the
Church, but one sharing in the love of each other which is
the very life of the Trinity.
This love is expressed between
these Apostles by believing one faith, offering one worship,
and living one witness to the world. This is the unity which the Christian
Churches are trying to complete. This is the goal of Ecumenism.
The icon was given as a
gift by His All-Holiness Athenagoras, Patriarch of Constantinople
to His Holiness Paul VI, Pope of Rome in 1964, the year they
consigned the anathamas between their Churches to oblivion. The
icon represents the special brotherly bond, founded in the brotherhood
of the
two Apostles, between the two occupants of the Sees of Peter
and Andrew, between particular
Churches of Rome and Constantinople which they represent, and
between all Orthodox and all Catholics.
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