The first time I met, or even heard about, Bishop John Michael Botean of the Romanian Catholic Diocese of Canton, was when he registered as a participant in the first Orientale Lumen Conference in Washington, DC in June 1997. He was a newly consecrated bishop, heard about our conference, and signed up on his own initiative. As I recall, he attended every event, was dynamically involved in all the conversations, and was different from all the other Catholic hierarchs who attended – he stayed until the last session! At that last session, the group unanimously voted to hold a second OL Conference the next year. He and Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos were the two “last men standing” and so were “volunteered” to be the Catholic and Orthodox co-patrons of the Society of St. John Chrysostom and the Orientale Lumen Conferences. When I asked him once “why did you come,” he simply replied, “I was interested in ecumenical progress and wanted to find out what this was all about.”
During those years, Bishop John Michael has become a great friend, confidant and counselor in running the annual meetings, and in planning other ecumenical events. He has attended most of the conferences in Washington, and also attended conferences held in San Diego, CA, Birmingham, UK, and Constantinople (Istanbul), Turkey. In those years, a few interesting stories come to mind.
At the second conference in Constantinople, he gave an impassioned introduction and welcome to His All Holiness, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, at the opening session. His All Holiness came to our hotel meeting room to welcome us to the city, and we likewise welcomed him to the conference. As co-patron, Bishop John Michael prepared a wonderful speech that I believe he read from his ipad! He quoted remarks from the Ecumenical Patriarch about the “Orientale Lumen Movement” and reminded us all of our yearning for Church unity. Most of us were Greek Catholics, and so we trace our liturgical roots to Constantinople. I believe the Patriarch was touched by the bishop’s remarks, and likewise spoke eloquently to us as if we were returning home for a visit.
On that same trip, we organized a weekend tour of Cappadocia in central Turkey. We visited a few religious sites, cave churches, ruins of monasteries, etc. But one of the last places we stopped was an underground city where Christians hid during the persecutions of the Roman Empire. I decided to not go on the walking tour because of leg problems, but Bishop John Michael and Metropolitan Kallistos enthusiastically went with the group. When they returned, somewhat worn out, I asked Metropolitan Kallistos what he thought of the tour. He said it was very interesting, but that the underground rooms were connected by very small tunnels with low ceilings. One had to bend over at the waist and walk through the tunnel with no light for some 30-40 feet to the next chamber. I asked him if he was worried about getting stuck in the tunnel. He replied, “No, Bishop John Michael was directly in front of me. If he got stuck first, I could turn around and still get out. But if HE got through, then I knew that I would fit!”
Bishop John Michael also joined us on a couple of ecumenical visits with Archbishop Vsevolod to Rome when we met Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict in private audiences, along with other Vatican officials.
Over the years, His Grace has occasionally served as the moderator for the OL Conference, celebrated the Divine Liturgy on more than one occasion, and always contributed to the panel discussions with the other speakers. Throughout, he has been a stalwart proponent of ecumenical friendships, welcoming all of our lay persons, clergy, theologians, historians, and all types of hierarchs – bishops, archbishops, metropolitans, cardinals and even a couple of patriarchs. His friendship and easy manner has been of great benefit to the conferences and the entire Orientale Lumen movement, which would not have been as successful without his involvement. I also believe that his tireless commitment to Church unity, and his connection with Orientale Lumen, has elevated its stature within the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. His sense of purpose has given our work a very strong degree of “legitimacy” that has led Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew to remark on our tenth anniversary, “Although you consider yourselves a ‘grass roots’ movement, I am convinced it is ‘rooted in heaven.’” Bishop John Michael and his inspiration by the Holy Spirit has made this all possible!