VATICAN CITY (AP) -- High-ranking Orthodox churchmen from Greece are coming to Rome to pay a call on Pope John Paul II, whose daring trip to Athens last year aimed to narrow the 1,000-year-old chasm between Eastern and Western Churches.
The Vatican said Thursday that Greek Orthodox leader Christodoulous, archbishop of Athens, had responded favorably to an invitation by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Unity of Christians to send a delegation.
Leading the delegation, scheduled to arrive on Friday and to meet with John Paul on Monday, will be Athens Metropolitan Pandeleimon.
The Eastern and Western churches began drifting apart in the 5th century. The break became definitive in 1054, when they split in a dispute over papal authority that still remains a major thorn in their relations.
While in Greece last year, the first papal visit to Greece in nearly 13 centuries, John Paul declared that he would ask God's forgiveness for ``sins of action and omission'' by Roman Catholics against Orthodox Christians, including such ``painful memories'' as the 1204 sacking by crusaders of Constantinople, the ancient center of Greek Byzantium.
The apology came during a meeting with Christodoulos.
In Athens, the Very. Rev. Epifanios Ikonomou, spokesman for the Holy Synod, a body of senior clerics that governs the church, said the papal visit was a ``first step to break the ice'' and called the visit to Rome by the Orthodox churchman ``historic.''
While in Rome, the Orthodox leaders will also pray in St. Peter's Basilica, visit catacombs, which were the underground burial places of ancient Christians, and tour the Sistine Chapel, with its frescoes by Michelangelo.
The pope's top churchman charged with working to improve relations among Christians, Cardinal Walter Kasper, will hold a luncheon in the delegation's honor.
Discussions will touch on topics of general Christian interest, such as religious freedom and bioethics.