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Important Aspects of the Resumption of the Orthodox – Oriental Orthodox Dialogue

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Source: Peter Anderson, Seattle USA

Meeting of the Orthodox Churches Representatives at the Papal Residence in Saint Bishoy’s Monastery, Wadi El-Natroun, Egypt

At the invitation of Pope Tawadros II, primate of the Coptic Church, a meeting was held last month between representatives of the Oriental Orthodox Churches (sometimes referred to as the Ancient Oriental Churches) and the Orthodox Churches.   In my opinion, this was an extremely important meeting, although it has received very little attention in the media.  As you know, the Oriental Orthodox Churches are those churches that did not accept the Council of Chalcedon (451) but accepted the prior three ecumenical councils.  The Orthodox Churches are those that did accept the Council and follow the Byzantine tradition.  The meeting was held at the famous Coptic Monastery of Saint Bishoy located in Wadi El Natrun, 110 km northwest of Cairo on September 16 and 17.  The official communique issued at the end of the meeting can be read in English at the website of the Coptic Church,  https://copticorthodox.church/en/2024/09/17/meeting-of-the-orthodox-churches-representatives-at-the-papal-residence-in-saint-bishoys-monastery/ .  The Moscow Patriarchate reported the meeting at https://mospat.ru/ru/news/92262/ .  The Romanian Patriarchate reported the meeting at  https://basilica.ro/en/dialogue-between-orthodox-church-and-oriental-churches-resumes-after-31-years-in-cairo/ .

The Moscow Patriarchate’s website reported the churches attending the meeting as follows:  “On the Orthodox side, delegates from the Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Cypriot, Greek, Polish, Albanian Orthodox Churches and the Orthodox Church in America took part in the work of the Conference.  On the Ancient Oriental side, there were representatives of the Coptic, Syrian Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic (Etchmiadzin and Cilician Catholicates) and Eritrean Churches.”   The Orthodox Churches that were not present were those of Serbia, Georgia, and Czech Lands and Slovakia, as well as the Orthodox Church of Ukraine and the Church of North Macedonia.  Those Oriental Orthodox Churches that were not present were the Ethiopian and Malankara Churches.   The Coptic Churches website describes the attendees as follows:  “Each Church was represented by two members who were from Russia, Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Cyprus, Jerusalem, Syria, Lebanon, Armenia, Poland, Egypt, Eritrea and Albania.”  The two representatives of the Moscow Patriarchate were “Bishop Kirill of Sergiev Posad and Dmitrov, abbot of the Holy Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius, rector of the Moscow Theological Academy, and Hieromonk Stefan (Igumnov), secretary of the Department of External Church Relations for inter-Christian relations.”   The two representatives of the Romanian Patriarchate were “Bishop Benedict of Bistrița, assistant bishop of the Archdiocese of Vad, Feleac, and Cluj, and Fr. Viorel Ioniță, honorary patriarchal counsellor.”

According to the official communique, this was “a preparatory meeting of the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches “For the love of Christ compels us” (II Corinthians 5:14), dedicated to the unity of the Orthodox Churches.”  The communique stated in part:

Gathered in the name of the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the members of the meeting attended a prayer, at the Transfiguration Church, led by His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, who welcomed everyone with sincere joy and emphasized: “building relations of love in Christ, deepening our understanding of each other, continuous dialogue, and relentless prayers would […] take us all to the heart of Our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that “ we need to have one Orthodox voice built on a mutual view of global social issues that are forming a great concern now for our churches.”

His All-Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, underlined in his message: “Our concern for and our dedication to the task of Christian unity […] springing from a sense of responsibility and from the conviction that mutual understanding and cooperation are of fundamental importance if we never wish to ‘put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ,’ (I Cor. 9:12) with the common goal being ‘the ultimate restoration of unity in true faith and love.'”

The two co-chairmen of the Joint Commission for the Theological dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches, HE Elder Metropolitan Emmanuel of Chalcedon (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and HE Metropolitan Thomas of Quosia and Mir (Coptic Orthodox Church) made introductions regarding the previous stages and achievements of the dialogue, and recommendations for future steps.  HE Metropolitan Emmanuel also recalled the blessed memory of Metropolitan Bishoy of Damietta, former co-chairman, who played a predominant and decisive role together with his late predecessors Metropolitan Damaskinos of Switzerland and Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Myra, the first co-chairman, for their tireless efforts for having advanced rapidly the theological dialogue.  Moreover, HE Metropolitan Thomas pointed out the need for an immediate action towards the implementation of the agreements of the Dialogue and noted that in our days the voice of the Orthodox faith can bring hope to the people and restore Christianity in the fragile society of today’s world. 

The representatives of the two Orthodox families met in an atmosphere of Christian fraternal love in the round table.  They recognized the successful steps of the dialogue while elaborating the concrete measures needed for the restoration of full communion by considering a ‘Road Map’ previously prepared by the working group of official delegates in Athens, 24th-25th November 2014.  An intense and fruitful discussion took place.  Separate meetings of the families discussed the issues from the perspective of each family followed by a series of plenary sessions, addressing: the stance of each Church on the Agreed Statements; how to implement them, how to proceed, and how to deal together with contemporary challenges, including social and ethical issues, facing the Orthodox.

Furthermore, with one voice and in faithfulness to our shared theological, biblical and patristic tradition, all members raised the issue of the crisis surrounding family matters and anthropological challenges present in today’s secular society. They expressed the wish that all Christians may become ambassadors (cf. II Cor 5:20) of Christ’s message to the modern society, in order to transfigure the world with the light of truth and wisdom.

….

The participants unanimously agreed that:
i) the two Joint Sub-Committees on liturgical and pastoral issues continue their work;
ii) the two co-chairmen of the Commission visit the Primates of the Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches in order to communicate the positive outcome of the dialogue and to receive their feedback regarding the signed Agreed Statements and Proposals;
iii) a joint website to be created, containing all the necessary documents of the previous bilateral dialogue at the disposal of the new members of the Joint Commission to be appointed by their Churches, to facilitate the decision making process;
iv) the two Orthodox families involve all levels of the clergy, monastics and lay people in the implementation of the dialogue. 
 

The Coptic website noted that the last such meeting was 34 years ago in 1990.  According to the website of the Romanian Patriarchate, it was the resumption of the dialogue of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches “after a 31-year hiatus.”   According the website of the Moscow Patriarchate, the meeting “was devoted to issues of strengthening unity between the Local Orthodox Churches and the Ancient Eastern Churches, primarily in terms of implementing the results of the official theological dialogue that took place in 1989-1993 – during the active work of the Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Ancient Eastern Churches.”

One of the most interesting aspects of this meeting is that the Moscow Patriarchate participated in it even though the co-chairman of the Joint Commission is Metropolitan Emmanuel of the Ecumenical Patriarchate.  As you recall, the Holy Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate on September 14, 2018, decided to “to interrupt the participation of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Episcopal Assemblies, in theological dialogues, multilateral commissions and all other structures in which the representatives of the Patriarchate of Constantinople are co-chairs.”  https://mospat.ru/ru/news/47198/  It can be argued that the meeting hosted by Pope Tawadros II was a “preparatory meeting” and thus not within the foregoing limitation imposed by the Holy Synod.  However, there will presumably be future meetings of the Joint Commission as well as of the two subcommittees that are established.  The Moscow Patriarchate will need to decide whether to participate in these or not.  In the last year, the Moscow Patriarchate has placed great emphasis on contacts with the Oriental Orthodox Churches.  It also seeks to maintain very good relations with the Coptic Church and Pope Tawadros – perhaps due to the present existence of the Moscow Patriarchate in Africa.  My guess is that the Moscow Patriarchate will establish an exception for this dialogue and will continue to participate.  Another interesting aspect is that the Moscow Patriarchate’s website stated that the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) had delegates at the meeting.  However, the website of the Coptic Church listed no delegation from the U.S.  In the past the Ecumenical Patriarchate had not agreed to the presence of the OCA on international dialogue commissions as the Ecumenical Patriarchate has not recognized the autocephaly of the OCA.  Maybe the Ecumenical Patriarchate will make an exception with respect to the Orthodox – Oriental Orthodox Commission.

It is interesting that the resumption of the dialogue of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with the Orthodox Church occurs a few months after the suspension of the dialogue of the Oriental Orthodox Churches with the Catholic Church.  With respect to both the resumption and the suspension, the leader has been Pope Tawadros.  Perhaps Pope Tawadros, who is a strong believer in Christian unity, decided to change his focus to the Orthodox after the dialogue with the Catholics was suspended. The suspension of the Catholic dialogue was covered in my previous newsletters.  On March 7, 2024, the Holy Synod of the Coptic Church suspended the dialogue between the Coptic Church and the Catholic Church “after consulting with the sister churches of the Eastern Orthodox family.”  At the same time, the Holy Synod adopted a statement on “The Belief of the Coptic Orthodox Church on the Issue of Homosexuality.”   https://copticorthodox.church/en/holy-synod/holy-synod-session-march-2024/  It is clear that the suspension was triggered by the issuance by the Vatican of Fiducia Supplicans relating to same sex blessings.  https://www.ewtnvatican.com/articles/coptic-orthodox-church-confirms-dialogue-with-catholic-church-suspended-over-same-sex-blessings-2273   On May 22, Cardinal Victor Fernández, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith who signed Fiducia Supplicans, made a special trip to Cairo to explain to Pope Tawadros the Vatican’s position on same-sex blessings.   https://copticorthodox.church/en/2024/05/22/h-h-pope-tawadros-ii-receives-cardinal-victor-fernandez-envoy-of-the-pope-of-the-vatican-and-head-of-the-vaticans-department-of-doctrine-and-faith/ .   However, it appears that Pope Tawadros was not persuaded.

The communique issued after the September 16-17 meeting addressed only one substantive issue.  It stated that matrimony was  “the indissoluble and loving union between a man and a woman.”  It affirmed: “Our Churches categorically reject the justification of same-sex relations within what is called ‘absolute human freedom’ which causes harm to humanity.”   As was true of the statement of the Holy Synod of the Coptic Church issued on March 7, the statement of September 17 does not specifically mention same-sex blessings.  However, it is likely that the reason for raising this topic was the issuance of the Vatican’s statement relating to same-sex blessings as was true for the Coptic statement of March 7.  In fact it is likely that Pope Tawadros desired that the statement be made in the communique to show that his concerns with respect to same-sex blessings are shared by all of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches.

The communique also made the following appeal:  “As 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the first ecumenical council of Nicaea, and Christians around the world will celebrate Pascha at the same date, the representatives of the two families expressed their wish that all Christians in the whole world celebrate Pascha following the canonical tradition of Nicaea and the Orthodox Paschalion.”   Some non-Orthodox may not be familiar with the “Orthodox Paschalion.”  The following are two paragraphs that I wrote in an article a few years ago explaining the Paschalion:

The Julian calendar, decreed by Julius Caesar in 45 BC, made every fourth year a leap year.  With respect to Easter, the first Council of Nicaea decided in 325 that it would be observed on the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.   Several centuries later, a table, called the Paschalion, was developed to determine when the paschal full moon would occur in future years.  Using both the Julian calendar and a lunar calendar, it was an excellent effort to predict the actual dates of the equinox and full moons, but it was not exact.  For centuries [until 1582], both the Orthodox and Catholic Churches used the Paschalion to determine the dates of the equinox and the paschal full moon as opposed to using physical observations of the sun and moon.

By 1582, the errors of the Julian calendar had caused the Paschalion to be wrong by ten days with respect to the date of the equinox and wrong by approximately four days for the phases of the moon.  To correct these errors, Pope Gregory XIII degreed that ten days would be eliminated in October 1582 and that a limited exception would be made to the leap year rule of the Julian calendar.   Under the exception, the leap year would not be observed in centennial years (divisible by 100) but that centennial years divisible by 600 would remain leap years.  It was also discovered that this new “Gregorian calendar” did not work with the Paschalion, and it was necessary for the Catholic Church to develop a new and different Easter table (“computus”).

There was some hope that both the East and the West could adopt in 2025 a new way of computing Pascha based on astronomical data.  However, the communique shows that there is simply not an Orthodox consensus to change their way (used by all of the Orthodox Churches except Finland) of computing Pascha.  Indeed, the Synaxis of the Hierarchs of the Ecumenical Throne (Ecumenical Patriarchate) stated on September 3, 2024:  “In this spirit, the unanimous wish is expressed that the common celebration of Pascha next year by Eastern and Western Christianity should not be merely a happy coincidence, but the beginning of the establishment of a common date for its annual celebration, according to the Paschalion of our Orthodox Church.”    Now, the Western Christian churches need to respond to this Orthodox suggestion.  In my opinion, the decision involves the question of whether one should accept astronomical error (with respect to the first full moon after the spring equinox) for the sake of Christian unity.  In the 21st Century, the latest Orthodox Pascha will be May 7 (2051).  In the 22nd Century, the latest Orthodox Pascha date will be May 9 (2173). For the 40th Century, the latest Orthodox Pascha date will be May 22 (3932).   http://5ko.free.fr/en/easter.php?y=40

Peter Anderson, Seattle USA

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