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| Orthodox Christian Church and Ecumenism |
| Part 3 |
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| The presence of a Church in the Ecumenical Council does not mean the acceptance 'per se' of the unity of faith and of the Eucharistic communion with the other Churches member. The ecumenical dialogue serves the cause of the reconstitution of the unity of all Christians, but is not identical to the union of the Churches as such. The WCC is rather a forum where the Churches clarify their divergent and convergent points. The Churches themselves will decide the union. The participation of the Orthodox Church in the ensemble of the ecumenical dialogue is based on criteria and principles of work. The ecumenical problem is not the unity of the Church ' per se', which is given by God and preserved in a historical way and is visible in the Orthodox Church, but the historical disunity of Christianity. The schism is not inside the Churches, but in the separation of the Christian confessions from the undivided Church, that is in direct continuation with the Apostles and the patristic Tradition. The restoration of the visible unity of the Church is not a problem of centralization of the Church, nor of uniformity, neither of confessional plurality, but of a union of common faith. The disagreements among the Churches exist not only at the level of theological formulations, but at the level of content of the doctrine of faith. The unity of faith must overcome the actual confessional pluralism. There exists an organic relation between the union of faith and the eucharistic communion, in the sense that the Eucharist is the visible sacramental expression of a local Church that makes the same confession of faith. The goal of ecumenism is to be found in the Eucharistic foundation of the unseen communion. There are elements convergent and complementary in all the Christian Churches. The common acceptance of these elements does not mean a separate accord of a specific doctrine, but their integration in the common faith of the unbroken tradition. The Churches make common confession in all the cultural situations, social milieu and political systems. To recognize the diversity that exists, including the pluralism of the theological methods, is part of the process of the Tradition. There is an ecumenical ethic that takes into consideration the right of every Church to have its own ecclesiological conception and teaching about the ecumenical movement. Those include the abstention from all forms of proselytism, the rejection of the appeal to unity, and non-interest in the internal affairs of the local Churches. Modern ecumenism is both a movement and an ecclesiological heresy. It is founded upon many of the principles of Freemasonry with roots in other organizations, and is a grave threat to the very "pillar and foundation of the Truth" (1 Timothy 3:15) itself - the Church.  |
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