Look East for Ecumenism

About three miles northeast of the Hagia Sophia on the Golden
Horn one will find the Phanar, home to the Ecumenical Patriarchate and site of
the recent pan-Orthodox assembly, or “Synaxis” of the primates of the Autocephalous
Orthodox Churches (not including the Oriental Orthodox). Called by His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew, the importance of the assembly extends beyond Orthodoxy, giving
hope for all Protestants and Catholics who pray for the unity of the church.

At the conclusion of the Synaxis the patriarchs issued a joint
statement stating
their desire “to reinforce our unity through communion and cooperation.” In
Orthodox terms, the global witness of the church occurs in and through its
synodality, the convening of church councils. As the Ecumenical Patriarch
pointed out in his opening address,
to deal with the problems of secularity “there is one necessary condition,
namely the unity of our Church and the prospect of addressing the contemporary
world with a unified voice.”

Both the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synaxis have put the
challenge of balancing the autocephaly of the Orthodox churches—the fact that
they are in communion while maintaining hierarchical independence—with their
unity front and center. Although no easy task, this is a welcome development.
The seriousness of their intention is underscored by a further commitment to
work toward a Holy Synod in 2016. If the Orthodox churches can speak with a
united voice through the work of a Holy Synod, it can have a powerful effect
for all Christians.

This push toward synodality is not a recent development, but the
signs of its success are encouraging. The Ecumenical Patriarch underscored the
fact that the Holy Synod is the means of expressing the fundamental unity of
the Orthodox churches. Ideally, a synod holds together the global and local
nature of the church because the patriarchs represent their own churches while
forging a consensus that applies to all. Such a move toward synodality
harmonizes with Pope Francis’ desire to shift the focus away from Rome and
toward the local by utilizing the same means. All Protestants should rejoice at
these moves to emphasize the local because they represent a democratization
that can give expression to the people of God. As Nicholas Afanasiev has noted, the bishops should lead the flock without domination through the gifts of the Spirit that remain within the church.  This can happen when they acknowledge that “within the people of God, who constitute the Church, each one of the faithful, and not just the pastors, is established priest and king by his God.” What results is a communion of mutual love and submission concretely expressed in and through the synod.

The concern for unity identifies the second issue of Orthodox
mission in the world. Such a mission begins with a recognition of the plurality
of the modern world, which extends to a plurality among Christians. It is heartening
to see the primates “reaffirm our obligation at all times to be open in our
contact with ‘the other’: with other people and other cultures, as well as with
other Christians and people of other faiths.” I say this as one of those “other
Christians.” A posture of openness to the other in recognition of the plurality
of the modern world suggests the possibility of the Orthodox deepening their
commitment to ecumenical conversations with the many diverse forms of
Protestantism. At least, I hope that this is the signal being sent by the
Synaxis.

Currently, any bilateral ecumenical dialogue with the Orthodox
churches remains difficult precisely because of the need to have all the
patriarchs endorse such a dialogue for it to be a genuinely pan-Orthodox affair.
A pan-Orthodox synod is the natural place for such an endorsement to occur.
Without this endorsement other Christian communions must remain content to
dialogue with this or that Orthodox church rather than the entire Orthodox
communion. The implication is that any statement issued by such a dialogue
would only apply to one autocephalous church. For example, the Finnish Lutheran
Church has had an ongoing dialogue with the Moscow Patriarchate for quite some
time, but this dialogue does not carry any jurisdictional weight with other
Orthodox churches.

Protestants and Catholics should welcome a united Orthodox
witness in mission because it can open to the door to a common Christian
witness. Of course, the road to a Holy Synod will not be easy for the primates
even with a consultative group. The withdrawal of the Antiochian
delegation from the Synaxis over
the conflict with the Jerusalem Patriarchate reveals the ongoing challenge. The
issue is the creation of an archdiocese by the Patriarch of Jerusalem within
the jurisdiction of the Antiochian Orthodox Church. Thus far efforts to resolve
the dispute have been unsuccessful. One can only hope that efforts to maintain
communion between these two Orthodox churches will succeed.

I do not know what the future holds for a common witness to the
Christian faith. The current fracturing of Protestantism suggests that we may
be in for an ecumenical winter. At the same time, the movement toward a Holy
Synod, like the recent extension of friendship by Pope Francis to Pentecostals,
may be signs of spring. Common witness must begin at the local level before it
can move to the global, which is why I pray for a strong, united Orthodox
presence in the world in the same way that I pray for the many tongues of
Pentecost to return to the one Spirit and one baptism from which they spring.
In the words of the late Avery Dulles, ecumenical theology must be “biblically
rooted, ecclesially responsible, open to criticism, and sensitive to the
present leading of the Spirit.” Ecclesial responsibility requires adherence to
one’s local expression while biblical rootedness and openness to criticism
acknowledge the global; and yet, enveloping them all is the leading of the
Spirit who inspires the Scriptures, illuminates the mind, and transforms the
heart. This is why we all participate in the Benedictine call of ora
et labora at the
local level in the service of a global witness.