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ABSTRACT
It is argued that those who uphold Ecumenism and Anti-Ecumenism in Eastern Orthodoxy share much more in common than is normally thought to be the case. Both groups see the Orthodox Church as the Una Sancta of the Creed and that Orthodoxy must always witness to itself as the fullness of the Christian faith. They also both see ecumenical encounter (whether in dialogue or in condemnation of the Other) as being a species of civilisational dialogue between two very different realities of Christian East and West. Ultimately, it is contended, both parties have much to learn from one another so that their opposition is not a sterile but a creative antinomy.
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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
1 Here I am adapting the typology of inter-religious dialogue/encounter of Moyaert, ‘Chapter 9: Interreligious Dialogue’, 202–4. A separate paper would be needed to discuss why increasingly the study of inter-religious dialogue is often more appropriate for understanding Eastern Orthodox/Western Christian relations rather than the much more usual lens of intra-Christian ecumenical studies.
2 Lossky, ‘Orthodoxy’, 868–72, at 869.
3 See Demacopoulos and Papanikolaou, Orthodox Constructions of the ‘West’ (2013) and Orthodox Readings of Augustine (2008).
4 McGuckin, ‘The Role of Orthodoxy in World Christianity Today’, 3–8, at 7.
5 See Gallaher, ‘Fr. Sergius Bulgakov' in Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism, 201–6.
6 Bulgakov, quoted in Zernov, The Russian Religious Renaissance of the Twentieth Century, 229.
7 Gallaher, ‘Bulgakov and Intercommunion’ (sequel to ‘Bulgakov’s Ecumenical Thought’, q.v.); 'Catholic Action'; and 'Great and full of Grace', 69–121.
8 Bulgakov, ‘By Jacob’s Well – John IV. 23 (On the Actual Unity of the Divided Church in Faith, Prayer and Sacraments)’, 17, and at Father Sergius Bulgakov 1871–1944. A Collection of Articles by Fr. Bulgakov, 11. See also Bulgakov, ‘Spiritual Intercommunion’, 7 and at Collection, 32.
9 Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church, 189.
10 Ibid., 188.
11 See Kartashev, ‘The Paths Towards the Reunion of the Churches’, 11. (This and other related articles are re-collected in Plekon, ed., Tradition Alive).
12 Bulgakov, ‘Ways to Church Reunion’, 7-9, 12-13 and at Collection, 22-24, 26-27.
13 Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church, 188.
14 Bulgakov, The Orthodox Church, 188.
15 Ibid., 188–9 and see Kartashev, ‘Intercommunion and Dogmatic Agreement’, 43 and 46.
16 Bulgakov, ‘The Church Universal’, 11.
17 Bulgakov, ‘Outlines of the Teaching about the Church' (1931), 418.
18 Louth, Modern Orthodox Thinkers, 147.
19 Popović, ‘Papism as the Oldest Protestantism’.
20 Ibid.
21 See Gallaher and Ladouceur, eds, The Patristic Witness of Georges Florovsky.
22 See Gallaher, ‘Bulgakov and Intercommunion’ (sequel to ‘Bulgakov’s Ecumenical Thought’, q.v.); ‘Catholic Action’; ‘Great and Full of Grace’, 69–121; and ‘Fr. Sergius Bulgakov’ in Orthodox Handbook on Ecumenism, 201–6.
23 Florovsky, ‘The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Movement’, 72.
24 Florovsky, ‘Confessional Loyalty in the Ecumenical Movement’, 204.
25 Ibid., 204–5.
26 Florovsky, cited in ‘Report of Conference held at High Leigh, June 26–28, 1934, on “The Healing of Schism”’, 6.
27 Florovsky, ‘The Challenge of Disunity’, 36.
28 See Gallaher, ‘Waiting for the Barbarians’, and ‘A Re-envisioning of Neo-Patristic Synthesis?: Orthodox Identity and Polemicism’, 25–92.
29 See Mascall, ‘Obituary of Florovsky’. On the influence of Augustine, see Künkel, Totus Christus and Cohen, ‘Sacraments and the Visible Unity of the Church’.
30 Revised Version of ‘Quest for Christian Unity: The Challenge of Disunity’ (1955), Georges Florovsky Papers, Manuscript Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library, Bx. 3. F. 11, p.29.
31 Ibid., 29; Compare, Florovsky, ‘Review of L.A. Zander’ and ‘The Challenge of Disunity’, 32–33.
32 Florovsky, ‘Une vue sur l’Assemblée d’Amsterdam’, 9.
33 Florovsky, ‘Confessional Loyalty in the Ecumenical Movement’, 204–5.
34 Cf. Florovsky, ‘The Doctrine of the Church and the Ecumenical Movement’.
35 See Bulgakov, ‘Ocherki ucheniia o tserkvi. (III). Tserkov’ i ‘Inoslavie’’, Put’, 4 (June–July 1926), 3–26.
36 See Cohen, ‘Sacraments and the Visible Unity of the Church’.
37 ‘Announcement of the Extraordinary Joint Conference of the Sacred Community of the Holy Mount Athos [April 9/22, 1980]’.
38 ‘Toronto Statement, 15 July 1950’.
39 Konrad Raiser, ‘Orthodox Contribution to the WCC’. Public lecture at an international symposium on ‘Orthodox theology and the future of ecumenical dialogue: perspectives and problems’, Thessaloniki, Greece, 1–3 June 2003.
40 ‘Toronto Statement, 15 July 1950’.
41 ‘Orthodox contribution to New Delhi Assembly–Section Report on Unity, New Delhi, India, 1961’ (emphasis added). Compare ‘New Valamo Meeting–New Valamo, Finland, September 1977’.
42 ‘Thessaloniki statement-Thessaloniki, Greece, May 1998’.
43 Aram I, ‘Excerpts from moderator’s report to the eighth assembly, 1 December 1998, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998’. Compare Aram I, ‘For a Creative Orthodox-Protestant dialogue, 1 December 1999’.
44 ‘Towards a Protestant-Orthodox dialogue within the WCC-Minutes from a Central Committee ‘Padare’ session, 27 August 1999’.
45 Peter Bouteneff, ‘The Orthodox churches, the WCC, and the upcoming assembly, 1 October 1998’.
46 For further discussion, see Gallaher, ‘The Orthodox Moment’.
47 ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, 5th Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conference, Chambésy, 10–17 October 2015’ (emphasis added).
48 See ‘Oikoumenismos: Mētropolitēs Naupaktou Kai Agiou Vlasiou Ierotheos Vlachos–Ta ‘Schismata Tōn Ekklēsiōn’.
49 ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’, Council of Crete (2016) (emphasis added).
50 See Gallaher, ‘Orthodoxy and the West – The Problem of Orthodox Self-Criticism in Christos Yannaras’.
51 See for example the attempt to respond as Orthodox to LGBTQ+/sexual diversity: Gallaher, ‘Tangling with Orthodox Tradition in the Modern West: Natural Law, Homosexuality, and Living Tradition’ and the British Council Bridging Voices joint Exeter-Fordham project led by Brandon Gallaher, Aristotle Papanikolaou and Gregory Tucker, ‘Contemporary Eastern Orthodox Identity and the Challenges of Pluralism and Sexual Diversity in a Secular Age’: ‘British Council Awards Grants for Bridging Voices Addressing the Role of Religion on Culture and Policy’, British Council USA, December 20, 2017, accessed April 15, 2019, https://www.britishcouncil.us/about/press/british-council-awards-grants-bridging-voices-addressing-role-religion-culture-and; ‘Meet the Exeter-Fordham Bridging Voices Consortium’, British Council USA, August 10, 2018, accessed April 15, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKzMDEO_e-E; and Tom Stoelker, ‘British Council Awards Grant to Orthodox Christian Studies Center for LGBTQ Research’, Fordham News, January 18, 2018, accessed April 15, 2019, https://news.fordham.edu/university-news/83996/. Also see the contemporary critique of transhumanism in Gallaher, ‘Godmanhood vs Mangodhood: An Eastern Orthodox Response to Transhumanism’.
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Brandon Gallaher
Brandon Gallaher (D.Phil. in Theology, University of Oxford) is Senior Lecturer of Systematic and Comparative Theology at the University of Exeter and was formerly a postdoctoral and research fellow at the University of Oxford, the University of Notre Dame (IN, USA) and Doshisha University (Kyoto, Japan). His publications include Freedom and Necessity in Modern Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), [with Christopher Hays, Julia Konstantinovsky, Richard Ounsworth, and Casey Strine] When the Son of Man Didn’t Come: A Constructive Proposal Regarding the ‘Delay of the Parousia’ (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2016) and [with Paul Ladouceur] The Patristic Witness of Georges Florovsky: Essential Theological Writings (forthcoming T&T Clark 2019). He is currently working on a book project on the contemporary theological and pastoral challenges to Orthodoxy from modernity including sexual and religious diversity and religious authority. He is a deacon of the Ecumenical Patriarchate and served in June 2016 in Crete at the Eastern Orthodox Holy and Great Council as a Theological Subject Expert in the Ecumenical Patriarchate Press Office.