Mar Aprem
The Ecumenical Contacts of the Assyrian Church of the East during 1984 - 2000
In 1978 H.H. Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV attended the installation of H.H. Pope John Paul II in the Vatican, on November 7 to 9, 1984. He paid an official visit to the new Pope. As a result it was decided to start a dialogue between the two Apostolic Churches. There were five meetings in the following ten years. As a result the Common Christological Declaration was signed by Patriarch Mar Dinkha IV and Pope John Paul II. It was an important ecumenical step welcomed by many Churches, resulting in putting an end to the fifteen hundred years of separation and disagreements. The Pope and the Patriarch concluded their Common Christological Declaration on a practical and positive note.
As a result of the signing of the Common Christological Declaration a Mixed Committee for Theological Dialogue was appointed by the two Churches. The MCTD has met in 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and is scheduled to meet in Florence, Italy, in October, 2000.
The declaration paved the way for the Assyrian Church of the East and her sister, the Chaldean Church, who were separated since 1551, to realise the need to hold direct dialogue between both Churches, since they share common cultural and linguistic ties. They have the same liturgy and same liturgical tongue. It would be a significant step toward a common universal ecumenical agreement when unity begins and is achieved between such Churches sharing the same cultural and linguistic bonds.
Maged Attia
The Coptic Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Movement (1948 - 1998)
Ecumenism is an intrinsic feature of Coptic Orthodoxy. It is an inseparable part of the daily life and witness of the Church that constantly prays that "they may all be one even as thou, Father art in me and I in thee that they also may be in us" (John 17:21). For half a century the Coptic Orthodox Church has participated in a wide range of ecumenical endeavours at various levels: theological search for unity, joint prayers and bible studies, bilateral and multilateral dialogues, common Christian witness et al. Furthermore, since November 1993, ecumenism is a subject taught at the Institute of Pastoral Affairs in Cairo.
The Coptic Orthodox Church has emphasised that Christian unity must be found upon unity of faith and not upon unity of jurisdiction. To this end, the Coptic Orthodox Church has engaged in theological dialogue with the Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Presbyterian Churches, the Swedish Church and World Alliance of Reformed Churches. The purpose of dialogue is to openly canvas the issues which divide the Churches, and in a spirit of love and humility to achieve common ground. The Church does not focus on the quantitative output of dialogues, such as the numbers of agreed statements or reports that they produce. Dialogues are not about paper, they are about people exploring a common faith, as Pope Shenouda and Archbishop Runcie stated in their joint declaration on 1 October 1987.
The Coptic Orthodox Church has contributed considerably to the strengthening and enrichment of the ecumenical movement. Despite some achievements, the task ahead is still formidable with many challenges and hard work necessary to achieve the restoration of the divided body of Christ. Critical issues are the ordination of women to the priesthood and to the episcopate, eucharistic fellowship, proselytism, syncretism, homosexuality and methodologies in dialogue, to name but a few. These require careful consideration as they are regarded as substantive hindrances on the road towards Christian unity.
Fr Colin Barker
Scripture and Tradition
Since the promulgation of the Decree on Ecumenism at the Second Vatican Council, The Roman Catholic Church has been committed to working in the ecumenical movement.
There are two basic problems which should concern us here at this conference:
The ecumenical movement seems to be dominated by Western Christian ideas and theology. I have come to this conclusion because of my own involvement with this movement over many years and in five different countries.
Because of this domination there has been an emphasis on Scripture at both the theoretical and practical levels with Tradition scarcely being mentioned. There are times when I have wondered if we have not come to the point of accepting the Reformation adage of sola Scriptura in both ecumenical discussions and prayer services. Hence the title of this paper, "Scripture and Tradition."
Professor Bogdan Czesz
The Historiosalvific Conception of Time According to Greek Fathers - An Ecumenical Perspective
From the beginning we can see both theologians and philosophers who put the questions about relation between time and eternity. Church Fathers, especially Greeks, found the answer in the linear conception of time. On the line of time which includes proceedings of humanity is history of human salvation. It means that time and eternity connect with each other. Greek Fathers, especially St. Irenaeus, make more understandable this conception through the theory of millenarismus and the typology of a week. The millenary kingdom in this conception is a link between time and eternity, and as a seventh day makes an incoming more possible of our world into the eighth day.
The conception of time according to the Fathers of undivided Church is accepted by Orthodox, Catholic and some Protestant theologians and it can be a very important and enriched element of the ecumenical dialogue.
Rev Dr John R Dupuche
Yoga and Hesychasm
Can there be a Christian Yoga which is at once fully Christian and fully yogic? Does the one tradition cancel out the other or do they need each other if they are to be themselves?
This paper briefly analyses the terms "hesychasm" and "yoga" and studies a passage attributed to Nicephorus (thirteenth century), showing to what extent it can be read either as a hesychast text or as a yogic text. The paper suggests the way in which Yoga and Christian prayer serve each other. An Orthodox text thus provides one of the earliest steps in the process of reconciling Yoga and the Gospel.
Fr George D Gallaro
The Byzantine Church of Italy: Tensions and Communion
The history of the Byzantine Church of Italy should be distinguished in three periods. During the first period, which follows the Council of Florence, the newcomers from Albania settled in the existing Greek territory of Southern Italy. Without any seeming problem, they remained in communion both with the Pope, primate of Italy, and with the Orthodox Archbishop of Ochrid in modern Macedonia. The Council of Trent marks a turning point. Pope Pius IV abolished all the privileges and exemptions they had benefited from (1564), maintaining, however, the Greek Rite. Gradually this gave rise to a "Church of the Greek Rite" with only an "Ordaining Bishop" who did not have any jurisdiction over his flock. It was first Pope Benedict XV and then Pope Pius XI who, in contemporary times, returned to the Italo-Albanians their Ordinary Bishops, thus giving their community a consistent ecclesiology, although it still needs to fulfill all the conditions laid down in the Codex Canonum Ecclesiarum Orientalium in order to be recognised as an Ecclesia sui juris. From the ecumenical point of view the Byzantine Catholic Church of Italy has preserved, within the communion of the Roman Catholic Church, a legitimate ecclesial diversity and it has maintained good relations with the Orthodox hierarchy of Constantinople, Greece, and Crete, so that in their eyes it is not considered as uniate.
Professor Joseph M Hallman
Divine Suffering Among the "Monophysites" - Severus of Antioch and Philoxenus of Mabbug
One of the main issues argued after the Council of Chalcedon was unexamined during that council, an issue which continues to cause controversy even today, that of divine immutability and impassibility. Currently there is a vast theological literature which is critical of that traditional teaching. The supporters of Chalcedon, such as Pope Leo, felt strongly that the two natures Christology allowed all change and suffering in Christ to be attributed to his human nature, thereby preserving the divine person from imperfection. By appealing to Cyril of Alexandria's use of the mia physis formula, those who were unhappy with the two-nature Christology argued that other ways could be found to protect divine immutability and impassibility, ways more faithful to Alexandrian Christology from Athanasius on, and importantly, capable of preserving the great soteriological insights of the Eastern Church.
Both Severus and Philoxenus are examples of attempts to argue on the side of Cyril against Chalcedon. While, in my opinion, Severus is unconvincing, Philoxenus sees what must be done in Christology to preserve the mia physis, and to protect the divine attributes, namely, develop a more careful description of precisely what immutability and impassibility mean in the divine case.
Unlike some authors today, I do not think the ancient division between the pro-and anti-Chalcedonian Churches was based merely on semantic differences, but rather on the limitations of the philosophical definitions used on both sides to describe the divine being. I also believe that this issue can perhaps be resolved by extending the "logic" of Philoxenus, that the divine case of immutability and impassibility is unique, and includes the capacity to change and to suffer in some way.
Rev Canon Gordon F Hewitson
A Spiritual Directory in Parish Management - An Offering to East and West
Recognising that it is hard for parishes to set themselves against the centrifugal force of the social order and against the irresistible and hitherto unrecognised forces in post-modern culture, it is nevertheless the Church's task to live in a model of righteousness in administration in the social restructuring of the technological and communications revolution. Short of sealing itself off behind walls of ethnic exclusivity or becoming a millenarian utopian sect, no Church community, Eastern or Western, can claim immunity or special status in the face of the cultural developments of the modern world.
This is not a paper about how to make a parish grow and be successful, but it concerns that underlying spiritual struggle which determines the way the elements of management are used. The spiritual warfare being considered is that of power versus authority, control versus prayer, security as against risk, market share (dominance) as against love, prejudice substituting for faith, acquisition replacing hope, and legal rectitude pretending to be reconciliation.
Dr Robert
Charles Hill
Western Biblical Scholarship's Unacknowledged Debt
Scholars in the West, particularly of the Reformed tradition, tend to ignore the Eastern Fathers when composing modern commentaries on the Bible on the grounds of their linguistic and generally critical limitations. In doing so, they are depriving themselves of the contribution these patristic commentaries make to our knowledge of the biblical text itself, the thought of the biblical authors in general, and the meaning of key terms in the usage of Old and New Testaments. It is time to acknowledge our debt to Orientale Lumen.
Cornelia B Horn
Fire and Holy Spirit in the Bread and in the Cup - Lessons from Ephraem the Syrian on the Eucharist
Ephraem the Syrian, the greatest theological poet among the Fathers of the Church, lived in fourth-century southeastern Asia Minor (modern-day Turkey). He spoke and wrote in Syriac, a dialect of Aramaic and the lingua franca of the Christian East at the time. Serving his Church as a teacher and scriptural commentator, possibly also as a deacon, Ephraem gained a wide reputation, particularly among the Syriac-speaking Christian communities, through his metrical homilies and his "teaching songs". His "teaching songs" in particular were highly effective as instruments of catechesis. The ideas, images, and words with which Ephraem described and explained the Eucharist became the classic language for the expression of Eucharistic thought in the Syriac-speaking world.
For Ephraem the sacrament of the Eucharist is the medium of the presence of the body of Christ. As he perceives it, a clear continuation exists between the historical and the sacramental body of Christ. The presence of Christ in the Eucharistic bread and wine continues the presence of God the Word, incarnate in Jesus Christ. However, one needs the "eye of faith" to recognise in love Christ's "sacramental" and "mysterious" presence.
The Eucharist is an ideal place from which one can observe, study, and meditate upon the unique program of symbolic theology which Ephraem advances in his works. Making use of the powerful natural and biblical images of "fire" and "wind/spirit," Ephraem emphasises the consecratory role of the Holy Spirit in the sacrament of the Eucharist. "Medicine of Life" is one of his favourite epithets for the Eucharist. With this phrase, Ephraem points to the power of the Eucharist to bring healing to the faithful, to forgive their sins, and to preserve them from everlasting death. Ephraem likewise underlines the life-giving power of the Eucharist when he calls it the "Bread of Life" or the "Fruit of the Enlivener of All."
Theological thought, like all human thought, never exists in a vacuum. Thus Ephraem's thoughts on the Eucharist need to be seen in a concrete historical and liturgical context. At several places in Ephraem's works one is able to detect hints at concrete liturgical practices common to the celebration of the Eucharist in his Church community.
Studying Ephraem's works allows us to get to know the early roots of the theology and liturgical practice of the sacrament of the Eucharist in the Syriac-speaking Churches. Thus we might be helped to come to a better understanding and appreciation of the Eucharistic life of these Churches in the twenty-first century. The present communication attempts to make a small contribution to this important task.
Dr Erica C.D. Hunter
Conversions of the Turkic Tribes
The mission of the Syriac Churches in Central Asia between 400 - 1400 A.D. was vigorous in areas which were not only distant, but also divergent linguistically, embracing both urban and nomadic peoples. In exploring the dimension of Christianity in Central Asia, the paper investigates the conversions of the Turkic tribes. Syriac documents are a rich source of information about the advent of Christianity to the Turkic tribes and, in particular, highlight the problems of adapting ritual and liturgy to the culture of the Turkic tribes.
Professor William Johnston
Recent Reference Works on Eastern Christianity As Promoters of Ecumenism and Globalisation
Three major reference works concerning Eastern Christianity have appeared in the past eighteen months: Ken Parry et al., The Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (1999), Graham Speake, ed., Encyclopedia of Greece and the Hellenic Tradition (May 2000), and the Encyclopedia of Monasticism (July 2000). Previously Eastern Christianity has lacked reference works to rank with the hundreds that concern Western Christianity. On the basis of experience both evaluating reference books and editing the Encyclopedia of Monasticism, I will address three topics:
Explore (briefly) reasons why Eastern Christianity has inspired so few reference works, whether in its own languages or in Western languages.
Evaluate the strengths and weakness of the three works mentioned above (as regards analysis of Eastern Christianity). The expectations of both reference book editors and reference book users will be compared.
Inquire to what extent reference works in religion both promote and embody contemporary trends such as a) ecumenism b) study of spirituality and c) globalisation of scholarly inquiry.
In a word, the paper will reflect on how recent reference works in the field advance the aims of the Orientale Lumen Conference.
Serge Kelleher
Metropolitan Andrew Sheptytsky - Precursor of Orientale Lumen?
Andrew Sheptytsky (born in 1865 during the reign of Pius IX) became the Ukrainian metropolitan of Kiev-Halych and All Ruš (1900 - 1944). His family, from the medieval aristocracy of Kievan Ruš, were Latinized and Polonized by the time of Andrew's grandparents. In 1888 Leo XIII (who was to write Orientalium Dignitas in 1894), blessed Andrew's intention to serve the Greek-Catholic Church of his ancestors. In 1899 Leo XIII named Andrew Bishop of Stanislaviv, and made him Metropolitan in 1900. In 1908 Saint Pius X gave Kyr Andrew extraordinary faculties. Did Metropolitan Andrew prepare and anticipate Orientale Lumen?
Professor Tony Kelly CSsR
Maximus and Theological Method Today
This paper explores the "cosmic" aspects of the theology of Maximus Confessor with an eye to appreciating more deeply the relevance of his contribution to today's theology- faced as it is with a range of considerable challenges, affecting both method and content. There is the challenge of communicating the mystery of Christ in the often strange world of New Age spirituality, and in the light of contemporary cosmological discoveries. There is the challenge of new ethical concerns associated with ecology and globalisation. Further, the challenge of the "knowledge explosion" is inviting theology to expand into a world of inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration. In all this, the problem of integrating spirituality into theological intellectuality is keenly felt. Under all these heads, the method and content of Maximus's theology promises to be a valuable resource. The paper will conclude by noting areas which demand further research, given the contemporary theological situation.
Fr George A Maloney SJ
A Trinitarian Church of One in Many
To the degree that we re-capture the early, patristic vision of Church modelled on the perichoresis of the many and the one in Christ and in the Trinity, we will continue to have each Church indulging in a monologue and no basis of building the body of Christ as God has called us "to share the divine nature and to escape corruption in a world that is sunk in vice" (2 Peter 1: 4).
Eastern and Western Christian Churches must indwell each other by knowledge and love. By a true metanoia, we can come to know and love each other in the light of Christ and the fire of the Holy Spirit, God's "two hands", that will lead us gently in love to our one Father and to each other Christian. We will experience that we belong to Christ and that we are Christ (Col 3:11). That we live no longer we ourselves, but it is truly Christ, who lives in us (Gal 2:20) and we live in him. And if we live in him truly, then with him we live in the Trinity, one and many in the same union of love.
Fr George A Maloney SJ
The Early Greek Fathers' Doctrine on Theosis and Modern Christian Ecumenism
How sad it is that primarily in the West the doctrine of theosis of the early Greek Fathers of the Church is so rarely preached or written about by theologians and preachers and modern ecumenists.
This paper will first discover some of the important New Testament texts that formed for the early Greek Fathers their theological anthropology that became the cornerstone upon which they developed their "right teaching" (orthodoxia) concerning the Trinity, Christology, giving them a theology of the Holy Spirit, of the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church and their eschatology.
Selecting from the main theologians we will bring together the central elements of theosis of such Fathers as Ignatius of Antioch, Irenaeus, Athanasius, Origen, Gregory of Nazianzen and Gregory of Nyssa and the crowning synthesis of Cyril of Alexandria and the Christianising of the Ps. - Dionysius' "Mystical Theology" by Maximus the Confessor, with a recapitulation for future generations by John Damascene.
The final part of the paper will draw out applications of this traditional theme in the light of living out this divinisation in the daily lives of Christians of all Churches and how ecumenism in its modern dialogue toward greater union in the "one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church".
Dr Ken Parry
A Brief History Of Eastern Christianity
This paper will offer an historical overview of Eastern Christianity based on the Introduction I wrote for the Blackwell Dictionary of Eastern Christianity (1999). I begin by posing the question: What do we mean by "Eastern" Christianity? Is there a distinctive Christianity we can identify as "Eastern" or is it merely a "Western" construct? Until quite recently Western scholars chose to ignore the history of the Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox Churches. The historical parameters of Western Christianity, such as the rise of the papacy, scholasticism, the reformation and the enlightenment, are not those of the East. The history of Christianity in the East was shaped by other events. One was the conquest of the Eastern Mediterraean by the Arabs in the seventh century, another the capture of Constantinople by the Ottoman Turks in the fifteenth century, and a third the imposition of communism in the twentieth century. As a result of these events the majority of Eastern Christians have lived as minorities under Islam or as persecuted communities under atheism. Today the division between Eastern and Western Christianity is less geographical than cultural and theological. If we are prepared to recognise an Islamic or Buddhist civilization then we ought to be prepared to recognise the existence of an Eastern Christian civilization.
Dr Colette Rayment
The Transfigured Christ
In his work on the glory of God and the transfiguration of Christ, Michael Ramsey laments the loss of the significance of the feast of the Transfiguration in the Anglican Communion. It seems some decades after Ramsey's outcry that the Catholic Church, too, has all but lost the tradition that celebrates this biblical event as an outstanding event in the liturgical year.
It is, however, one that the Orthodox revere and celebrate with the vigor it deserves.
The paper will examine particular world literature (including some Australian Catholic writing), where the glory of God is imaged to express Merkavah mysticism; where Christ is imaged as participating in the Father's glory; and where the devastating antithesis of the glory of God and of Christ is expressed in the metaphor of the Hiroshima bomb in Western literature. These writings are complex efforts to understand how such glory can be apprehended in the world around us.
How can an increasing detachment from the biblical event of the Transfiguration, evident among Catholic Christians, permit literature and liturgy to continue to refer to the glory of God or of Christ in meaningful ways? The Orthodox position on the transfiguration might have the answer.
Bishop Nicholas Samra
Ecumenism and the Melkite Church
The Greek-Catholic Church is the Byzantine Church of Antioch in full communion with the Church of Rome. A cursory view of the diversity within the Antiochian Church shows that the Melkite Church from apostolic times until the present fares well ecumenically. Its leaders were always open to full unity within the Church of Christ, many times even acting as mediators to preserve unity. Even after a definitive schism in 1724, the Orthodox and Catholics of Antioch are not foreigners to each other; their lives and Church practice are closely knit together. Numerous events led to the "unity initiative" of the Melkite Holy Synod in July 1996. I will speak about this initiative and conclude with a brief assessment of it and hopes for the future reunification of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches - not just the Antiochian but worldwide.
Philip Shields
Why is it that Orthodox- Catholic Reconciliation Must be Led by the Laity?
In a strongly audio-visually illustrated presentation, important questions are asked. Is it not time for Orthodox and Catholic communities to cooperate jointly on pastoral initiatives where so much common ground in dogma exists? Could not marriage preparation courses, care of the elderly and support for youth crisis be done together? There is much division in the world, for example, young losing respect for the elderly, parents from children, spouses from each other, teachers and students, banks and people, with no resulting good. Is not the time right for the great sign of our Catholic-Orthodox "joining together" to arrest this destructive trend?
Mr Philip Shields, who attended the history-shattering Orthodox-Catholic meeting in Romania as an observer for the Archdiocese of Perth, will lead this discussion. He has done extensive research on attitudes of the laity to unity and presents an urgent call for the laity to lead reconciliation. He calls on us to frankly discuss creative directions for the future.
Could not Orthodox-Catholic schools be built jointly? Could not the Pope be a regularly invited Patriarch to Eastern Synods to "confirm the brethren in the faith? Should the sacraments be denied to Orthodox and Catholics in life threatening situations? What does Jesus think of our aloofness when he talked of the "Good Samaritan"?
Fr George Tavard
Sister Churches in the Twenty-first Century
This paper explores the meaning of the expression, Sister-Churches, as a meaning that ultimately derived from the traditional concept of the Motherhood of the Church, which is itself related to the biblical understanding of the Church as Bride of Christ.
It locates Church-sisterhood in the contemporary ecumenical investigations of the Church as koinonia. Seeking for its ties to the credal marks of the Church, it identifies Church-sisterhood as an aspect of Catholicity. As such, Church-sisterhood should be implemented through three fundamental principles of ecclesiology, namely, unanimity, collegiality, and subsidiarity.
The paper connects the search for Church-sisterhood with some of the documents of Vatican Council II and to some of the achievements and basic concerns of Popes John XXIII and Paul VI, and some of the explicit concerns of John Paul II.
The paper concludes with a look at the future, as it raises questions regarding the eagerness of the Churches to deepen their existing sisterhood, where they are aware of it, and to seek for it when they are not.
Dr Lawrence P Ulrich
Dying in a Secular Society - An Orthodox Christian Response
This paper will contrast the values and approaches to dying in a pluralistic, secular (Western) society and the virtues and approaches to dying that are yielded by the Orthodox Christian (Eastern) tradition. It will conclude with an argument that the latter provides a richer context for this foundational human experience.
Secular societies are grounded in the democratic ideal of self-determination, liberty, and tolerance to allow individuals to make the most out of their presence in the physical world by pursuing their personal preferences. These ideals are now translated from the political arena to the process of dying which may incorporate or be void of transcendent values. These core values take the form of individuals determining the time and manner of their deaths and a tolerance for a wide range of practices in this regard, ranging from advance directives (living wills) to physician-assisted suicide. The latter is no stranger to recent ethical and legal debates in Australia.
In contrast, the Orthodox Christian tradition is grounded in values that acknowledge the transitoriness and contingency of the physical world, seeing it as a vector pointing to a transcendent reality as the ultimate source of meaning. The human presence in the physical world is sanctified by the Father's creative act, the Son's redeeming sacrifice, and the Spirit's "graceful" presence. Dying in this context is not to be totally controlled or resisted to the last possible moment. But it is to be seen as an act of transition, accepted as a natural part of life, which is often out of our control, and is to be embraced with the humility of Christ who, as God, humbled himself to death, even to death on the cross. The call to holiness through prayer (particularly liturgical prayer) and fasting constitutes the frequent reminder of the promise and the hope that is the Resurrection.
The Orthodox Christian tradition views dying as a participatory act in the grace of life. It accepts humans in the fullness of their beings - physical and spiritual. And, most importantly, it views dying as the final steps on the homeward-bound path of communion with God, our transcendent foundation.
D'Arcy Wood
Rebuilding a Relationship: the Orthodox Churches and the World Council of Churches
Two Orthodox Churches have withdrawn from membership in the World Council of Churches in the past two years. Other Orthodox Churches, while retaining membership, have indicated their dissatisfaction at the Canberra Assembly in 1991 and the Harare Assembly in 1998. Some causes of this dissatisfaction are the Protestant dominance in some agencies of the WCC, as well as in the voting balance; the acceptance of radical theologies; inclusive language in worship; acceptance of homosexuality. In the face of these developments, the WCC has established a Special Commission which began its work in 1999. Two Australians are members. This paper will summarise progress in the rebuilding project.
Archbishop Georges Youhana-Casmoussa
The Orthodox and Ancient Syriac Ecclesiastical Tradition
This paper seeks to explore the Orthodox and ancient Syriac ecclesiastical tradition by considering literature and liturgy. An update will be given on the contemporary Syriac Churches in the Middle East.
