Dream and Reality Yet Another Ecumenical Story

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Dream and Reality Yet Another Ecumenical Story Nikos Kosmidis Nikos Kosmidis, a reader in his diocese, serves as a member of the Echos Commission on Youth in the Ecumenical Movement, the World Council of Churches youth body. He has responsibility for the ecumenical youth project “KIVOTOS–Bridge of love and communion.” He is currently studying European Civilization.

Introduction “Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer” (Ps. 19:14).1

Last summer I received an invitation to write an article about the future of the ecumenical movement from an Orthodox and ecumenical youth perspective.

I felt deeply honoured and, at the same time, a little out of place to think of my name among those who have contributed, for more than sixty years now, articles presenting some of the richest and most challenging contemporary ideas of world Christianity.

Most of the authors have much more respected and deeper ecumenical experience than mine. This invitation came at a time when the member churches of the World Council of Churches (WCC), reflecting varied expressions and interests of the one ecumenical movement, are in a period of preparation, as we move closer to the tenth assembly of the WCC: we hope this assembly will blow new breath into intra-Christian dialogue and reinforce a revived ecumenical vision for peace and justice for the whole of humanity and for creation.

I also understood how difficult it is to write about something that goes beyond human predictions and speculations or any other anthropocentric approaches. There is nothing new in observing that both the ecumenical movement in general and the WCC in particular are at a turning point. But who can say exactly where this turning point will lead our steps? How can you write about a future that involves the stunning, mysterious dynamic of divine and human synergy? If we believe that the Parakletos, the Spirit of 1

All quotations from the Bible in this essay are from the Authorized (“King James”) Version.

DOI: 10.1111/erev.12042 Copyright © (2013) World Council of Churches. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Truth, works and breathes within those who serve the aim of Christian unity, then we also need to acknowledge and trust the mystical way in which the Spirit leads us towards the much-desired day when we will be able to share together the same eucharistic experience, in one true faith and love in unity.

These thoughts were almost enough to convince me not to write. Yet I also remembered how we are called to share with each other what has been freely shared with us (Matt. 10:8), and this led me to change my decision based on the gracious gifts I have received through my ecumenical experience. I share this essay in the hope that it may mean something to you, even with its many drawbacks and shortcomings.

The Story of Humankind Is Our Richness From the time of our birth until our last breath, we experience an unrepeatable sequence of moments that together narrate the story of our life. Earth, small in its greatness and universal uniqueness, has seen countless such stories. This trove of information, recalling those who have gone before us and conveyed by humanity to this day as a precious treasure, is written deep in the spiritual hypostasis of the human race, carried by each one of us, consciously or unconsciously. It waits there, silently, to be discovered and used wisely for the benefit of this generation and generations to come.

What makes one person’s story worthy to be told, written, commemorated and carried throughout the ages? And why do we like to tell such stories – our stories? Is it simply human egoism, an eternal lust to be remembered, transferred in our genes from generation to generation? In other words, is it a frantic effort to defy death, with its anonymity, ignorance, and totality? Or is it a gift given to us by divine prudence, a way to secure the continuation of our species by learning from the wisdom of our forefathers and foremothers – their multifaceted experiences, successes, achievements, failures, disasters, and unfulfilled dreams?

What you hold in your hands is nothing more than another story of a person who is still young. His journey is by no means unique. This young man looks back into the recent past and wonders what led him to take the first step in joining a common journey through human existence, a living dialogue, and an engagement with the “varied ideas of the spiritual foundation of the civilizations of East and West,” in the words of the late professor of theology Nikos Matsoukas.2 Was it a single moment, an exceptional 2

Nikos Matsoukas, Oikoumenik k nhsh – Istor a, Qeolog a [The Ecumenical Movement: History, Theology] (Thessaloniki: P. Pournara, 2005), 5.

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instant in time, one out of thousands that a person is supposed to experience in his or her life? Or was it something more – an open door, a life-changing encounter with the stories of one’s fellow human beings of the past, of the present, and possibly of the future?

Storytellers in Words or in Silence?

Is it wise to speak about things that perhaps would be better kept and preserved secretly in heart and mind? Is there time enough to realize whether any fruits will be borne from the telling, and whether tales of the journey are deeper than passing moments?

The voice of Saint Isaac the Syrian, who said that “silence is a mystery of the age to come, but words are instruments of this world,”3 reminds us, in a time of noise and overlapping words, of the preciousness of silence – which often seems to be forgotten under the multiplicity of reports, presentations, discussions, disagreements, meetings, and conferences – as an important moment of reflection in the process of our common path. Our institutional form of “consumerism” makes it almost unacceptable, in our result-oriented days, to acknowledge the choice of remaining silent not because of fear, indifference, or self-protection, but because God uses our silence as a means of revealing God’s will and speaks deep in the heart.

Christ, the true God, chose not to speak when people where not truly willing to hear.

His silence became the strongest message against the forces and powers of this world.

Surely, silence is a way to be prophetic and transformative when words do not mean anything.

Again Elder Sophrony of Essex (1896–1993), the disciple and biographer of Saint Silouan the Athonite (1866–1938), shared with his friend the Catholic priest David Balfour, who later converted to Orthodoxy, his understanding concerning silence, an understanding that emanated from his inner fructification. On January 1933, he wrote: “The soul seeks silence, wants to pray, wishes to read, wants to learn a lot, to meditate the divine. The outer life again is so restless, noisy, so wrapping, it removes both forces and attention from us, in a way that it takes the first place, while the spiritual life works only complementarily or only partially interwoven with it.”4 3

Abba Isaac, Letter 3.

4

«Η yuch´ anazhta´ th siwph´ , q lei na proseu´ cetai, epiqumei´ thn ana´ gnwsh, na gnwri´sei polla´ , ´ dhς, to´ so na analogisqei´ ta qei´a. Η exwterikh´ zwh´ pa´ li ei´nai to´ so anh´ such, qorubw ´ netai, to´ so ajairei´ tiς duna´ meiς kai thn prosoch´ ς apo´ maς, w ´ ste kata´ ka´ poion tro´ po anadiplw

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It is not my aim to say that silence needs to become the new voice of the ecumenical movement or, even more, the only voice. Indeed, there is “a time to keep silence, and a time to speak” (Eccles. 3:7). But if we bear in mind what the saints have experienced through silence, this kind of silence can enrich and guide us in our own call to serve, particularly when we experience the existence of insurmountable obstacles (humanly speaking) and a lack of progress in our joint work.

“I Have Seen Them . . .” When Our Silence Becomes the Voice of Those Who Are Worthy to Be Heard We consider young people to be full of passion, impetuous, energetic, and visionary. We view them as indefatigable storytellers in a tired world that may not have time enough nor ears left open to hear them. Is that so? More than a few among us would say it is.

But this story needs to be told, shared, and heard. Not because it is my story, but because it is full of the stories of the people I have met during these past seven years as my ecumenical pilgrimage has begun, stories of people who have marked me in ways I have just begun to discover.

I saw young Christians in Bangalore, India, actively involved in ecumenical youth work, trying to serve together in a spirit of reconciliation and beyond confessional boundaries.

They come from minority churches and address prophetically the systemic problems of their society, raising awareness of the marginalized in ways that respect these people’s cultural heritage and different religious traditions, while at the same time offering a Christian witness. I have heard their voices standing in solidarity with the Dalit and Adivasi as fellow peoples, regardless of their religious conviction, and even challenging practices within their own communities. As we met, talked, danced, laughed, shared food together, and prayed for the ministry of these young people, we came to understand how strongly miracles of justice are needed today in a world vandalized by hatred, discrimination, ignorance, prejudice, and stereotypes, ideas implanted in our minds by dominions and orders of injustice. I have seen them . . .

I have seen churches in Europe, monuments of people’s faith throughout the ages, now with their doors closed and their bells silent. Living fountains that once hosted prayers for protection, hopes, sorrows, and important moments in people’s lives are now ´ th moi´ra, enw ´ h pneumatikh´ zwh´ leitourgei´ mo´ no sumplhrwmatika´ h´ na mpai´nei se prw ´ ς mo´ no me auth´ .» Archimandrite Sophrony, Ag naς Qeognws aς – H sunujai´netai merikw allhlograj a tou G rontoς Swjron ou me ton D. Mp ljour, [Agonas Theognosias: The Correspondence of Elder Sophronius with D. Balfour ], trans. Archimandrite Zacharias (Essex: Stravropegic Monastery of St John the Baptist, 2004), 210.

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converted into museums, clubs, hotels, shops – temples of another reality. Yet I saw also a parish in an old mining town in Belgium opening its doors to the new sojourners of this region, people whose lives brought them away from their homelands, seeking protection inside those walls. Those high cold stone walls, which became warm from the hearts of communicants, offered protection for a time in order that immigrants and refugees might receive legal status as they continued to dream and plan for a better tomorrow. I have seen a congregation where a priest and the faithful still gather around God and around Christ, whose old friends abandoned him (Luke 14:16–24). This congregation welcomes strangers with different roots and faiths, hopeless people who have no place to lay their heads (Luke 9:58). This unorthodox community reminded me of how Christians are called to witness to Jesus and his love. I have seen them . . .

I saw African children in a refugee service community centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; civil war, poverty, and destitution had forced them from an early age to become refugees in a foreign land. I saw smiling young faces that even a refugee camp could not strip of their bearers’ thirst for life, their need to live carefree and to play like so many other millions of children worldwide. By seeing, talking, and playing with these children for just a few minutes, we ecumenical visitors not only witnessed the difficulties of their lives; we also experienced the purity of their hearts. Where secretly you grieve for the children’s misery, already evident despite their few years on earth, they come to teach you what you can only hope to perceive and approach intellectually in your own life. A simple gesture by the children became a great lesson for us. When we handed out a few sweets originally intended for our personal use, these children, without much thought, called the youngest among them and shared the sweets with their friends and peers, apportioning what they had been given. In this scene, the words and ideals of solidarity, brotherhood and sisterhood, and communal ownership found their best example. I have seen them . . .

In Viwa, a small Fijian island, I saw joyful children climbing the trees early in the morning to offer fruits to their foreign guests. I saw a community of simple people who live in harmony with nature and whose culture and way of existence praises the beauty of earth. I also saw in the eyes of the families of Viwa the fear for their future and the future of their beautiful land, as they experienced the results of climate change through the high waves and erosion of shores that destroy their paradise little by little. The warm hospitality in the name of Christ, the farewell tears in the eyes of these people, and their songs as our small boat left their paradise haunted our minds, reminding us continually how bound humans are to one another and to the whole of creation. I have seen them . . .

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I saw young Jamaicans, descendants of slaves who had been transported to a foreign land in the holds of ships under the most appalling conditions. These brilliant young men and women faithfully preserve the traditions and the way of life of their ancestral homelands. They keep alive in decency the remembrance of those who existed in their country before the coming of their forefathers and who together share stories of suffering, enslavement, uprooting, and death. A promising new generation is attempting to overcome social problems related to violence, poverty, crime, and discrimination caused by unjust systems; they do so through education, youth programmes, church activities, music, and their God-given gifts. I have seen them . . .

I saw respected Christian communities, not far from where the last cedars of Lebanon still grow as a living witness of God’s divine economy. These are communities with roots deep in early Christian history and a rich cultural heritage, significant for all Christians around the world, whose existence is threatened once again due to international conflict and civil wars in the region. These wars, in the name of religion and for the sake of political expediencies, economic benefits, geopolitical controls, and imperialistic interests, cause enduring suffering and traumatize the consciences of nations, cities, communities, and families. I have seen them . . .

“I am Seeing . . .” Material and Spiritual Realities I see the people of my country, Greece, among many other nations, suffering these past three years from the effects of the global crisis. I see a generation, my generation, struggling to maintain its hope for a promising future, despite the wider expansion of despair. I see old and young people, women and men, seeking, praying, and fighting for a realistic solution that will save them and their children from the increase in poverty, the threat of unemployment and eviction, the need to move to another country as financial migrants, and the introduction of new austerity measures. I am seeing . . .

I see with fear the rebirth of fascist political ideologies, particularly when they brutally misuse the Christian faith for the deception of the people, the empowerment of anti-democratic forces, and the spreading of xenophobic feelings among Europeans. I am seeing . . .

I see the shadow of nationalism stifling slowly but steadily our hopes for transnational cooperation based on equality, solidarity, and justice. This deadly enemy is “an offspring 294

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of the Western world, an offspring of a Christian world that grew up without being taught the ecumenical spirit by the church, along with the love of homeland.”5 I am seeing . . .

I see with anger those in power providing security for the interests of capital and opportunities for more financial growth of markets against the common good and against the sustainability and freedom of people from the North, South, East, and West.

I am seeing . . .

In these dark times I am standing with all those around the world who await a word from the churches, through ecumenical engagement, addressing these issues further. I am remembering the famous Russian philosopher Nikolai Berdyaev (1874–1948) who said: “The question of bread for myself is a material question, but the question of bread for my neighbour is a spiritual question.”

The deeply religious questions regarding the various crises of today must be prophetically challenged not on the basis of political or church diplomacy, not even because of humanitarian and charitable solidarity with those in need, but because of love, God’s love – the same love that led the Father to give “his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” ( John 3:16).

Has the Voice of the Ecumenical Movement Become Lost in Its Structure?

In the annals of the historical developments, milestones, and spiritual movements that marked the 20th century and changed the course of the world, the ecumenical movement undoubtedly occupies a prominent position. It would be wrong to believe that this endeavour to safeguard the unity of Christ’s disciples was supplanted in favour of the preservation of the right doctrine against heresies or that it was neglected by the church fathers and confessors of all epochs and by those the Orthodox faithful believe to be spirit-bearing (pneumatojo´ roi) teachers of the right faith “which was once delivered” ( Jude 1:3), in line with the apostles, an unbroken living chain of saints in and beyond time and place. On the contrary, the cohesion of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church was a primary concern of these holy people, as attested by their writings,

5

Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens (1939–2008), “Futurum,” Address to the University of Iasi, June 2003, official website of the Church of Greece, http://www.ecclesia.gr/English/Archbishop/speeches/ futurum.html.

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teachings, and lives, and sometimes by their martyrdom. This aspect of our common early history is often neglected by youth involved in the ecumenical movement – and not only by the youth.

In the second decade of the 21st century, what does ecumenical participation mean for a young Christian and how does he or she stand in relation to the ongoing call for the restoration of unity among us? Moreover, how do we as future ecumenical leaders, or preferably, ecumenical deacons, assume the historical path that the churches have jointly walked over the last one hundred years? Finally, how ready we are to face up to historical memories of divisions, schisms, and estrangement, bearing in mind that “unity and division are things and events and in any case not theoretical constructions”?6 These questions, and this essay, do not aim to present the case of Christian unity as an individual choice or a self-centred journey with some churchly ecumenical implications.

Quite the opposite! However, for those of us who have been brought up within the destructive culture of individualism, it seems clear that even participation in ecumenical dialogue holds the danger of leading to religious elitism or limiting itself to an undertaking of the few.

Additionally, today’s youth have lost their trust in old structural forms, whether these represent political systems or international institutions. Instead of identifying themselves with these dying models of social and political involvement, young people prefer either to abstain from any social involvement or to form new connections, movements, and partnerships outside of systemic dominations and imposed lifestyles.7 These movements have roots in older forms of participatory democratic processes, utopian and pacifistic ideals, and progressive socioeconomic concerns. Within these new antistructural processes, participants are called to express themselves freely, to engage in dialogue in open working groups without prerequisites, to raise their concerns in a space of respect, and to be part of this new formation, without losing their own identities, wills and ideals.

Similar neo-structural and grassroots characteristics can be found within different contemporary Christian movements, or fresh ecclesial expressions of the Christian faith, in which young people are highly involved. These new forms, which cannot be understood as a single movement with one identity or common purpose, cover a broad 6

Nikos Matsoukas, Oikoumenik Qeolog a [Ecumenical Theology] (Thessaloniki: P. Pournara, 2005), 351–52.

7

As the recent examples of movements against social and economic injustice have shown, like the Occupy movement, the indignados (“indignant”) in Spain, and the aganaktismenoi (“outraged”) in Greece.

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spectrum of traditional and more recent expressions of the Christian religion; they include conservative, liberal, and progressive (descriptors I find misleading) theological and hermeneutical views as well as post-modern missionary and diaconal approaches.

Eastern Orthodox or Celtic liturgical and monastic elements are mixed with neocharismatic experiences, evangelical worship practices, and Roman Catholic mystical readings. People within these movements seek to overcome denominational barriers as an immediate healing of the existing schisms, while others focus in new ways on evangelizing the secularized world together with socio-ecological activism. They also may focus on restoring a communal environment within their congregations, “exploring spirituality as a journey of life around the question ‘How should I live?’ ”8 We also cannot ignore the intensifying concern on behalf of many parts of worldwide Christianity that is related to the question of preserving a distinct place in public life for religion, against or due to the rise of New-Atheistic voices9 and the continuing de-Christianization of various societies. How aware are we within the institutionalized and bureaucratic ecumenical movement of these new social and religious developments that also affect, sometimes decisively, our own churches and individual Christian thinking?

This exact problem of religious, and in particular ecumenical, individualism has been mentioned often within and outside the ecumenical movement. As a joint consultation between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox pointed out twenty years ago, “the WCC cannot become a forum for the exchange of individual ideas,”10 a warning which, I have to confess, I too have often forgotten. This cannot be understood, of course, as an exclusion of the use of personal gifts, which need to be respected and considered “a source of mutual enrichment,”11 especially in the light of the rapprochement between the East and West, with their particular history and religious and cultural heritage. As Nikos Nissiotis has said, “the ecumenical movement has to be understood as the dynamic process of mutual exchange by the Churches of their charismata.”12 8

Cray Graham, Ian Mobsby, and Aaron Kennedy, eds., New Monasticism as Fresh Expression of Church (London: Canterbury Press, 2010), 15.

9

The New Atheism is the name often given to a contemporary (early 21st-century) intellectual and philosophical movement advocating not only atheism but sharp criticism of religion; some of its best known proponents are Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, and Christopher Hitchens.

10

Report of the inter-Orthodox consultation of Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox of the World Council of Churches, Chambésy, Switzerland, September 1991, in Orthodox Youth and Ecumenism: Resource Book, ed.

Alexander Belopopsky and Anu Talvivaara (Geneva: WCC Publications and Syndesmos, 1998), 81.

11

Timothy [Kallistos] Ware, H OrJ doxh Ekklhs a [The Orthodox Church] (Nea Smyrni: Akritas, 2001), 514.

12

George Tsetsis, “The Orthodox in the Ecumenical Movement: A Short History,” official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, http://www.ecupatria.org/ecum_movement/tsetsis_orth_ec_ mo.htm.

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Young people are praised for their ecumenical participation precisely because they offer joyfully their charismata in concert with a dynamic and revived hope within a tired environment overfull of papers, orders, bylaws, politicized processes, and bureaucracies. Based on my experience as a member of the Echos Commission,13 I can testify to just how challenging it can be for a young person in his or her first ecumenical steps to maintain a free, open-minded spirit and a critical youth voice within pre-organized structures filled with a long legacy. We can often find ourselves in the same place as those whom we previously challenged for being too politicized, denominationalized, structuralized, and narrow-minded.

However useful and spontaneous youth enthusiasm may be, it alone cannot bring about the desired results. It must be combined with wisdom, the utilization of the pioneers’ knowledge, and the ongoing preservation of an ecumenical memory, Indeed, as Nikos Matsoukas notes, “without memory everything would be fragmented and dissolved; there would be no wholeness of life and above all no unity.”14 It is a serious question how the ecumenical movement, and the WCC as a fellowship of churches, will engage young people in a way that will regenerate their interest for what has been already achieved in the movement and for the challenges and difficulties still to be overcome.

The ecumenical movement, with its respected institutions, has come under criticism for becoming less effective in influencing or shaping modern global developments, particularly in comparison with the efficiency of its early days. Criticism also addresses the way we communicate our message externally. I am more concerned about the ownership of the churches, the reception of the progress that has been made, and common commitment to the continuation of ecumenical dialogue.

Synods and church meetings often reaffirm their will in this direction. In 2008 the primates and representatives of the Eastern Orthodox churches, at the invitation of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, expressed the deep desire of their local Orthodox churches “to continue, despite any difficulties, the theological dialogues with other Christians, as well as the interreligious dialogues, especially with Judaism and Islam, given that dialogue constitutes the only way of solving differences

13

Information on Echos, the Commission on youth in the ecumenical movement, can be found on the WCC website: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/the-wcc-and-the-ecumenical-movement-in-the21st-century/youth-in-the-ecumenical-movement/echos-youth-commission.html.

14

Matsoukas, Ecumenical Theology, 234.

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among people, especially in a time like today, when every kind of division, including those in the name of religion, threaten people’s peace and unity.”15 Two years later, following the dissemination among the faithful of accusations against the Orthodox representatives in the intra-Christian dialogue, the Ecumenical Patriarch and the Synod issued an Encyclical letter addressing those fears, explaining once again the real intentions and reasons for Orthodox participation in the ecumenical movement by saying that “Orthodoxy has no need of either fanaticism or bigotry to protect itself.

Whoever believes that Orthodoxy has the truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue.”16 More such efforts need to be taken by all churches, through their special commissions and offices for intra-Christian and ecumenical issues, in order to inform the faithful and, if possible, to reinforce the wider participation of those who can contribute in a positive, constructive, and critical way, in accordance with the particular needs of every church.

Despite the official statements and the true willingness of the hierarchy and leadership within our various churches, new obstacles arise.

For years now, sensitive and strong discussions on the grassroots level have led churches with a recognized ecumenical contribution to move forward on certain issues, followed by decisions that came to challenge, once again, not only the status of the bilateral and multilateral dialogues, but also the unity among their own ecclesial communions. Christians are more concerned today with (re)understanding and (re)addressing the ontological character of the human being created by God in God’s own image, particularly his or her sexuality, than with examining further existing theological disagreements, which seem to have taken a secondary place in our interests. In addition, numerous observers have shown disappointment that a whole century of continuous theological dialogue has not led to greater unity among the churches – not, at least, to that visible sign (shmei˜on) of unity we seek.

In discussions with other people of my age, I have been asked whether we can still hope for the re-establishment of unity among divided Christians, or whether attention should 15

“Message of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches,” 12 October 2008, official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, http://www.ec-patr.org/docdisplay.php?lang=gr&id=995&tla=en.

16

Bartholomew I, “Patriarchal and Synodal Encyclical on the Sunday of Orthodoxy,” 21 February 2010, official website of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, http://www.patriarchate.org/documents/sundayorthodoxy-2010.

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now be focused on welcoming the faithful17 from other churches who, for different reasons, make the difficult decision to move from one church and into another.

Has the dialogue become bogged down or even reached its limits, as many argue both openly and privately?18 Can we adopt the view which holds that the unity of the church belongs to the age of modernism, and that now, in the post-modern epoch, we must reconcile ourselves with the concept of a partial union and with the idea of radical diversity even in central teachings of the undivided faith? Are we returning to an early stage in which the ecumenical movement becomes an issue based on personal commitment, rather than a choice of the churches to be in dialogue with each other? Will the churches maintain a common ecumenical time in which we will proceed together, respecting along the way the churches’ different approaches? Can we continue our common journey through the existing ecumenical models of dialogue or do we have to search prayerfully for new ways that might call for the abandonment of established and familiar practices, openness to the “strange lands” of the unknown will of God, and possibly even times of stillness, silence, and ongoing purification and Spirit-initiation of our hearts?19 Can This Story Have an Epilogue?

In William Henry Temple Gairdner’s book about the World Missionary Conference held in Edinburgh in 1910,20 there is a beautiful passage in which Gairdner stands and hears the silent voice of an old church. This cathedral had offered through the centuries a sacred space for the prayerful life of Christians representing different churches and thus evokes the painful moments in the history of divisions among them.

For Gairdner, the prayer of those who attended the World Missionary Conference was a resurgence of memory: Alas! though the Conference met to pray there that noon, it was not to open its proceedings by a solemn and official celebration of the Communion of the Body and Blood of Christ, as was the practice of great oecumenical gatherings of an undivided Church! Not yet might those old walls see that sacramental sight: – walls which in the four centuries that have passed have heard the 17

This term has been interpreted in multiple ways.

18

By “many” I do not mean those who already condemn the existing dialogue and prefer to abstain, maintaining the joyless role of the accuser based on their fear of otherness.

19

John Anthony McGuckin, “The Orthodox Church and the Ecumenical Imperative,” International Journal of Orthodox Theology 2:2 (2011), 48.

20

Gairdner lived from 1873 to 1928.

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dissonances of antagonizing litanies; have seen the Missal of one Church, and the Service-Book of a second, give way, amid the conflict and violence of consciences honestly moved, to the form of worship maintained to-day by a third.21

This living cathedral had a voice, and the British Anglican missionary was able to hear the church building manifest, in a manner of weeping, the following words: “A broken unity, a broken unity!, stands here confessed . . .”22 So much has happened since Gairdner wrote; still, a century later, Christians remain disunited.

Important steps have been taken towards healing the wounds caused over the centuries, and our coming together is a first stage in the building of peace among Christians. That we can now communicate in an attitude of forgiveness, reconciliation, and brotherly and sisterly love should not be dismissed as something trivial, and I believe we must offer profound thanks to God for that. Unity among us is first and foremost a gift of the Holy Spirit. It cannot be achieved through anthropocentric initiatives and by means alien to the tradition and teachings of the church: “The ecumenical dialogue should be primarily a ‘dialogue of truth.’ ”23 The experiences we take away from this ecumenical quest can only encourage us and fill us with strength, hope for the future, and expectations for what God can perform (Luke 18:27). As the leading Orthodox pioneer of the ecumenical movement, Fr George Florovsky, once pointed out, “the highest and most promising ‘ecumenical virtue’ is patience.” These words, based on real experience, remain a strong reminder for us.

As I was writing these lines, I found that most of my thoughts came straight from the heart. This naturally made me wonder whether they could stand up to the expectations of the invitation I had received to speak as a young Orthodox who has been blessed to become involved in the task of Christian unity.

Images of men and women pass now in front of my eyes, as I recall all the names of those who contributed with their life, ministry, academic research, writing, preaching, crucial decision-making, wisdom, devotion, courageous initiatives, and, foremost among these attributes, prayerful strength. They are known and unknown people with their own histories, backgrounds, traditions, and collective stories – an ongoing mosaic 21

William Henry Temple Gairdner, Edinburgh 1910: An Account and Interpretation of the World Missionary Conference (Edinburg and London: Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier for the Committee of the World Missionary Conference, 1910), 30.

22

Ibid.

23

George Tsetsis, “The Ecumenical Dialogue in the 21st Century: A Hurdles Course?” Theological Activities blog, 16 January 2013, http://blogs.auth.gr/moschosg/2013/01/16/.

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The Ecumenical Review

Volume 65 • Number 2 • July 2013

in which every small inlay contributes to the formation of an icon that is not concluded yet, but which we can envision. Of the countless worthy-to-be-remembered names, dates, places, moments, photos, and details, each occupies a unique position along the path of the water that flows through the course of storytelling. Here we are, standing by this water-course, trying to discern in which direction it will flow, where it will open new passages, where it will find insurmountable obstacles, and where it will meet with other rivers, forming a new great river with stronger momentum.

It may well be that Gairdner dreamed of this expanding, strengthening river when he saw those Christians gathered in the name of the Lord at Edinburgh in 1910, or perhaps he hoped to experience what we have received based on their early vision. In any case, he had the courage to dream beyond the accepted realities of his day, and he wrote the following words: “Peace then! little Cathedral Church: – the restoration of that broken unity may not even yet have come within the range of men’s waking vision, but does it not, to-night, come to them at least as a true dream?”24

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Gairdner, Edinburgh, 31.

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