Perspectief 2015-29

2015-29 29 Reageer An Eastern Orthodox Reaction 1 Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis I The Convergence Text The Church: Towards A Common Vision, its Content and Significance The 2012 convergence “Faith and Order” ecclesiological document (published in 2013) bearing the title: The Church: Towards A Common Vision , is the fruit of a long process, which benefits from the first convergence “Faith and Order” 1982 text on Baptism, Eucharist, Ministry . Its previous steps were the publication of the 1998 document on the Nature and Purpose of the Church , and the 2005 document on the Nature and the Mission of the Church . All these “Faith and Order” documents, particularly the last one which is in the center of our today’s discussion, are the fruit of a hard and persistent theological work and of rich exchanges and dialogues at the multilateral level, for which we owe sincere thanks and deep gratitude to both the “Faith and Order” commissioners and staff members, for their faithful and committed ecumenical engagement. The document under discussion represents a real achievement, as it opens up and deepens the ecclesiological and wider theological discussion. If the previous relevant documents (especially the one of 2005) were considered as “a stage on the way to a common statement,” the 2012 document, without loosing this dynamic perspective of being en route, on being on the way , marks a further step toward the common understanding of the Church, since it clearly defines itself as “the common statement to which its previous versions […] were directed” (p. 46). 1 Paper presented at the International Seminar “Ecclesiology and Ecumenism” Organized by the KU Leuven Faculty of Theology In Cooperation with the Free University Amsterdam in Amsterdam, March 14, 2015

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