Perspectief 2015-29

Perspectief 30 Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis Having in mind the nature of this text, i.e. its character of convergence text, which cannot be identified exclusively with any one ecclesiological tradition, 2 as an Orthodox theologian I can only rejoice at several points in this agreed text which not only mirrors the Orthodox sensitivity, but bear also witness to the theological self-consciousness of the undivided Church of the first millennium. 3 I list some of them, without claiming to exhaust the list: 1. The emphasis put on Trinitarian theology; the major effort to highlight the relationship of mission to unity, an effort evident in the whole structure of the text; the understanding of the Church as koinonia , communion, and the Trinitarian foundation of the ecclesial communion (§ 13, cf. § 1). 2. The connection of the quest and search for unity to the concept and reality of koinonia /communion, as well as the dynamic eschatological and transformative understanding of unity, to the extent that according to the text itself “communion is not simply the union of existing churches in their current form” (§ 13). 3. The dialectics of eschatology and history as it is described in the whole chapter IV of the convergence text. 4. The special place, and visibility, given to Mary, the Theotokos /Mother of God, in the unfolding of the history of Salvation, and in the life of Christian communities (§ 15). 5. The pneumatological substratum of all the subunits (Christology, ecclesiology, spiritual and pastoral life, etc), which supports and sustains this agreed text in its entirety. 6. The “incarnational theology” (§ 12), which echoes not only the concerns of contextual theology, but also the theology of the assuming flesh of the Eastern Fathers, 2 Cf. The Church: Towards A Common Vision , Faith and Order Paper No.214, Geneva: WCC Publications, 2013, p. viii. 3 Until this point, there has—to my knowledge—been no Orthodox response to the convergence text, save the very recent comments that just came to my attention (entitled: “The Church: Towards A Common Vision: A Commentary in Light of the Inter-Orthodox Consultation at Agia Napa in Cyprus”) by Fr. Radu Bordeianu, Associate Professor of Theology at Duquesne University (in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA), which are due to be published in the journal for ecumenical and missiological studies “Exchange” (published by Brill).