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Perspectief 40 Dr. Pantelis Kalaitzidis in favor of dialogue, both for theological and for pastoral reasons, as it is stated at the very beginning of the official document issued at the end of the 3 rd Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference, in Chambésy, Geneva, in 1986. A church which refuses to dialogue with the world and its problems, which is not willing to converse with the “other” and which does not acknowledge what this “other” has to offer in such a dialogue, in reality ceases to function as a church, ek-klesia, in the sense that it refutes the most important consequence of Incarnation: “the gathering together of one in all things in Christ”, in the sense of recapitulation (Eph 1:10, cf Eph 3:2, Gal 3:28, 4:4, Col 1:16, 3:11). This means the reception, as well as the transfiguration, of the created from the uncreated, the assumption in the face of the Incarnate Son and Word of the whole human nature and history of the tragedy and the pursuit of the fallen man. However, this need for, as well as the intensifying duty to, dialogue (in other words, the Orthodox ethos) derives from the theological self- consciousness and nature of the Trinitarian God, constituting nothing else but a community of divine people in dialogue under love. This exact divine Being is the Trinitarian mode of existence which is understood by Patristic theology, as well as by contemporary Orthodox theology, especially Greek-speaking, as “Being as Communion” and “Being as Dialogue.” 11 In the midst of current challenges, and in our rapidly changing world, the Orthodox, strengthened by the spiritual richness of our abundant tradition and the genuine and remarkable theological syntheses we have achieved on behalf of the tradition of the undivided church, should give a new sense to and a renewed impetus in the Orthodox participation to the ecumenical movement. To this end the convergence “Faith and Order” ecclesiological document, The Church: Towards A Common Vision is both a remarkable contribution and a hopeful promise. 11 Cf. John D. Zizioulas (Metropolitan of Pergamon), Being as Communion. Studies in the Personhood and the Church, Crestwood, N.Y.: St Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1985 ; idem, Communion and Otherness. Further Studies in Personhood and the Church , London-New York: T&T Clark, 2006; C. Yannaras, Person and Eros , translated by N. Russell , Brookline MA: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2008 .