Understanding Orthodox Church:Coming together of the Churches

Coming together of the Churches 20th Century was the century of Ecumenism. Since the conference of missionaries at Edinburgh in 1910, the Churches have been striving for a united life. Union did not mean the adoption of uniformity in Christian traditions; instead it aims at achieving uniformity in the matters of basic faith. A world body called the World Council of Churches was started in 1948 and it convened meeting of different Churches. Thus came the two families of the Orthodox Church, viz Oriental Orthodox Churches and Byzantine Orthodox Churches, together for deliberations in faith matters after 1500 years of divided life (since 451). Their first agenda was to make a historical and critical study of the Council of Chalcedon, which divided them. A series of meetings were conducted under the leadership of Metropolitan Late Dr.Paulos Mar Gregorios of the Indian Orthodox Church and Prof.Nikos Nissiotis of the Greek Orthodox Church. At first there were four unofficial consultations at Aarhus (1964), Bristol (1967), Geneva (1970) and Addis Ababa (1970). Even though these meetings were called unofficial, they were of high academic quality. Internationally reputed theologians presented papers and led many open discussions. The presence of Late Fr.V.C.Samuel, who wrote his doctoral dissertation on the subject, “The Council of Chalcedon Re examined”, was very helpful for the Oriental Orthodox side.

Fr.Thomas Philipose

St Mary’s Orthodox Church, Aurangabad