NEWS AND VIEWS: Orientale Lumen Conference: ecumenical dialogue and beyond (10/07/01)

NEWS AND VIEWS

Orientale Lumen Conference: ecumenical dialogue and beyond

by Roma Hayda

The Orientale Lumen Conference has now become an annual event at the Catholic University in Washington during which serious theologians and hierarchs of both Eastern and Western Christian traditions present their thoughts on issues that divide them. Differing theological emphasis in their respective spiritualities and separate historical developments are important considerations, but the Gospel and tradition of the early Church speak of Christ's intent and show diverse Christian communities in eucharistic union with one another. These are the source and reference for the conference's discussion.

In the process of an open ecumenical dialogue, the Orientale Lumen Conference offers a great service in promoting better understanding of the nature of the Church in times of globalization to an increasingly larger audience.

This year's theme "Primacy and Conciliarity: Finding a Common Vision," focused on the matter of papal and patriarchal jurisdictions. Held on June 18-22, the gathering included the Ukrainian Catholic, Ukrainian Orthodox, Byzantine Catholic, Romanian Catholic, Carpatho-Russian Orthodox, Orthodox Church of America, Assyrian Orthodox, Coptic Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, and Roman Catholic communities. Attendance by Eastern Christians is always large, but generally speaking Eastern Catholics, Orthodox and Roman Catholics each continue to constitute about a third of the total number of participants.

In welcoming the fifth consecutive conference at the Catholic University, the Rev. Stephen Happel, dean of the School of Religious Studies, stressed the importance of continued dialogue and the university's genuine interest in creating an Eastern Christian studies center. This is a reflection of the fact that ecumenical dialogue cannot be achieved without exposure to diversity and without recognition that the Church in its various traditions - Eastern and Western - is a work in progress.

The Kyivan Church Study Group was perhaps first to bring ecumenical dialogue into the midst of the Eastern tradition of Catholic and Orthodox jurisdictions and effectively respond to the damaging gaps in the official dialogue. In addition to Pope John Paul II's inspirational apostolic letter on the wealth of Eastern spirituality, "Orientale Lumen" (Light of the East), John Figel, the conference chair, credits the Kyivan Church Study Group for the expansion of ecumenical discussion.

The Orientale Lumen conference has draw visiting bishops and distinguished guests.

The newly appointed metropolitan for Ukrainian Catholics in the United States, Archbishop Stephen Soroka made a special effort to be at the opening of the conference even as he was on his way to Ukraine for the pope's pastoral visit to the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The capital's charismatic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick was a gracious host. The apostolic nuncio, Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, and last year's host of the official ecumenical meeting in Baltimore, Cardinal William Keeler also were at the opening.

The search for a common vision of the Petrine Ministry of each successor of St. Peter requires going back to the scriptures. The Rev. Raymond Collins, scriptural scholar showed St. Peter's place before and after the Pentecost. Whether as a spokesperson among the 12 apostles or as the visible head of the fledgling Church, the apostles came to Peter in deference of his position. St. Peter kept the diverse Christian communities in Eucharistic union.

The acceptance of St. Peter and his successors as the Church's visible head was made especially clear by Bishop Mar Bawai Soro of the Assyrian Orthodox Church. Isolated for nearly two millennia, the absence of a eucharistic union among Christians has not even been part of this Church's consciousness.

The retired Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco, John Quinn, and the renowned Orthodox theologian, Bishop Kallistos (Timothy Ware, Ecumenical Patriarchate) spoke of the seat of papal authority. The College of Bishops is the current authority for Rome's primacy.

Admitting that the greatest obstacle to communion is the manner in which primacy is exercised, Archbishop Quinn said he thinks it is important to study the first millennium and differentiate the primacy of Peter from the pope's responsibility as the patriarch of the West.

Bishop Kallistos posed the question: How much do our existing structures of Church authority, whether Catholic or Orthodox, correspond to Christ's teachings? He reminded his audience that the primacy and collegiality of bishops also has to take into account "sensus fidelium" - the general conscience of the Church. Going back to the scriptures, Bishop Kallistos gave the ultimate example of communion: Christ's communion with the Father - not paternal or authoritarian, but flowing unimpeded in both directions.

While much discussion concentrated on the failings of Rome's primacy as practiced today, a contrasting view was presented on Christianity's painful experience in the absence of primacy.

Archbishop Vsevolod of Scopelos (Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarchate) argued for the critical need to balance primacy and conciliarity. Notwithstanding the fault lines of Western primacy, such as centralization and aggrandizement of one at the expense of the other, Archbishop Vsevolod said he finds similar extremes with the Orthodox. Extolling "sobornist," for example, has led to problems of mistrust of the hierarchy, anti-clericalism and jurisdictional conflicts.

The duration of separation has also had an affect on Churches currently in communion with the Holy See. Hegumen Nicholas of the Studite Monastery (Byzantine Catholic Eparchy of Van Nuys, Calif.), stressed that for meaningful ecumenism to exist Eastern Catholic Churches have to accept responsibility for removing causes of estrangement. Essentially of Orthodox spirituality, these communities abandoned their spiritual heritage by conforming to Western practices to be "more Catholic" or in the name of some perceived "tolerance."

In addition to discussion, the Orientale Lumen conference offers the invaluable experience of worship in different Christian traditions. For example, the Assyrian Orthodox Holy Qurama, or Liturgy of the Eucharist, is entirely conducted in Aramaic, the language of Jesus' times. Its celebration is centered in two distinct places: the main altar and a seat in midst of the congregation. It is very different from the Latin Mass or the liturgy of St. John Chrysostom.

The vespers of the Coptic Orthodox Church of St. Mark in neighboring Fairfax, Va., with a young male choir of deacons singing psalms to a subdued beat of percussion instruments and the abundant use of incense gave participants a taste of worship in the ancient Church of Alexandria.

There were many other services complementing the conference and its location in the Washington area makes these services accessible to a broad audience.

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But where do we go from here? The talks were not only interesting, but had direct implications for all Christian communities. Having participated in the Orientale Lumen conference for the second time as a Ukrainian Catholic layperson, this writer's thoughts turned to that Church.

To take the Ukrainian Catholic Church into the new millennium, requires much greater discernment than ever before. At an earlier time, communion with Rome led us to Latinization because we were ill-prepared then to swim upstream. Today globalization is a force to be reckoned with. Issues discussed at the conference, such as primacy, jurisdiction, the source of ecclesial authority and more, are very much relevant to our existence. It is not only a matter of removing the causes of estrangement with our Orthodox heritage, it is also finding meaning and coherence for today.

To accomplish this and to anchor itself outside Ukraine, the Ukrainian Catholic Church needs to locate its Eastern Christian Studies within a visible center of theology. The Catholic University of America is open to such a center. Tucked away in Ottawa, the Sheptytsky Institute that spearheaded the work of the Kyivan Church Study Group is best qualified to be where the action is - to secure our Church's presence in a recognized world center for our Church in North America and Ukraine. Accessibility, an academic and theological environment and supporting structures seem to point that way.

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The sponsors of the conference are the Society of St. John Chrysostom, an organization of Catholic and Orthodox theologians, Eastern Christian Publications (Fairfax, Va.) and the School of Religious Studies of the Catholic University of America.

The ecumenical dialogue that comes through the capably prepared Orientale Lumen conference represents a real effort to move toward the Eucharistic union the Church enjoyed in the first millennium. In what is not a merger but a communion, the Churches will have to accept the vibrant differences between their respective spiritualities while finding the See of St. Peter in service for Church unity. That challenge equally faces the Churches of the West and the East.

Roma M. Hayda is active in the lay movement of the Ukrainian Catholic Church and is a member of Obnova, an organization of Catholic professionals and intellectuals which she helped renew in Ukraine in 1992. She was the official delegate of the Stamford Eparchy to the Patriarchal Council sessions held in 1996 and 1998 in Lviv.

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