1975 წლის საერთაშორისო საღვთისმეტყველო დიალოგი მართლმადიდებებსა და ძველ-კათოლიკეებს შორის

---

Θεολογικός Διάλογος μεταξύ των Ορθοδόξων και Παλαιοκαθολικών κατά το έτος του 1975

The International Theological Dialogue between Orthodox and Old-catholics

1870 წელს როდესაც ვატიკანის პირველი კრება (რომის ეკლესიისთვის მეოცე მსოფლიო საეკლესიო კრება) დასრულდა კათოლიკეთა ნაწილი რომის ეკლესიას გამოეყო და მასთან ევქარისტიული კავშირი გაწყვიტა, რადგან მათ გააპროტესტეს და დაგმეს კრების განჩინებები. 1870 წლის 18 მაისს კრებაზე დამსწრე ეპისკპოსთან უმრავლესობამ (535) ხელი მაოწერეს რომის ეპისკოპოსის უცდომელობის დოგმას. მაშინ კრების 2-მა ეპისკოპოსმა ხმა ამ დოგმის არმიღებას მისცეს, მრავალი ეპისკოპოსი არც დაესწრო კენჭისყრას და პროტესტის ნიშნად კრება დატოვეს. მაშინვე ჩამოყალიბდა "ძველ-კათოლიკური ეკლესია" გერმანიაში, შვეიცარიასა და ჰოლანდიაში. მათ გადაწყვიტეს ძველ ტრადიციებზე დარჩენილიყო და ამის გამო უარყვეს სწავლება სულიწმინდის ძისგანაც გამომავლობის შესახებაც (Filioque). მაშინვე ამ ფაქტმა მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესიის ყურადღება მიიქცია. 1871 წელს მუინხენში (გერმანია) ძველ-კათოლიკეებმა ჩაატარეს პირველი საღვთისმეტყველო კონგრესი სადაც სტუმრის სტატუსით მრავალი მართლმადიდებელი თეოლოგი ესწრებოდა რამაც ხელი შეუწყო დაიწყებულიყო ურთიერთობების ჩამოყალიბება. ოფიციალურად კი საღვთისმეტყველო დიალოგის დაწყება ძველ-კათოლიკეებთან 1961 წლის როდოსის პანორთოდოქსული შეხვედრისაც გადაწყდა. 1975 წელს მსოფლიო საპატრიარქოს ინიციატივით შამბეზში (ჟენევა, შვეიცარია) მართლმადიდებლურ ცენტრში ძველ-კათოლიკეები მოწვეულ იქნნენ საღვთისმეტყველო დიალოგში. ჩვეულებისამებრ დიალოგი ძირითად საკითხებზე მსჯელობით დაიწყო, რის დროსაც მნიშვნელოვან საღვთისმეტყველო საკითხებზე მოხდა შეთანხმება. დღის წესრგიში იდგა შემდეგი თემები: 1. ღმერთის შესახებ დოგმა (1975 წ.), 2. ქრისტოლოგია (1975-1977 წწ.), 3. ეკლესიოლოგია (1977, 1979, 1981 წწ.). შეხვედრებს თითქმის ყველა ადგილორბივი მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესიიდან ესწრებოდნენ. გთავაზობთ შეთანხმებების ტექსტებს ინგლისურ ენაზე:

1975 წელის შამბეზი - შეთანხმება მიღწეულია:

დოგმა ღმერთის შესახებ:

I. /I DIVINE REVELATION AND ITS TRANSMISSION

საღმრთო გამოცხადება და მისი გავრცელება

Η Θεία Αποκαλυψη και η μετάδοση αυτής

(1) The Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — created the world

and ‘has not left himself without witness’ {Acts 14:17), but revealed and

continues to reveal himself in many and various ways in the world and in

history.

(2) 1 . God reveals himself in his works, for ‘ever since the creation of the

world his invisible nature, namely his invisible power and divinity, has

been clearly perceived in the things that have been made’ {Rom. 1 :20) and

this especially in the human beings who were created in his image and

likeness, who ‘show that what the law requires is written on their hearts’

{Rom. 2:15).

(3) 2. Human beings were disobedient to the divine commandment and

sinned, and their likeness to God became distorted and obscured, and they

were unable to know the true God, ‘became futile in their thinking and

their senseless minds were darkened’; they therefore ‘worshiped and served

the creature rather than the Creator’ {Rom. 1:21, 25)

But God the All Merciful, ‘who desires all human beings to be saved

and to come to the knowledge of the truth’ (7 Tim. 2:4) chose to reveal

himself to the world in a direct and personal way. God revealed himself,

therefore, directly and effectively ‘of old to the fathers by the prophets’

{Heb. 1:1) and this in the people of Israel. This revelation of God,

although real, was nevertheless partial and educational in character: ‘the

law was our custodian until Christ came’ (Gal. 3:24).

(4) 3. ‘But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son’ (Gal.

4:4). ‘And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14). In

Jesus Christ there took place the whole and perfect revelation of God: ‘in

him the whole fulness of the deity dwells bodily’ (Col. 2:9). Only in Jesus

Christ is salvation possible: ‘and there is salvation in no one else’ (Acts

4:12). In Jesus Christ, the Triune God, whose essence is inaccessible and

incomprehensible to us, revealed himself in his salvific energies and, indeed,

in his whole plenitude: ‘We say that we do indeed know our God

from his energies, . . . but his essence remains beyond our reach’ (Basil

the Great, Letter 234, 1).

(5) 4. This supernatural revelation in Christ is communicated in the

tradition of the holy apostles, which was handed on in written form in the

Scriptures inspired by God and in oral form by the living voice of the

Church. The oral tradition is preserved, on the one hand, in the Creed and

other definitions and canons of the seven ecumenical councils and local

synods, in the writings of the holy fathers and in the holy liturgy and

generally in the Church’s liturgical practice, and, on the other hand finds

expression in the continued official teaching of the Church.

(6) 5. Scripture and tradition are not different expressions of the divine

revelation but distinct ways of expressing one and the same apostolic tradition.

Nor does any question arise, therefore, of the precedence of one

over the other: ‘both have the same force in relation to true religion’ (Basil

the Great, On the Holy Spirit, 27:2). ‘Scripture is understood within the

tradition, but the tradition preserves its purity and the criterion of its truth

through Scripture and from the content of Scripture’ (Inter-Orthodox

Preparatory Commission for the Holy and Great Synod, 16th to 28th July

1971, Chambesy 1973, p. 110). The apostolic tradition is preserved and

handed on unadulterated by the Church in the Holy Spirit.

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission,

the above text on *Divine Revelation and Its Transmission*

reproduces the doctrine of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

1/2 THE CANON OF HOLY SCRIPTURE

წმინდა წერილის კანონი (წიგნების კრებული)

Ο Καόνας της Αγίας Γραφής

(7) Holy Scripture consists of the books of the Old and New Testaments

which have been accepted by the Church into the canon established by it

and in use in it. They are:

(8) a) In the Old Testament the twenty-two — according to a different

reckoning the thirty-nine — books of the Hebrew canon, together with

another ten books, the so-called ‘Anagignoskomena’, i.e., books ‘read’ or

‘worth reading’, which were later known in the West as ‘deuterocanonic’; a

total of forty-nine books.

The first-mentioned thirty-nine books are ‘canonical’: Genesis, Exodus,

Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2

Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra (Greek 2 Esra, Vulgate

and Slavic 1 Esra), Nehemiah, Esther, Psalms, Job, Sayings of Solomon,

Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations of

Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Obadiah, Joel, Jonah, Amos, Hosea, Micah,

Nahum, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.

The additional ten books, the Anagignoskomena, are: Judith, Greek:

1 Esra (Vulgate: 3 Esra, Slavic: 2 Esra), 1, 2 and 3 Maccabees, Tobias,

Jesus Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon, Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah.

(9) The ‘canonical’ books are distinguished by the special authority constantly

accorded to them by the Church; but the Church also values highly

the Anagignoskomena which have long been part of its canon of Holy

Scripture.*

(10) b) The canonical books of the New Testament number twenty-seven

in all, namely: the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John; the

Acts of the Apostles; the letters of Paul: Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians,

Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1

and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon and Hebrews; the Catholic Epistles:

James, 1 and 2 Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, Jude; and the Revelation of John.

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission,

the above text on 'The Canon ofHoly Scripture* reproduces the doctrine

of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

* With respect to the books in Greek 1 Esra (Vulgate 3 Esra, Slavic 2 Esra) and 3

Maccabees, the Old Catholic Commission adds the following qualification: Although

these books are not rejected by their Church, they are not included in the Old Catholic

lists of the biblical books, which derive from an old Latin tradition. The International

Conference of Old Catholic bishops still has to declare its position on this point.

(11) We believe and confess One God in three hypostases, Father, Son

and Holy Spirit. The Father, who ‘loved’ the Son ‘before the foundation of

the world’ {John 17:24), revealed himself through him in the Holy Spirit in

order that this love might be in his disciples {John 17:26) through the communion

of the Holy Spirit who has been ‘sent into our hearts’ {Gal. 4:6).

This revelation is an ineffable and inexplicable mystery, a mystery of love,

‘for God is love’ {1 John 4:8).

(12) 1. On the basis of this revelation we believe that the God who is by

nature one is triune in the hypostases or persons. Father, Son and Holy

Spirit denote the three modes of being, without beginning and eternal, of

the three persons and their interrelationships; these persons are indivisibly

bound up with one another and united in one divine nature. Thus ‘we worship

the unity in the trinity and the trinity in the unity, in their paradoxical

differentiation and unity’ (Gregory of Nazianzus, PG 35, 1221).

(13) 2. We interpret this unity, on the one hand and above all, in terms

of the unity and identity of the divine nature, and on the other hand in

terms of the unity and identity of the properties, energies and will and when

we understand the Son and the Holy Spirit to derive from the Father as

their one origin and ground {aition), we are careful to preserve the unity

without confusion. The three divine persons are united in the one God,

bound together yet without confusion, on the one hand because they are

of one nature, on the other hand because they interpenetrate each other

without confusion. Therefore ‘from the unity of nature and the mutual

penetration of the hypostases and from the identity of their will and work,

their power and might and movement, we know that God is one and undivided;

for truly one is God: God (Father) and the Word and his Spirit’

(John of Damascus, PG 94, 825), to the eternal exclusion of any separation

or division of nature, any subordination of the three persons on the

pretext of precedence or eminence.

(14) 3. But we interpret the trinity on the one hand in terms of the difference

between the three persons, on the other hand, in terms of the

diversity of their processions. Thus the three divine persons are distinct

from each other without being divided; each has the fulness of divinity,

and the one divine nature remains, of course, undivided and unseparated,

so that ‘the divinity is undivided in the distinct (hypostases)’ {ameristos en

memerismenois— Gregory of Nazianzus PG 36, 149). The Father is

distinct from the other persons inasmuch as from his nature and from all

eternity he begets the Son and sends forth the Holy Spirit. The Son is

distinct from the other persons inasmuch as he is begotten of his Father;

the Holy Spirit inasmuch as he proceeds from the Father. Thus the Father

is unbegotten, without ground {anaitios) and without origin, but at the

same time is the one origin and the one root and spring of the Son and the

Holy Spirit’ (Basil the Great, PG 31, 609). He alone is their ground {aitios)

who from eternity begets the Son and sends forth the Holy Spirit. As for

the Son, he is begotten of the Father; the Holy Spirit is sent forth or proceeds

from the Father. The Father, therefore is without ground (anaitios)

and himself the ground {autoaitios), whereas the Son and the Holy Spirit

have their ground in the Father, the Son because he is begotten, the Spirit

because he is sent forth, and indeed in both cases, without beginning and

eternally, undivided and unseparated. Accordingly the mysterious and ineffable

but nevertheless real distinction between the three hypostases or

persons of the Holy Trinity consists exclusively in these their three incommunicable

properties, namely, in the unbegottenness of the Father, the

begottenness of the Son, and in the procession of the Holy Spirit. The

three holy hypostases are distinct exclusively in these hypostatic properties,

not in nature, but by the distinctive feature of each hypostasis, and

thus separated they remain inseparable’ since they ’do not denote the

nature but the mutual relationship and mode of being’ (John of

Damascus, PG 94, 824, 837).

(15) 4. On the Holy Spirit in particular, it is taught in Holy Scripture

{John 15:26), in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed of the 2nd

Ecumenical Council, and in the ancient Church generally, that he proceeds

from the Father, the source and origin of divinity. His eternal procession

from the Father is here to be distinguished from his temporal revelation

and sending into the world, which takes place through the Son. When

therefore we understand the procession of the Holy Spirit in the sense of

his eternal being and procession without beginning, we confess the procession

from the Father alone, and not also from the Son. But when we

understand it in the sense of the temporal procession of the Holy Spirit,

then we confess the procession from the Father through the Son or even

from both Father and Son.

(16.) Accordingly we believe in the Holy Spirit ‘who proceeds from the

Father . . . and is communicated to the whole creation through the

Son . . . We do not say that the Spirit is from the Son . . . (But) we confess

that he is revealed and communicated to us through the Son . . . (He

is) the Holy Spirit of God the Father, since it is indeed from the Father

that he proceeds, but he is also called (Spirit) of the Son because he is indeed

revealed and communicated to the creation through the Son, but

does not derive his being from the Son’ (John of Damascus, PG 94,

821.832.833. [849]; 96, 605).

(17) In this sense the Doctrinal Letter of the International Conference of

Old Catholic Bishops in 1969 states: ‘We entirely reject the addition of the

filioque adopted in the West in the eleventh century without recognition

by an ecumenical council. The ground for this rejection is not merely the

uncanonical form of this addition, though this in itself represented an offence

against love as the bond of unity. But above all we repudiate any

theological doctrine which makes the Son joint author of the Spirit.’ In a

similar sense, the special statement of the same Bishops’ Conference in the

same year, ‘On the Filioque Question’, also emphasizes ‘that there is only

one principle and one source in the most holy Trinity, namely, the Father’.

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission,

the above text on *The Holy Trinity' reproduces the doctrine of the

Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

Chambesy, Geneva, Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

August 20-28, 1975

Signatures of all members of the Joint Commission present.

ქრისტოლოგია

შამბეზი 1975-1977, შეთანხმება მიღწეულია:

II/l THE INCARNATION OF THE WORD OF GOD

ღვთის სიტყვის განკაცება

Η Ενανθρώπιση του Λόγου του Θεού

(1) 1. We believe in Jesus Christ, the only Son and the only Word of

God ‘who for us human beings and for our salvation came down from

heaven and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and

became a human being’ (Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed). In the incarnation

the eternal and timeless God entered time and history as a human

being ‘in order to unite the human race once again in himself as its head’

(Cyril of Alexandria, PG 76, 17).

Jesus Christ has two natures: he is perfect God who has everything

the Father has, except his unbegottenness; but at the same time he is also

perfectly human ‘with a rational soul and body’, like us in every respect except

our sin.

As human being Jesus Christ stands out from all other human beings

by his supernatural birth and sinlessness, since his incarnation took place

through the Holy Spirit and from the Virgin Mary, and he was also free

from original sin and from all personal sin.

(2) 2. Concerning the two natures of Christ, the divine and the human,

we confess what the Church teaches on the basis of Holy Scripture and

Holy Tradition: namely, that the two natures, the divine and the human,

have been hypostatically united in Christ, and this indeed in the hypostasis

or person of God the Word, ‘without confusion without change, without

division, without separation’ (4th Ecumenical Council).

(3) Jesus Christ is God-man, the one divine person in two natures, the

divine and the human, with two wills and two operations (energeiai). But

since the person of Jesus Christ unites the two natures and it is this person

which wills and operates accordingly, we can therefore call the operations

of the Lord divine-human. ‘He does what the human being does not just in

a human manner, for he is not only human but also divine; and he does

what God does not just in a divine manner, for he is not only divine but

also human’ (John of Damascus, PG 94, 1060). Through the ‘mutual interpenetration’

or ‘mutual indwelling’ of the two natures, not only is the

duality of the natures, wills and operations preserved but also the unity of

the person.

(4) 3. The hypostatic union has certain consequences for the dogma of

the Holy Trinity:

a) Although the whole divine nature was united with the human nature in

Jesus Christ, the whole Holy Trinity did not become incarnate but only

the second person of the Trinity.

b) The incarnation does not bring about any alteration or change in the

unalterable and unchangeable God.

(5) 4. The hypostatic union results in:

a) The exchange or mutual communication of the properties. In the

hypostatic union, the two natures, the divine and the human, communicate

to each other their properties, by penetrating each other and

indwelling in each other.

b) The divinisation (theosis) of the human nature of Christ. It abides, of

course, ‘within the limits proper to it and within its kind’ (6th

Ecumenical Council).

c) The sinlessness of Christ.

d) The worship of Christ even in respect of his human nature. We owe

worship to the divine-human person of the Lord.

e) The Virgin Mary is truly God-bearer and Mother of God.

(6) 5. The incarnation of the eternal Word of God, which took place out

of love for humanity, is an inaccessible and inconceivable mystery, to be

appropriated in faith . . .

In the view of the Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Commission, the

above text on 'The Incarnation of the Word of God* represents the doctrine

of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

II/2 THE HYPOSTATIC UNION

ჰიპოსტატური შეერთება

Η Υποστατική Ένωση

(7) Concerning the hypostatic union of the two natures, the teaching of

the Church is:

1. The divine nature was united with the human nature hypostatically,

i.e., in the hypostasis or person of God the Word. In his incarnation he

assumed not human nature in general, but an inidividual human nature.

This did not exist previously; it was ‘without hypostasis of its own nor did

it have any prior individuality . . . but the Word of God itself became

hypostasis to the flesh’ (John of Damascus, PG 94 1024. 985). Consequently,

the Lord did not assume a human hypostasis but a human nature,

and this indeed is human nature in its entirety. The individual human

nature assumed was a true and complete one ‘with rational soul and body’

(4th Ecumenical Council). It did not exist previously in an individual independent

of the one person of Jesus Christ, nor had it previously been

created, but its existence began in the moment of the divine incarnation ‘of

the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary’, in the unity of the person or

hypostasis of the Word of God. It therefore never had any other

hypostasis than that only of the Son of God.

(8) 2. Jesus Christ is therefore the one person ‘in two natures’, the divine

and the human, but not ‘from two natures’. The 4th Ecumenical Council

teaches us to confess ‘ one and the same Christ, Son, Lord, Onlybegotten,

recognized in two natures, without confusion, without change,

without division, without separation; the distinction of natures being in no

way annulled by the union, but rather the characteristics of each nature

being preserved and coming together to form one person and subsistance

(hypostasis). The hypostatic union of the two natures in Christ, which

took place ‘in the moment of the conception, without confusion or separation’,

remains forever indivisible and indissoluble. The human nature remains

forever inseparably united with the divine nature. The God-man is

therefore ‘Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and forever’ (Heb.

13:8).

(9) 3. Since there are two natures, the divine and the human, in Jesus

Christ, there are also in him two freely operating wills, appertaining to the

natures, the divine and the human; two operations (energeiai) appertaining

to the natures, the divine and the human, as well as two free wills

(autexousia) appertaining to the natures, the divine and the human; the

wisdom and the knowledge, too, are both divine and human. Because the

Lord is equal in nature to God the Father, he wills and operates in freedom

as God; because he is also equal in nature to us human beings, he wills and

operates in freedom also as a human being. ‘Willing and operating’ he

possesses of course ‘not divided but united; he wills and works in each of

the two natures, of course, in communion with the other’. We therefore

understand the two wills not as contrary or as striving against each other,

but each as willing in harmony the same thing each according to its own

mode. Certainly the weak human will follows the strong divine will and

subordinates itself to that will, for both wills and operations ‘acted in unity’

and ‘cooperated for the salvation of the human race’ (6th Ecumenical

Council). Put in general terms: ‘Since the hypostasis of Christ is one and

Christ is one, he is one who wills in accordance with both natures: as God

on the basis of good pleasure, as human being in obedience’ (John of

Damascus, PG 95, 160).

(10) The Church teaches therefore what the fathers of the 6th

Ecumenical Council also defined: ‘We adhere firmly in every way to the

“without confusion” and “without division” and proclaim in short: Since

we believe that one of the Holy Trinity, after the incarnation of our Lord

Jesus Christ, is our true God, we affirm that his two natures are shown in

his one hypostasis . . . The distinction of natures in the one hypostasis is

seen in the fact that each nature wills and operates what is its own in communion

with the other. Accordingly, we also praise the wills and operations

appertaining to the two natures, which cooperate for the salvation of

the human race.’ Even after the union ‘his divinized human will was not

annihilated but continued all the stronger’.

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission

the above text on The Hypostatic Union’ reproduces the doctrine of

the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

Chambesy, Geneva, Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate

August 20-28, 1975

Signatures of all members of the Joint Commision present.

II/3 THE MOTHER OF GOD

ღვთის დედა

Η Μητέρα του Θεού

(11) The Church believes that the divine and human natures are

hypostatically united in Jesus Christ. It accordingly believes also that the

Blessed Virgin Mary gave birth not to a human being merely but to the

God-man (the divine-human being) Jesus Christ and that she is therefore

truly Mother of God as the 3rd Ecumenical Council defined and the 5th

Ecumenical Council confirmed. According to St. John of Damascus, the

name ‘Mother of God’ ‘embraces the whole mystery of the divine dispensation’

(i.e., plan of salvation) (de fide orth. 3.12. PG 94, 1029).

(12) 1 . In the Virgin Mary, the Son of God assumed human nature in its

entirety, body and soul, in virtue of the divine omnipotence, for the power

of the Most High overshadowed her and the Holy Spirit came upon her

(Luke 1:35). In this way the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). By the true

and real motherhood of the Virgin Mary, the Redeemer was united with

the human race.

(13) There is an intrinsic connection between the truth of the one Christ

and the truth of the divine motherhood of Mary. ‘ ... for a union of two

natures took place; therefore we confess one Christ, one Son, one Lord.

According to this understanding of the unconfused union, we confess the

Holy Virgin to be *theotokos* because God the Word was made flesh and

lived as a human being and from the very conception united to himself the

temple taken from her’ (3rd Ecumenical Council, Formula of Union,

Mansi 5.592). ‘ ... we teach with one voice that the Son (of God) and our

Lord, Jesus Christ, is to be confessed as one and the same

person . . . begotten of his Father before the worlds according to his

Godhead but in these last days born for us and for our salvation of the

Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, according to his humanity’ (4th

Ecumenical Council, Definition of Faith, Mansi 7.116).

(14) 2. Venerating the Virgin Mary as Mother of God, whose pregnancy

is called by St. Ignatius of Antioch ‘a mystery to be cried aloud’ (ad Eph.

19:1), the Church also glorifies her perpetual virginity. The Mother of

God is ever-Virgin, since, while remaining a maiden, she bore Christ in an

ineffable and inexplicable manner. In their address to the Emperor Marcian,

the fathers of the 4th Ecumenical Council declared: ‘ ... the

fathers . . . have expounded the meaning of faith for all and proclaimed

accurately the blessing of the incarnation: how the mystery of the plan of

salvation was prepared from on high and from the maternal womb, how

the Virgin was named Mother of God for the sake of him who granted her

virginity even after her pregnancy and kept her body sealed in a glorious

manner, and how she is truly called Mother because of the flesh of the

Lord of all things, which came from her and which she gave to him’

(Allocutio ad Marc. Imp. Mansi 7.461 B). And in its decision the 7th

Ecumenical Council declared: ‘We confess that he who was incarnate of

the immaculate Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary has two natures’

(Definitio, Mansi 13.377A). As St. Augustine says: ‘He was born of the Holy

Spirit and the Virgin Mary. And even the birth as human being is itself

lowly and lofty. Why lowly? Because as human being he is born of a

human being. Why lofty? Because he was born of a virgin. A virgin conceived,

a virgin gave birth, and after the birth she remained a virgin’ (de

symb. ad cat. 1.3, 6. PL 40.630). (Cf. also St. Sophronius, Patriarch of

Jerusalem, General Epistle, PG 87.3164, 3176, Mansi 9.476, 485; St. John

of Damascus, de fid. orth. 4,14. PG 94. 1161; St. Maximus the Confessor,

ambig. PG 91, 1276A etc.).

(15) 3. Accordingly the Church venerates in a very special way the

Virgin Mother of God, though ‘not as divine but as Mother of God

according to the flesh’ (St. John of Damascus, de imag. 2,5. PG 94,1357).

If, because of the redemption in Christ and its blessings, the Church

glorifies God above all and offers him the worship of true adoration due to

the divine nature alone, at the same time it venerates the Mother of God as

chosen vessel of the work of salvation, as she who accepted the word of

God in faith, humility and obedience, as gateway through which God

entered the world. It calls her the Blessed One, the first of the saints and

the pure handmaid of the Lord, and thereby ascribes to her a relative

sinlessness by grace, from the time the Holy Spirit descended upon her, for

our Saviour Jesus Christ alone is sinless by nature and absolutely.

(16) The Church does not recognize the recent dogmas of an immaculate

conception and bodily assumption of the Mother of God. But it celebrates

the entry of the Mother of God into eternal life and solemnly observes the

festival of her dormition.

(17) 4. The Church venerates the Mother of God also in her role as intercessor

for human beings before God, which is hers in particular because

of her outstanding place in the work of salvation. But it distinguishes between

the intercession of the Mother of God and the quite unique mediatorship

of Jesus Christ: ‘For there is one mediator between God and

humanity — the man Jesus Christ’ (1 Tim. 2:5). ‘O Merciful One, show

your love to humankind; accept the Mother of God who bore you, who intercedes

for us, and save your helpless people, O our Saviour’ (Saturday

Vespers, Tone 8, Theotokion). ‘

. . . O God . . . grant us all to share the

life of your Son in fellowship with the Virgin Mary, the Blessed Mother of

our Lord and God . . . and of all your saints. Look upon their life and

death and answer their intercessions for your Church on earth’ (Divine

Liturgy of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland).

(18) Although the Mother of God is also called ‘mediatrix’ {mesitria) in the

hymns of the Church, this is never anywhere in the sense of co-mediatrix

or co-redemptrix but only in the sense of intercessor.

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission,

the above text on the 'Mother of God* reproduces the doctrine of the

Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

Chambesy, Geneva, Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,

August 23-30, 1977

Signatures of all members of the Joint Commission present.

ეკლესიოლოგია,

შეთანხმება მიღწეულია:

1977 წელი შამბეზი, 1979 წელი ბონი, 1981 წელი ზაგორსკი

iii/i THE NATURE OF THE CHURCH

ეკლესიის ბუნება

Η φυση της Εκκλησίας

(1) By its very nature the church is intimately related to the mystery of

the Triune God who reveals himself in Christ and the Holy Spirit (cf. Eph.

5:32). It is ‘the treasure house of God’s ineffable mysteries’ (St. John

Chrysostomos, Ep. 1 ad Cor. horn. 16,3. PG 61, 134).

(2) No explicit and complete definition of the term ‘Church’ is to be

found in Scripture and Tradition. What we find are many images and symbols

from which in an indirect way the nature of the Church can be

known.

(3) According to the Scriptures, the Church is ‘the body of Christ’ (Rom.

12:4f.; 1 Cor. 12:13, 27), ‘the people of God’ (1 Pet. 2:10), the ‘household’

or ‘temple’ of God (1 Tim. 3:15; Eph. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:16f.), the ‘royal

priesthood’ (1 Pet. 2:9), the bride of Christ (cf. Mk. 2:20; Mt. 25: Iff.; Rev.

21:2), God’s ‘vineyard’ (Isa. 5:7).

(4) Tradition also provides descriptions in which one or other aspect of

the Church is emphasized: it is episcopal in structure, it has a priestly and

charismatic character, it is a communion of believers, it is composed of all

the true believers of all the ages, it is the human race united in the Godman.

(5) The Church, therefore, by its very nature is no mere human

fellowship, no passing phenomenon of human history. It is rooted in

God’s eternal decision and plan for the benefit of the world and the human

race. In the Old Testament it was prefigured in Israel and announced in

advance by the prophets to be the coming people of God of the new covenant

in which God would establish his final and universal sovereignty on

earth (Isa. 2:2; Jer. 31:31). In the fulness of time it became a reality in the

incarnation of the Word of God, through the proclamation of the Gospel,

the choice of the twelve apostles, the institution of the Lord’s Supper,

Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection, as well as through the

sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost for the sanctification of the Church

and the equipment of the apostles for their work.

(6) Thus the Church founded by the Lord on earth is the body of Christ,

with Christ as its Head, a divine-human organism; a community which can

be described and perceived and, at the same time, an inward and spiritual

relationship between its members and its divine founder and among

themselves. As the pilgrim people of God, the Church lives on earth in expectation

of its coming Lord until the fulfilment of the kingdom of God.

It exists and lives both in heaven, in those already made perfect who there

celebrate the victory, and on earth in believers who fight the good fight of

faith (cf. 2 Tim. 4:6). In one aspect the Church is invisible and heavenly, in

the other it is earthly and visible, a community and organism with a

pastoral and priestly ministry, which is structurally linked with the

apostles, with abiding dogmatic and ethical principles and a constant

ordered worship, a body in which clergy and laity are differentiated.

(7) In the Church, the new life in Christ is a reality in the Holy Spirit; in

it the grace and divine life of the Head is given to all members of the Body

for their sanctification and salvation.

The Church established by the Lord on earth cannot, therefore, be

merely something inward, an invisible fellowship or an ideal and indefinable

Church of which the individual churches are only imperfect images.

Such a conception of the nature of the Church is in contradiction to

the spirit of Scripture and Tradition; it destroys the real content of revelation

and the historical character of the Church.

(8) Dogmatic expression is given of the nature of the Church in the

Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, as confirmed by the 4th Ecumenical

Council in Chalcedon. In this creed the confession of faith in the Triune

God is followed by the confession of faith in ‘the one, holy, catholic and

apostolic Church’.

(9) The Church is ‘one’, for just as Christ the Head of the Church is one,

so too there is also one body animated by the Holy Spirit, in which Christ

as Head and believers as members are united. In this body all the local

churches are united to one another by the unity of faith, worship and

order. The unity of faith and worship represents the bond which binds

believers with the redeemer and with one another, in love and peace and

finds expression in the confession of the same faith and in celebration of

the same liturgy, insofar as it rests on dogma. The unity of order takes the

form of the exercise of leadership on the basis of the same principles and

the recognition by believers of one ministry and one authority in accordance

with the canonical rules, namely the episcopate which has a conciliar

structure.

(10) If the members of the Church perceive the truths of faith in various

ways, this does not destroy or diminish the unity of faith; nor does this

happen if the Church sometimes exercises patience towards people who

depart from the unity of faith and order, and does not exclude them from

the body of the Church, for pastoral considerations and in the exercise of

‘economy’.

(11) Although the Church, the body of Christ, has many members,

therefore, these nevertheless all constitute one body and are united in an

indivisible unity. The Lord prayed for this unity and, in doing so, pointed

at the unity of Father and Son (John 17:21), as the ground of the unity of

believers is the image of the unity of the Triune God. Tor Father, Son and

Holy Spirit have one will. Thus it is his will also that we, too, should be

one, when he says: That they all may be one as You and I are one (St. John

Chrysost. in John horn. 78,3. PG 59, 425).

(12) The Church is 'holy' since Christ its head is holy and gave himself

for it ‘that he might sanctify it . . . that the Church might be presented

before him in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that it

might be holy and without blemish’ (Eph. 5:25-27). Christ made the

Church the ‘household of God’ (1 Tim. 3:15; Heb. 3:6); he gave it

fellowship and share in his holiness and grace and in his divine life; he who

sanctified the people through his own blood’ (Heb. 13:12). Christians are

therefore also called saints (Acts 9:13).

(13) The fact that members of the Church sin does not nullify the

holiness of the Church. The fathers were agreed in condemning those who

because of immoderate and ascetic tendencies took the view that the

Church is a community made up exclusively of completely sanctified

members.

(14) The Church is 'catholic', since Christ its head is the Lord of all

things. It is predestined to extend to the whole creation, over all peoples

and through all ages (Mt. 28:20; Mk. 16:15; Acts 1:8). This is the external

quantitative meaning of catholicity.

(15) The Church is called 'Catholic* in the inner qualitative sense of the

word because although it is scattered over the whole earth, it is always and

everywhere the same. It is 'catholic*, because it has the ‘sound doctrine’

(Tit. 2:1; cf. 1 Tim. 6:20), continues in the original tradition of the

apostles and truly continues and preserves ‘that which has been believed

everywhere, always and by all’ (Vincent of Lerins, Commonit. II, 3 PL 50,

640). The Church is therefore in the sense that it is the orthodox,

authentic and true Church.

(16) According to St. Cyril of Jerusalem, ‘the Church is called catholic

because it extends over all the world from one end of the earth to the

other; and because it teaches universally and completely one and all those

doctrines which ought to come to the knowledge of humankind, concerning

things both visible and invisible, heavenly and earthly; and because it

brings into subjection to godliness the entire human race, governors and

governed, learned and unlearned; and because while it deals exhaustively

with and heals every kind of sin of soul and body, it also possesses in itself

every form of virtue which can be named, in deeds and words and in every

kind of spiritual gift’ (Cyr. Hier. Cat. 18,23. PG 33, 1044).

(17) The Church is 'apostolic*, since its divine founder was the first ‘apostle’

(Heb. 3:1; cf. Gal. 4:4), and because it is built upon ‘the foundation of

the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone’

(Eph. 2:20).

(18) The mission of Jesus has a wider context: the Son is sent into the

world by the Father, and he himself sends the disciples (cf. John 20:21) to

whom he says: ‘He who hears you, hears me’ (Lk. 10:16). After their death

the mission of the Church is continued, the inheritance of truth entrusted

by the Lord to the apostles is preserved and passed on in the spiritual life,

in the celebration of the sacraments and in doctrine. The apostolic doctrine

preserved by the Church is the inner aspect of its apostolicity. Its

other element is the unbroken series and succession of pastors and teachers

of the Church, starting from the apostles, which is the outward mark and

also the pledge of the truth of the Church. These two elements of

apostolicity, the inner and the outer, support and condition one another; if

either one or the other is lacking the essential apostolicity and fullness of

truth of the Church are impaired.

(19) The four dogmatic marks of the Church mutually interpenetrate

each other in indissoluble unity and point to the indestructibility and infallibility

of the Church, the ‘pillar and ground of the truth’ (1 Tim. 3:15).

In the view of the Joint Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological Commission,

the above text on *The Nature and Marks of the Church' reproduces

the doctrine of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

Chambesy, Geneva, Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate,

August 23-30, 1977.

Signatures of all members of the Joint Commission present.

III/2 THE UNITY OF THE CHURCH AND THE LOCAL CHURCHES

ეკლესის და ადგილობრივ ეკლესიათა ერთობა

Η ενότητα της Εκκλησίας και των κατά τόπους Εκκλησιών

(20) 1. The Church is the one indivisible Body of Christ in which the

believers, as members of this Body, are united with Christ as its Head and

with one another. The supreme expression and the perennial source of this

unity is the sacrament of the Eucharist, communion with the body and

blood of Christ: ‘Because there is one loaf, we, many as we are, are one

body; for it is of one loaf of which we all partake’ (1 Cor. 10:17 NEB).

(21) 2. The one Church on earth exists in the many local Churches

whose life is centred on the celebration of the holy Eucharist in the communion

with the lawful bishop and his priests. ‘Let all follow the bishop as

Jesus Christ did the Father, and the priest as you would the Apostles . . .

Let that Eucharist be held valid which is offered by the bishop or by one to

whom the bishop has committed this charge’ (Ignatius of Antioch, Smyrn.

S. 1 PG 5,582; tr. The Fathers of the Church, Catholic University of

America Press, Washington, D.C. 1947, vol. 1 p. 121).

(22) 3. The spread of the Christian faith to different lands and among

many peoples and the consequent rise of a multitude of local Churches did

not abolish the unity of the Church nor does their existence now do so, so

long as the local Churches maintain pure and undefiled in the harmonious

disposition of all, the faith transmitted to them from the Lord through the

Apostles. Unity in faith is the supreme principle of the Catholic Church:

‘The Church . . . has received from the apostles and their disciples the

faith ... in one God, the Father Almighty . . . and in one Christ Jesus,

the Son of God . . . and in the Holy Spirit . . . The Church, having received

this preaching . . . although scattered throughout the whole world,

yet, as if occupying but (of doctrine) just as if it had but one soul, and one

and the same heart, and it proclaims them, and teaches them, and hands

them down, with perfect harmony, as if it possessed only one mouth’

(Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 1:10, 1-2; Ante-Nicene Fathers^ tr. Roberts and

Donaldson, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, vol. 1 p. 330; Pg. 7, 549.552).

(23) 4. As a fellowship of believers united around the bishop and the

priests and as the Body of Christ, each local Church is the manifestation

of the whole Christ in one particular place. It represents the sacramental

reality of the whole Church in its own locality. For it is in no divided form,

that the life, that has been given to the Church by God the Father through

the presence of Christ in the Holy Spirit, is given to the local Churches;

each local Church, on the contrary, has that life in its fulness. Thus, for all

the differences in custom and usage, the life of the local Churches is in

essence one and the same: ‘There is one body and one Spirit, . . . one

Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all ... ’

(Eph. 4:4-6). There are not many bodies but the one Body of Christ, undivided

and whole, in each place. This unity of life in the local Churches

reflects the unity of the Holy Trinity itself.

(24) 5. The local Churches recognize in one another the same reality and

they affirm their essential identity, above all, by the unity of their

liturgical and sacramental life, their unity in the basic principles of

canonical order and of church government, as well as by the unity of the

episcopate. Authentic expression has been given to these basic principles in

the canons of the Seven Ecumenical Synods and the acknowledged local

Synods or they are attested in the Church Fathers. Since the Church in this

present time still awaits deliverance from all evil and must therefore pray

God so to deliver it, to make it perfect in His love and bring it together

from the ends of the earth into His kingdom (Didache 10,5; 9,4), the local

Churches must devotedly maintain the essential unity given to them, and

constantly struggle against the forces of sin and division.

(25) 6. In the course of history, the local Churches have established

larger groupings in defined geographical areas, with one of the bishops

placed at the summit as the prime bishop. They affirm and practice their

fellowship by the common reception of the eucharistic gifts by their

members, by the exchange of visits between their leaders and represen-

tatives, by the interchange of messages of greeting, as well as by mutual

aid and intercession, as well as in other ways in accordance with the

distinctive gifts received by each. Each is careful to observe the rule forbidding

intervention or meddling in the domestic affairs of the others.

(26) 7. On matters of faith and other common concerns, i.e., where

issues arise which concern them all and exceed the competence of each individual

Church, the local Churches take counsel together and make common

decisions, faithfully observing in such Synods the order of honour

and rank canonically established in the Church. They do so, above all, in

Ecumenical Synods, which are the supreme authority in the Church, the

instrument and the voice through which the Catholic Church speaks, in

which there is a constant effort to preserve and strengthen its unity in love.

In the view of the Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Commission, the

above text on 'The Unity of the Church and the Local Churches* represents

the doctrine of the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

III/3 THE BOUNDARIES OF THE CHURCH

ეკლესიის საზღვრები

Τα όρια της Εκκλησίας

(27) 1. The love of God and His purpose of salvation are unlimited

and embrace all human beings of all times in the whole of creation, for

it is His will ‘that all should find salvation and come to know the truth’

(1 Tim. 2:4). In accordance with the divine plan of salvation, it is

in and through the Church founded by God and not at a distance from it

and independently of it that humanity comes to partake of salvation, for

in the Church is found the divine truth, to it the Saviour has entrusted the

means of achieving beatitude; the Church is the sure way to salvation and

eternal life. Salvation is offered to believers in the Church by the Holy

Spirit which abides always in it. This is why Irenaeus also says: 'Ubi ecclesia,

ibi et Spiritus Dei, et ubi Spiritus Dei, illic ecclesia et omnis gratia*

(‘For where the Church is, there is the Spirit of God, and where the Spirit

of God is, there is the Church and every kind of grace’, Iren. adv. Haer.

111,24; Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, p. 458).

(28) 2. Because of sin, not everyone accepts the saving grace of God and

comes to the fellowship of the Church. But not all those who do come to

the Church confess the divine truth as revealed by Jesus Christ in the

fulness of time. Journeying through history, the Church of Christ has

become divided into many Churches which disagreed with each other

because the faith and doctrines handed down from the apostles were

debased. This led among other things to the false and unacceptable theory

that the true visible Church, the Church of the age of the apostles and

church fathers, no longer exists today but that each of the individual

Churches retains only a portion, greater or less, of the true Church and

that none of them, therefore, can be regarded as a genuine and essentially

complete representation of the true Church. Up to our time the teachings

of the Christian Churches and Confessions differ in some respects, not

just in unessentials but even in fundamental points of Christian doctrine.

(29) 3. But from the day it was founded right down to our own days, the

true Church, the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church, has gone on existing

without any discontinuity wherever the true faith, worship and order

of the ancient undivided Church are preserved unimpaired as they are

reflected and formulated in the definitions and canons of the Seven

Ecumenical Synods and the acknowledged local Synods, and in the church

fathers.

(30) 4. Our Mixed Commission gives heresy and schism the appropriate

significance and regards communities which continue in heresy and schism

as in no sense workshops of salvation parallel to the true visible Church. It

nevertheless believes that the question of the Church’s boundaries can be

seen in a larger light. Since it is impossible to set limits to God’s power

whose will it is that all should find salvation and come to know the truth

and since further the Gospel clearly speaks of salvation by faith in the

unique Son of God, — ‘He who puts his faith in the Son has hold of eternal

life, but he who disobeys the Son shall not see that life’ (John 3:36) — it can

be considered as not excluded that the divine omnipotence and grace are

present and operative wherever the departure from the fulness of truth in

the one Church is not complete and does not go to the lengths of a complete

estrangement from the truth, wherever ‘God Himself is not called in

question’, wherever the source of ‘life, the Trinity, is sincerely proclaimed

and the mystery of the divine economy in the incarnation is acknowledged’

(Petrus III, Patriarch of Alexandria, Letter to Michael Kerularios, PG

120, 798-800).

(31) 5. On this view of the question of the Church’s boundaries, where

the unity of the Church as the Body of Christ is understood in a wider

sense, all who believe in Christ are called to seek lovingly, sincerely and

patiently to enter into dialogue with one another, and to pray unceasingly

for the restoration of the Church’s unity in faith and full fellowship so that

the Lord God may lead all to know the truth and to attain the fulness of

unity.

In the view of the Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Commission, the

above text on The Boundaries of the Church’ represents the doctrine of

the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

Bonn, Greek-Orthodox Metropoly

August 20-24, 1979

Signatures of all members of the Joint Commission present.

PARTICIPANTS - მონაწილეები - Συμμετέχοντες

Participants of the Meeting in the Orthodox Centre in Chambesy

(20-28th August 1975):

მონაწილეთა შეხვედრა შამბეზში მართმადიდებლურ ცენტრში

(20-28 აგვისტო, 1975):

Η Συνάντηση των Συμμετεχόντων στο Ορθόδοξο Κέντρο του Σαμπεζύ

(20-28 Αυγούστου του 1975):

---

Orthodox Members - მართლმადიდებელი წევრები - Ορθόδοξα Μέλη

Ecumenical Patriarchate - მსოფლიო საპატრიარქო - Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο

Irenaios, Metropolitan of Germany, Chairman

Professor Emmanuel Photiadis

Patriarchate of Alexandria - ალექსანდრიის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Αλεξανδρείας

Parthenios, Metropolitan of Carthage

Nikodemos, Metropolitan of Central Africa

Patriarchate of Jerusalem - იერუსალიმის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Ιεροσολύμων

Kornelios Rodussakis, Archimandrite

Professor Chrysostomos Zaphiris, Archimandrite

Patriarchate of Moscow - მოსკოვის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Μόσχας

Philaret, Metropolitan of Berlin

Nikolaj Gundjajev, Archpriest

Patriarchate of Romania - რუმინეთის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Ρουμανίας

Professor Isidor Todoran, Priest

Professor Stefan Alexe, Priest

Patriarchate of Bulgaria - ბულგარეთის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Βουλγαρίας

Professor Ilja Tsonevski

Church of Cyprus - კვიპროსის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Κύπρου

Chrysostomos Chrysanthos, Metropolitan of Limasol

Professor Andreas Mitsidis

Church of Greece - საბერძნეთის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ελλάδος

Professor Johannes Karmiris

Professor Johannes Kalogirou

Professor Megas Pharantos

Church of Finland - ფინეთის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Φινλλανδίας

Johannes Seppala, Priest

Old Catholic Members - ძველ-კათოლიკე წევრები - Παλιοκαθολικά Μέλη

Church of Switzerland - შვეიცარიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ελβετίας

Leon Gauthier, Bishop, Chairman

Professor Herwig Aldenhoven, Priest

Church of Holland - ჰოლანდიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ολλανδίας

Professor Petrus Johannes Maan, Canon

Church of Germany - გერმანიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Γερμανίας

Josef Brinkhues, Bishop

Professor Werner Kiippers, Priest

Church of Poland (representing the Polish-National Catholic Church of

the United States of America and Canada) - პოლონეთის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Πολωνίας

Tadeusz R. Majewski, Bishop

Wiktor Wysoczanski, Priest

Church of Austria - ავსტრიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Αυστρίας

Dr. Gunter Dolezal, Priest

Chambesy (23-30th August 1977) - შამბეზი (23-30 აგვისტო, 1977) - Σαμπεζύ (23-30 Αυγούστου 1977)

---

Orthodox Members - მართლმადიდებელი წევრები - Ορθόδοξα Μέλη

Ecumenical Patriarchate - მსოფლიო საპატრიარქო - Οικουμενικό Πατριαρχείο

Irenaios, Metropolitan of Germany, Chairman

Professor Emmanuel Photiadis

Patriarchate of Alexandria - ალექსანდრიის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Αλεξανδρείας

Parthenios, Metropolitan of Carthage

Patriarchate of Jerusalem - იერუსალიმის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Ιεροσολύμων

Kornelios, Metropolitan of Sebastia

Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Gardikion

Patriarchate of Moscow - მოსკოვის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Μόσχας

Philaret, Metropolitan of Berlin

Nikolaj Gundjajev, Archpriest

Patriarchate of Serbia - სერბეთის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Σερβίας

Professor Dimitrije Dimitrijevic, Priest

Patriarchate of Romania - რუმინეთის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Ρουμανίας

Professor Stefan Alexe, Priest

Patriarchate of Bulgaria - ბულგარეთის საპატრიარქო - Πατριαρχείο Βουλγαρίας

Professor Ilja Tsonevski

Church of Cyprus - კვიპროსის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Κύπρου

Professor Andreas Mitsidis

Church of Greece - საბერძნეთის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ελλάδος

Professor Johannes Kalogirou

Professor Megas Pharantos

Old Catholic Members - ძველ-კათოლიკე წევრები

Church of Switzerland - შვეიცარიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ελβετίας

Leon Gauthier, Bishop, Chairman

Professor Herwig Aldenhoven, Priest

Church of Holland - ჰოლანდიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Ολλανδίας

Professor Petrus Johannes Maan, Canon

Martien Parmentier, Priest

Church of Germany - გერმანიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Γερμανίας

Professor Werner Kiippers, Priest

Professor Christian Oeyen, Priest

Church of Austria - ავსტრიის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία της Αυστρίας

Dr. Gunter Dolezal, Priest

Church of Poland - პოლონეთის ეკლესია - Εκκλησία τς Πολωνίας

Tadeusz Majewski, Bishop

Maksymilian Rode, Bishop

(these also represented the Polish-National Catholic Church in the USA

and Canada)

Orthodox consultants or interpreters - მართლმადიდებელი კონსულტანტები ან თარჯიმნები - Ορθόδοξοι σύμβουλοι ή μεταφραστές

Dr. Theodoros Nikolaou

Grigorij Skobej

Old Catholic consultants or interpreters - ძველ-კათოლიკე კონსულტანტები ან თარჯიმნები - Παλαιοκαθολικοί σύμβουλοι ή μεταφραστές

Professor Peter Amiet, Priest

Urs von Arx, Priest

Dieter Prinz, Priest

Germany in Bonn-Beuel (20-24th August 1979) - გერმანია (20-24 აგვისტო, 1979) - Γερμανία (20-24 Αυγούστου 1979)

---

Orthodox Members - მართლმადიდებელი წევრები - Ορθόδοξα Μέλη

Ecumenical Patriarchate:

Irenaios, Metropolitan of Germany, Chairman

Professor Emmanuel Photiadis

Patriarchate of Alexandria:

Parthenios, Metropolitan of Carthage

Patriarchate of Jerusalem:

Kornelios, Metropolitan of Sebaste

Chrysostomos, Metropolitan of Persisterion

Patriarchate of Moscow:

Philaret, Metropolitan of Minsk and White Russia

Nikolaj Gundjajev, Archpriest

Patriarchate of Romania:

Professor Stefan Alexe, Priest

Patriarchate of Bulgaria:

Professor Ilja Tsonevski

Church of Cyprus:

Varnavas, Bishop of Salamina

Dr. Benediktos Englesakis

Church of Greece:

Professor Johannes Karmiris

Professor Johannes Kalogirou

Old Catholic Members:

Church of Switzerland:

Leon Gauthier, Bishop, Chairman

Professor Herwig Aldenhoven, Priest

Church of Holland:

Professor Petrus Johannes Maan, Priest

Church of Germany:

Professor Werner Kiippers, Priest

Church of Austria:

Dr. Gunter Dolezal, Priest

Church of Poland:

Tadeusz Majewski, Bishop

Professor Maksymilian Rode, Bishop

Church of USA and Canada'

Dr. Wiktor Wysoczanski, Priest

Orthodox consultants or interpreters:

Augustinos, Bishop of Elaia

Vasilios, Bishop of Aristi

Professor Theodoros Nikolaou

Dr. Grigorij Skobej

Old Catholic consultants or interpreters:

Professor Peter Amiet, Priest

Koenraad Ouwens, Priest

ეკლესიოლოგია - Ecclesiology - Εκκλησιολογία (1981)

შეთანხმება მიღწეულია:

I

(1) The source and confirmation of the authority of the Church as the

God-Man union is the power, received from the Father, and the authority

of the Lord and her Head, Jesus Christ (Mt. 28. 18; Lk. 10. 16). The Lord

manifested this power and authority, connected with the Redemption,

during His earthly life, and after His Resurrection invested the Apostles

with them, and through the Apostles—the bishops and the entire Church

(Mt. 28, 19-20; In. 20. 21).

The Lord, Who promised the Church that He would be with her always,

even unto the end of the world (Mt. 28. 20), also sent her another

Comforter—the Spirit of truth (In. 14. 16-17; 15. 26; 16.13), to be with her

always and to instruct her on all the truths. For this reason the Church is

defined as the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the

truth (1 Tim. 3. 15).

(2) The Church manifests her power and authority in the Name of Jesus

Christ, through the power and action of the Comforter Who lives in her.

That is why she accomplishes her work authoritatively, not through outside

compulsion, but by means of the spiritual forces which suffuse her in

all of her members and which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,

goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal. 5. 22-23).

(3) This manifestation of the Church’s authority leads her members to an

inner readiness to accept the Divine Truth authoritatively advanced by the

Church and to obediently assimilate it in the liberty wherewith Christ hath

made us free (Gal. 5. 1). The Truth is perceived through the Holy Spirit,

for the Truth makes us free (Jn. 8. 32), because where the Spirit of the

Lord is, there is liberty (2 Cor. 3. 17).

II

(1) The authority of the Church, the bearer of which is the entire Church

as the Body of Christ, was historically manifested through the acts and

decisions by which Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition were protected

from any distortion and falsification by heretics; the canonical books of

Holy Scripture were separated from spurious ones, and its canon was defined;

the living tradition of faith was preserved, interpreted and handed

down; the Creed was formulated, completed and disseminated; questions

of the priesthood and government, the order of service and of Church life

were defined.

(2) The interpretation of Holy Scripture is a constant concern of the

Church. Holy Scripture is not higher than the Church: it originated in

her, and, as the Church lives in the light of the witness of Divine Revelation

so, too, is Holy Scripture weighed and interpreted in union with the

Tradition living in the Church and the decisions regarding the Faith formulated

by the Church. Therefore, a true teaching is only that which.

while being higher than problems depending on time and linguistic expressions,

accords essentially with Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition. In

manifesting her authority in dogmatic decisions, the Church always draws

on both, i.e.. Holy Scripture and Holy Tradition, while preserving the witness

of both and deepening her comprehension of them.

(3) Of particular significance for the Church is the singleminded teaching

of her Fathers and Teachers. Apostolic Tradition is preserved and explained

in their works of which Holy Scripture is a divinely inspired

written monument. The Church perceives this singlemindedness of the Fathers

as authoritative witness to the Truth (Vincent of Lerins, Commonitorium,

3 and 28 and the entire patristic tradition).

Ill

The following are the individual bearers and manifestors of authority

in the Church:

(1) The bishop, who heads the Local Church canonically in Apostolic

Succession. The place and work of a bishop in the sphere of authority was

elucidated by St. Ignatius of Antioch, who pointed out that one who obeys

the bishop accepts the authority of God, because the authority of God is

represented and borne by the bishop (Epistle to the Magnesians, 3, 1,2; 6,

1; to the Trallians, 2, 1), who always acts in conjunction with the presbyters

ordained by him. “Thus as the Lord did nothing without the Father

(being united with him), either by Himself or by means of His Apostles so

you must do nothing without the bishop and the presbyters.” (Epistle to

the Magnesians, 7, 1, cf. Mt. 4. 1; Epistle to the Trallians, 3, 1; to the

Smyrnaeans, 8, 1).

Through the power, authority and grace of his dignity the bishop preserves

the purity of the dogmatic teaching of the Church and maintains

her order; he is the celebrator of the Sacraments, and, through his preaching,

leads the flock entrusted to him along the salvific path of the Gospel

grace. In his Church, the bishop acts in union and harmony with the presbyters

and the people, who follow him as their Gospel shepherd. According

to St. Cyprian [of Carthage] “the Church is made up of the people,

united to their priest, flock cleaving to its shepherd. Hence you should

know that the bishop is in the Church, and the Church in the bishop”

(Epistle 66.8).

(2) The councils of the Church and predominantly the ecumenical. At the

councils, every bishop represents his Church by virtue of his episcopal dignity;

the decisions of the councils deserve authority and have it, inasmuch

as the Church, represented by the assembled bishops, agrees with them

(cf. Acts 15).

IV

(1) The authority of the Church is also connected with the common confession

of faith of the Church. This is a unanimous, general awareness and

faith of the clergy and people, a broader witness of the entire Church

Plenitude which shares in the responsibility for the preservation of the

Truth handed down and for the integrity and purity of the Teaching. A

common confession of the Church also comprises the definitive criterion

for recognition of the Ecumenical Councils as such, and their Fathers as

the true interpreters of the Faith of the Church which they rightly represent.

(2) This common confession is expressed in different ways. Its manifestors

are the confessors of and martyrs for the Faith, theologians and mystics.

Holy Fathers, charismatics, and in general all those who received the Gifts

of the Holy Spirit in Baptism and Confirmation and who are called in

equal measure to bear witness to the Gospel in the world, as well as to divine

services and other forms of ecclesiastical life.

(3) It should be pointed out in conclusion that authority at all stages and

in all forms of its manifestation presupposes the spirit of truth, love, wisdom

from humility, and freedom. It is only in this way that the authority

of the Church and authority within the Church is manifested for the benefit

of her life and service in the world, inasmuch as the Lord of the

Church, to Whom all power and authority were given in Heaven and on

earth, manifested this power among men as he that serveth (Lk. 22. 27; Jn.

13. 14-17). It is for this reason that the authority of the Church, wholly

directed as it is at creating the Body of Christ and its growth in love (Eph.

4. 11-16), should bear the nature of service.

The above-mentioned regarding the authority of the Church and authority

within the Church comprises, as was determined by our Mixed Orthodox-

Old Catholic Theological Commission on Dialogue, the teaching

of both the Orthodox and Old Catholic Churches.

THE INFALLIBILITY OF THE CHURCH

ეკლესიის უცდომელობა

Το Αλάθητο της Εκκλησίας

The true God (Jn. 3. 33; 17.3; Rom. 3. 4; 1 Thess. 1. 9) sent His Son,

Who is the Truth (Jn. 14. 6) “for us men, and for our salvation”, which is

realized in the Church He founded. The Son thus sends to her from the

Father the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, which proceeds from the Father,

that He may be with her for all time and instruct her in all truths

(Jn. 14. 15-17). That is why the Church participates in God’s truth, faithfulness

and infallibility. The Holy Spirit bears witness to Christ; therefore

the Church, too, receiving and passing on the Apostolic Tradition, bears

witness to her Lord and His teaching, being illumined by the Comforter

(Jn. 15. 26-27), Who teaches her everything and reminds her of everything

which Christ said (Jn. 14. 26; 15. 26).

The Church, despite the human infirmity of her members, preserves

the Revealed Truth, the good thing entrusted to her (2 Tim. 1. 14) in purity

and undefiled, because Christ is with her until the end of ages (Mt. 28.

20) so that the gates of hell should not prevail against it (Mt. 16. 18). For

this reason the Church is called the house of God, the pillar and ground of

the truth (1 Tim. 3. 15) and can correctly pass on to her members the

Faith handed down to her and truthfully give witness to it before the

world. The infallibility of the Church proceeds from her Lord and the

Holy Spirit. The Church is within Christ, and He acts through her by

means of the Spirit Who is sent into the hearts of the faithful (Gal. 4. 6).

This essential infallibility is not destroyed by the sins or transgressions of

the members (Rom. 3. 3-4).

The Church is infallible only as a whole; infallibility does not apply

to individual members, be they bishops, patriarchs or popes, not to the

clergy alone, the people alone, or separate Local Churches. Inasmuch as

the Church is a community of the faithful all of whom hath learned of the

Father (Jn. 6. 45), infallibility applies to the Church’s integrity. All together,

the clergy and the people, comprise, as members, the Body of Christ

and are thus the fullness of him that fdleth all in all (Eph. 1. 23). For this

reason the totality of the fruitful, who have an unction from the Holy One,

know the truth correctly and live by it (1 Jn. 2. 20, 27), is not amiss when

it professes unanimously their common Faith, from bishops to any one of

the faithful people.

That is why the Ecumenical Council alone is the supreme organ of

the Church in the infallible proclamation of her Faith. Below it, like the

mouth of the entire Church, stand the Local Councils, the bishops and all

the individual members of the Church, just as in the apostolic times the

Council of Apostles did, at which the Apostles along with the presbyters

of the entire Local Church of Jerusalem authoritatively expressed the will

of the whole Church, and received more authority than the authority of

any single Apostle (Acts 15). The Ecumenical Council, inspired by the

Holy Spirit in its proclamations, is infallible as a result of accord with the

entire Catholic Church. Not a single council would be an Ecumenical

Council without this accord.

The Church formulates dogmatic decisions when there is a threat to

sound teaching or she needs a special interpretation or witness to thwart

heresies and schisms or to preserve Church unity. Naturally, infallibility

applies only to the saving truth of the Faith.

Holy Scripture, which witnesses to the Incarnate Eternal Word of

God, is fundamentally inspired by the Holy Spirit, Who is the Spirit of

Christ. For this reason the leadership of the Church through the Holy

Spirit is always viewed in conformity with Holy Scripture and with the

Apostolic teaching handed down, and is always related to one or the other

(Jn. 16. 13). Hence the continuation, based on them, of the Faith which is

preserved in the Church, includes existence in the fullness of this Faith,

according to the witness of the Church all through the centuries.

The above-mentioned points with respect to Church infallibility, comprise,

as determined by our Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological

Commission on Dialogue, the teaching of both the Orthodox and Old

Catholic Churches.

CHURCH COUNCILS

ეკლესიის კრებები

Οι Σύνοδοι της Εκκλησίας

The Church, as the Body of Christ, is the temple of the Holy Spirit,

whose members were baptized into the One Body, and therefore all partake

of the New Life and come to know the Truth in the Holy Spirit.

The early ecclesiastical episcopal and conciliar system comprises the

expression of Church life as the community of all members in the unity of

the body of Christ. For this reason the bishops, who, as the representatives

of the Head of the Church, i.e., Christ, lead the conciliar and Eucharistic

gathering, are bound with the entire people of God as members of

the One Body (St. Ignatius Theophoros. To the Smyrnaeans, 8. 2).

The conciliar nature as the basis of Church order manifests itself in

the diversity of the New Life in Christ through the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12,

1-31). For this reason the Church, as the people called by God, redeemed

by Christ and illumined by the Holy Spirit, may be called the Great

Council which reflects the oneness in the Triune God of the Father, of the

Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

This basic nature of the Church acquires a precise form particularly

during representative conferences of bishops of the Local Churches at

their councils during discussions and adoption of decisions which are

eventually subject to adoption or rejection by the entire Church.

This conciliar life of the Church receives its highest expression at an

Ecumenical Council, which is convened to adopt binding decisions on

matters of Faith and Church Order concerning the entire Church, through

the bishops as representatives of the society of all the Local Churches. The

Ecumenical Councils serve as the highest organ of the Church for wiping

out heresies, formulating dogmatic teachings, forming and consolidating

Church life, and preserving Church unity which rests on the true Faith.

Seven councils are recognized as ecumenical per se: the councils of

Nicaea (325), of Constantinople (381), of Ephesus (431), of Chalcedon

(451), of Constantinople (553 and 680), and of Nicaea (787). A common

Creed and recognition of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

were formulated at them, and the unity of the Local Churches in the One

Holy Body of Chrsit manifested itself For this reason the Ecumenical

Councils are not higher than the Church as a whole, but are within her.

Thus the ecumenism of any council and acceptance of its decisions are not

conditioned by its convening alone. More precisely, it becomes ecumenical

by virtue of its subsequent free recognition by the Plenitude of the

Church.

By their participation in the full life of the Church, her members the clergy and

laity—effect their unity in the Body of Christ. The infallibility

of the Church is expressed in this unity and integrity. In conformity

with this Ecumenical Councils may also recognize the decisions of the Local

Councils as adopted through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Incidentally,

it was the Local Councils that prepared the content of the

decisions of the Ecumenical Councils and contributed to the adoption of

these conciliar decisions.

Conciliar decisions are divided into definitions of faith and rules. Of

these, the definitions touching upon dogma based on Revelation, receive

absolute authority and are constantly binding for the entire Church. Consequently,

they are not subject to change or abolition, i.e., to anything

that would alter their content. Nevertheless, the Church can effect their

hermeneutic revelation through modern phraseology in accordance with

emergent circumstances and needs for clarification and witness to the

Faith. The rules of the Local as well as Ecumenical Councils, if they do

not apply to questions of the Faith, are theoretically subject to substitution

or addition by means of new rules of respective later councils.

In general, the Churches, both Orthodox and Old Catholic, believe

that their councils have the right, if need be, to enact laws and apply them

within their own bounds.

The above-mentioned points concerning the Church Councils comprise,

as was determined by our Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological

Commission on Dialogue, the teaching of both the Orthodox and Old

Catholic Churches.

THE NEED FOR APOSTOLIC SUCCESSION

სამოციქულო მემკვიდრეობის საჭიროება

Η αναγκαιότητα της Αποστολική Διαδοχής

(1) Apostolic succession here is taken to mean the transmission, through

the canonical imposition of hands, of the grace of the priesthood, as well

as the continuation and preservation in purity of the Teaching and Faith

passed on by the Apostles. In the continuous succession of the bishops

from the Apostles the former comprises the foundation of Apostolic Succession,

while the latter constitutes an essential sign of it. Deviation from

Apostolic Teaching destroys Apostolic succession, and anti-canonical ordination

by unauthorized persons violates it.

Clearly, Apostolic succession in a broader sense is something essential

for the life of the Church and imperative for her continuation of the redemptive

work of the Lord thanks to the reliable transmission of the sanctifying

and saving grace. As Jesus Christ was sent by the Father so, too,

did He send the Apostles, gathering the people of God through them and

founding and nurturing His Church.

(2) The Apostles, as eyewitnesses of the Risen Christ and leaders of the

newly-founded Church, do not and cannot have successors. However, they

have successors in the entire apostolic work of gathering the Church at

any time and setting her in order through the preaching of the Word of

God, through their leading position and their activity in the liturgical life,

and through celebrating the Sacraments, the Holy Eucharist in particular.

Although the New Testament speaks of the many gifts and services of

the faithful, there can be no doubt about the uniqueness and inimitability

of the basic significance of the apostolic calling and work (Acts 1. 21, 22;

1 Cor. 12. 28; Eph. 2. 20; Rev. 21. 14).

(3) The Church receives her life from Christ, Who is present in her and

acts through the Holy Spirit. Christ is the Lord of the Church, who talks

with her, loves her and is heard by her. This union of Christ and the

Church is understood not as something abstract, but as a concrete reality

and experience through persons called by Christ. As this was effected in

the times of the Apostles so, too, should it be effected in our day in all

ages, because the order of the Church is essentially the same as the one

given by Christ.

As a society of believers which cannot exist without this order, the

Church must remain in continuous temporal contact with her origins and

with the Church of the preceding and future generations. For this reason

the vocation of the priesthood in Apostolic Succession is not something

new, something unrelated to the origins of the Church; it is the repetition

and continual transmission of that which has existed in the Church from

the very beginning. The imposition of hands with a prayer in communion

with the entire Church is the only mystic means of transmitting the grace

of the priesthood indicated in Holy Scripture and Tradition [For details

see the texts on the Sacraments which the commission will be working on

in the future].

(4) The necessity of observing uninterrupted Apostolic Succession as both

continuation of Apostolic Teaching and the transmission of the priesthood

and grace, and the mission by the canonical imposition of hands comprises

the common teaching of the Fathers of the Church.

(5) The Orthodox Easter Church emphasized particularly the necessity of

Apostolic Succession just as in the early day so today in the above-mentioned

sense, making this question fundamental to any endeavour to restore

Christian unity. The Old Catholic Church also adheres firmly to this

view regarding the necessity.

The above-mentioned points concerning Apostolic Succession comprises,

as was established at our Mixed Orthodox-Old Catholic Theological

Commission on Dialogue, the doctrine of both the Orthodox and Old

Catholic Churches.

Zagorsk/Moscow, September 20, 1981

PARTICIPANTS

Inter-Orthodox Commission:

Metropolitan Damaskinos of Tranoupolis

Prof. Dr. Theodoros Zisis

Metropolitan Parthenios of Carthage

Archbishop Cornelios of Sebasteia

Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Byelorussia

Archpriest Prof. Nikolai Gundyaev

Hieromonk Savva Milosevic

Bishop Adrian of the Romanian Orthodox Archdiocese of Central and

Western Europe

Father Prof. Stefan Alexe

Prof. Dr. Ilija Tsonevsky

Bishop Barnabas of Salamis

Hierodeacon Pavlos

Prof Dr. loannis Kalogirou

Prof. Dr. Vlasios Fidas

Archbishop Ioann of Chkondidi and Tsager

Bishop Anania of Akhaltsikhe

Archpriest Dr. Serafim Zelezniakowicz

Bishop Alexi of Joensuu

Hieromonk Ambrosius (Jasklainen)

Old Catholic Commission:

Bishop Leon Gauthier of the Christian Catholic Church of Switzerland

Prof. Ernst Hammerschmidt

Father Peter Maan

Prof. Martin Parmentier

Prof. Christian Oeyen

Prof. Dr. Herwig Aldenhoven

The Rev. Dr. Gunter Dolezal

Bishop Tadeusz Majewski

Bishop Dr. Maksymilian Rode

The Rev. Wiktor Wysoczanski

Note

For details on the Fourth Meeting of the Mixed Theological Commission on Orthodox-

Old Catholic Dialogue, Zagorsk—Moscow, September 15-21, 1981, see

JMPNo. 12, 1981, p. 52.

Source: Harding Meyer, Lukas Vischer, Growth in Agreement - Reports and Agreed Statements of Ecumenical Conversations on a World Level (Geneva: World Council of Churches, 1982), 389-420.