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A consultation on Orthodox ecclesiology held in Great Britain
A consultation on Orthodox Ecclesiology was held on December 7-9, 2009, in Windsor Palace, an official residence of the Queen of Great Britain. It was initiated by the Church of England in the person of Bishop Geoffrey Rowell of Gibraltar, Deaconess Christine Hall and Prof. Sven-Erik Brodd of Uppsala University, Sweden.
According to the Bogoslov.ru portal, the participants discussed Eucharistic ecclesiology, symphony relations between church and state, the role of canon norms and their relevance in today’s realities of church life.
In the beginning of the meeting, Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury presented a paper on the Church as Sacrament. He spoke about the sacramental aspect of the teaching on the Church, thus initiating a discussion on the place of Sacraments in the nature of the Church.
Protopresbyter Nicholas Ludovikos, academic director of the Higher Church Academy in Thessaloniki, and Archpriest John Erickson, former dean of St. Vladimir’s Seminary in New York, in their papers criticized the Eucharistic ecclesiology as presented in the works of Metropolitan John (Zizioulas), proposing an ecclesiological conception centered on both the Eucharist and Baptism.
The discussion was summarized by Metropolitan Kallistos of Diokleia. While stressing the important role that Eucharistic theology played in the development of Orthodox theology and the Christian thought in general in the 20th century, he pointed to a certain one-sidedness of viewing the Church’s nature only from the perspective of the Eucharist and to the need to take into account other sacraments as well, especially Baptism, for the fullness of Orthodox ecclesiology.
Among the participants was Archimandrite Kirill (Govorun), deputy chairman of the ROC Education Committee, who spoke on the role of canons in today’s life of the Orthodox Church.
It was agreed to continue the discussion on Orthodox ecclesiology on a solid academic basis.
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