The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church at the Time of the Second Vatican Council
The Romanian Orthodox Church and the Roman-Catholic Church at the Time of the Second Vatican Council

Summary/Abstract: There is no doubt that the crucial event of contemporary Christianity was the second Vatican Council of 1962-1965. Announced by Pope John XXIII to the general surprise, Vatican II not only lent Catholicism a new impetus but also significantly impacted all Christian churches, which in a first stage sought to define their attitudes and reactions to the initiative of the Holy See. Whereas the Protestant world, most of which had been represented since 1948 in the World Council of Churches, was capable of a concerted response, the Orthodox churches, dominated by the political culture of the autocephalous status, could not evolve a concerted stand towards this event. The ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople, Athenagoras, a firm advocate of Christian unity, tried to make up for the communication hiatus and the absence of concerted action between Orthodox churches by organizing the pan-Orthodox conferences of Rhodes.

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