The Orthodox Church and the Ecumenism. The orthodox ecclesiology in the context of the participation to the Ecumenical Movement
The Orthodox Church and the Ecumenism. The orthodox ecclesiology in the context of the participation to the Ecumenical Movement

Summary/Abstract: The mobile that led to the establishment of the ecumenical movement was the restoration of the unity of all Churches and Christian confessions together. Christ himself prayed for the unity of all, “that all may be one” (Jn. 17:21), in the image of His unity with the Father and the communion of the Holy Trinity Itself. Each Christian community confesses “one Lord, one faith and one baptism” (Eph. 4:5) and finally one Church. But the idea of unity is not uniformly understood, and, in this perspective, the participation to the ecumenical movement is based on different principles. In this article we will try to outline the way in which the Orthodox Church understands the idea of unity and, in this context, its participation to the ecumenical movement. Firstly we will look into the idea of “unity” as seen in different Christian confessions and in the Orthodox Church; secondly we will show that the Orthodox Church is ecumenical by its very nature; and thirdly we will look into how the Church has dealt along the time with the heterodox people and heterodox communities, coming to the contemporary orthodox theologians. That is picturing the relation between the Orthodox Church and other Churches or Christian confessions. Finally, we will draw some conclusions around the necessity of its participation to the ecumenical movement.

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