An extraordinary statement from the world’s Orthodox leaders

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Oct 03, 2024

Yesterday’s CWN headlines included a news story that our readers might have passed over lightly. In case they did, let me explain why it was worthy of notice.

Representatives of the Orthodox churches and the Oriental Orthodox churches met to discuss the cause of Christian unity. A causal reader might ask: So what? At first glance this looks like one more story about a meeting of ecumenical “experts,” a meeting likely to end in a statement that will express laudable goals but produce no concrete results. And since this was a “preparatory” meeting, intended to spur further ecumenical talks, I can easily understand skepticism about its immediate news value. But bear with me, while I explain the significance of the story.

• This meeting in Egypt was the first formal gathering of representatives of the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches in 34 years. The rarity of the occasion in itself makes it noteworthy. (The Oriental Orthodox churches are those that rejected the Council of Chalcedon, and broke away beginning in the 5th century. They include the Coptic Orthodox Church, which hosted this meeting, and the Syriac, Armenian, and Malankara churches. The Orthodox churches are those that split with Rome in the Great Schism, including the Russian, Ukrainian, Greek, Romanian, and other national churches, whose faithful traditionally recognize the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople as the “first among equals” in the Orthodox world.)
• The Russian Orthodox Church sent representatives to the September meeting, despite the presence of representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. The official stance of the Moscow patriarchate is that it will not participate in formal talks in which Constantinople is involved, because of their dispute over recognition of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Somehow Moscow found a way to set aside the quarrel for this meeting.
• The meeting looked forward to 2025, when Christian churches will unite in celebrating the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicea. The Catholic Church will participate in that celebration. But the Catholic Church was not involved in the September meeting. Perhaps in part because…
• Coptic Pope Tawadros, who convened the meeting in Egypt, broke off formal talks with the Vatican last year, announcing that the thinking behind Fiducia Supplicans, which allowed for church blessings of homosexual relationships, was “unacceptable.” He was evidently not mollified by a meeting with Cardinal Victor Fernandez, nor by the cardinal’s assurance that “the Catholic Church shares the teachings” of the Coptics.
• The September meeting concluded with a joint statement that underlined the Orthodox commitment to the Christian understanding of marriage:

Our Church Families view the indissoluble and loving union between a man and a woman in holy matrimony as a “great mystery” (Eph 5:32), reflecting the relationship between Christ and the Church, in contrast to certain contemporary approaches to marriage. From this union arises the family, which is seen as the sole foundation for the birth and upbringing of children according to the divine plan. Our Churches, therefore, consider the family a “small Church” and provide it with appropriate pastoral care and support.

Our Churches categorically reject the justification of same-sex relations within what is called “absolute human freedom” which causes harm to humanity.

Our Churches, while affirming their complete belief in human rights and freedom, also confirm that the freedom of the created is not absolute to the point of transgressing and breaking the commandments of the Creator.

Would it be an exaggeration to say that with this meeting, the Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches signaled their readiness to take the lead in the international fight to preserve marriage—and also that they questioned the reliability of their Catholic allies?