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42PHILOSOPHICAL SCIENCES
THEOLOGICAL RATIONALE OF ECUMENISM AND ITS SOCIAL PASSIONARITY
Kvik A.
candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in specialty 031 - Religious Studies (Chernivtsi, Yuri Fedkovych Chernivtsi National
University)
Abstract
The article provides an analytical description of the theological foundations of ecumenical paradigms formation, which were structured by Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox theologians. In particular, we present the "branch theory" developed by the Oxford movement; K. Rahner's concept of the "anonymous Christian"; theories of "restoration" and "Eucharistic communion". We undertook the attempts to objectively analyze and critically comprehend these concepts, their diverse assessment by theologians and religion scientists. Also, the concept of Catholic ecumenism, formed after the Second Vatican Council, as well as the official view of the Orthodox Church on the ecumenical movement in its conceptual variations are briefly presented based on the official documents. The article describes positive consequences of the ecumenical paradigm implementation in the social sphere, their social significance, as well as their assessment by theologians and researchers.
Keywords: ecumenism, Oxford movement, "branch theory", Eucharistic communion, the concept of "anonymous Christian", the Second Vatican Council, the Pan-Orthodox Council 2016, social service.
The phenomenon of ecumenism can be defined as a kind of activity that is carried out with the intention of restoring full and true unity between Christian denominations. Such actions include prayers, reflections, meetings and dialogues, which are aimed at reconciling and overcoming the differences that were the reason for the division of Christians, rather than the usual subordination of one tradition to another. Such an interpretation of ecumenism does not establish the principle of equality between divided churches, but creates an understanding that outside of a particular denomination there may be a significant ecclesiastical reality that can be described as elusive and imperfect.[5, p. 33]
However, ecumenism is often misinterpreted. The reason for this is the non-institutional type of ecumenical activity. If institutional ecumenism is official cooperation and dialogue between Christian denominations, their leaders or authorized representatives, then non-institutional ecumenism, which is defined as "ecumenism of life" or "spiritual ecumenism", is a practice often initiated by ordinary Christians belonging to one tradition or another without the appropriate permission or blessing in the vast majority of cases.[16, p. 7]
For the reasons listed above, ecumenism can often be interpreted not simply as a desire to restore Christian unity, but as a unity of different churches and religions. Such an explication of the phenomenon of ecumenism often occurs not only among ordinary Christians, but also among some religious researchers. Claiming the similarity of all religions through the element of faith in God (or gods) and finding common elements through a superficial acquaintance with the various expressions of this faith through religious worship and spiritual ex-ercises,they consider the possibility of so-called "ecu-menization of faith", creation of a single and universal faith.[13, p.166]
But the fact that ecumenism is oriented towards the rapprochement of Christians remains unchanged.
This is confirmed by the creation of the World Council (World Council of Churches), which set itself the goal of creating a basis for inter-Christian communication, rather than creating a syncretic "superchurch".[17, p. 226] It follows that ecumenism does not aim to generate a new universal faith, to determine the falsity or truth of a religion. The so-called broad ecumenism does take place, but it aims to lay the groundwork for dialogue between religions, in order to create favorable conditions for religious tolerance and unity in the social environment.[9, p. 129] It will be divided into: Abra-hamic (movement towards unity between Judaism, Christianity and Islam) and general religious (dialogue between all religions).[16, p. 7]
However, ecumenism as a phenomenon originates in the Christian environment and its primary goal is to restore unity, especially between Christian denominations. There existed a number of social and theological preconditions for this. In particular, the researcher Legeiev M.V. claims that such preconditions are, first of all, the exponential growth of the so-called "antitransmission", which is manifested in the growing influence of the inner experience on the human personality, which diverts it from God. The increasing number of cases of Christian world fragmentation, which is perceived by Christians themselves as an obvious spiritual catastrophe, also had a significant impact on the formation of ecumenism.[17, p. 225]
We shall not focus on the description of historical formation of the ecumenical movement, but rather make an emphasis on the delineation of theological foundations and their interpretation by different Christian communities. Despite the fact that some researchers characterize the primary goal of ecumenism not so much as the unity of all Christian movements, but as unity within a single denomination, and ecumenism originally is defined as "confessional (Protestant) ecumenism".^, p. 137] Yet the ecumenical potential has
not only taken root in the Protestant milieu, but has gone far beyond it. Understanding that every Christian who is aware of his or her own sense of responsibility for the realization of Christ's call for "all to be one" is responsible for building a movement for Christian unity by helping other Christian denominations to participate in the ecumenical movement.
When looking at Christianity in general, one can diagnose a number of ecclesiological justifications for the phenomenon of ecumenism. Christians are aware of the fact that the world as a whole ceases to be Christian, numerous cases of fragmentation and separation of Christian communities from major denominations, the rapid development of Christian personalism in an environment of increasing public interest towards individual personalities.[17, p. 224-225]
The first version of ecumenical ecclesiology is the so-called "branch theory". The creators of this theory are Anglican theologians of the so-called Oxford movement. According to this concept, the Church of Christ appears in the form of a tree, and the three apostolic Churches - the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican - are its branches. This theory is based on understanding of the invisible unity of the Conciliar Church, despite external differences.[23, p. 94] Thus, the theological justification of ecumenism in the interpretation of this theory is the awareness of each denomination about the common origins of a single Ancient Church, the need to preserve its teachings. According to the idea of the representatives of this concept, such awareness should lead to elimination of the interfaith differences understanding as obstacles to unity, as well as to visible convergence of religions, which in invisible and true way are already in unity.[17, p. 227]
Among the Orthodox Church, this concept has often been rejected and criticized. In particular, theologian J. J. Overbeck has characterized this paradigm as incorrect and devoid of truth, because it was formed on the erroneous assertion of the possibility of changing the teachings of the Church over time.[4, p. 31] In the environment of some Orthodox theologians this theory is represented in the following interpretation: the Orthodox branch blooms and develops, while the branches of Catholics and Protestants are dry.[19, p. 145]
Also, it is worth mentioning in this context that this theory has received some coverage and evaluation in the abstracts of the document of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church "Basic principles of the Russian Orthodox Church's attitude to non-Orthodoxy" in 2000. In particular, the preamble of the document states that it "reflects and defines the basic principles of the Russian Orthodox Church's attitude to non-Orthodoxy, as well as to the interaction with nonOrthodox and interfaith organizations".[1] In the second part of the document, which deals with the issue of striving for the restoration of Christian unity, non-Orthodox models of Christian unity receive a pejorative connotation.[22, p. 29] Paragraph 2.5 states that the "branch theory" is "absolutely unacceptable" for the Orthodox Church, as its main concept is to interpret the existence of Christianity in the form of "branches" as normal.[1]
The theory of restoration is formed in the Protestant environment, and finds its supporters far beyond the traditional Christian denominations. The ideological and semantic content of this theory is to interpret each Christian confession or denomination as one that has more or less departed from true unity with Christ, through the sin of interfaith fragmentation and intolerance of the different religious experience of other Christians. That is why it is necessary to reject those components that sow discord, and to unite those values of spiritual experience that are common.[17, p. 227]
The third approach is methodological in nature, so without touching on the division preconditions the Church of Christ, it represents a probable way to restore Christian unity, which is based on interfaith Eucharistic communion. The success of this theory, according to its proponents, is to eliminate the initial cause of the Christian division, which is the lack of love between Christians. Once the lack of love is restored through Eucha-ristic communion, there will be created favorable conditions for the beginning of restoring Christian unity process.[17, p. 227-228] This approach has received considerable support among many Lutheran and Reformed communities, as well as among many faithful of the Catholic Church. In their interpretation, the ultimate goal of ecumenism is transformed from "com-munio" to "inter-communio", from the desire for unity to the desire for interaction. Thus, the emphasis is on the common service of the Eucharist, while the institutional division between the churches can continue, in the form of diversity of confessional traditions and ec-clesial pluralism. However, this approach is not considered acceptable for the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.[11, p. 86]
For the Orthodox Church, although ecumenism is a new reality for the activity and formation of new forms of the Church's mission, on the part of Orthodoxy ecumenical contacts must be based primarily on basic dogmatic notions of the Church, namely the indivisibility and direct dependence between invisible and visible borders. Through witnessing itself in a divided Christian world, the Church aims to bring Christianity to integrity and wholeness.[17, p. 228-229] If the Protestant understanding is characterized by the understanding of ecumenism as the initial precondition and formal condition for achieving Christian unity, then according to the Orthodox understanding ecumenism is a consequence of internal unity with Truth, as well as internal integrity and inseparability of the spiritual experience of the Church.[22, p. 34] This view is shared by the Catholic Church, in particular Cardinal Kurt Koch arguing that it is impossible to achieve true Eucharistic communion by bypassing ecclesial communion, and conversely ecclesial communion is not complete in the absence of Eucharistic communion.[11, p. 87]
The fourth concept, which should also be mentioned in the context of describing the theological foundations of ecumenism, was developed by one of the most influential Catholic theologians of the twentieth century Karl Rahner. His conception of the "anonymous Christian" was criticized not only by Orthodoxy but also by Catholic giants of theological thought, such
as G. U. von Balthazar, A. de Lubac, and J. Ratzinger. The concept of the anonymous Christian was developed by K. Rahner in the light of soteriological issues, which are fully explained in correlation with the universality of God's saving will.[18, p. 162] K. Rahner, on the example of a Buddhist monk who lives according to his own conscience (and therefore is saved and is in God's grace), demonstrates the actualization of the concept of "anonymous Christian". Because in the absence of this concept, it should be assumed that there is another way of salvation, which is outside of Jesus Christ. Therefore, since such an interpretation cannot belong to the plane of Christian soteriology, the creation of the concept of an anonymous Christian is a forced step for the theologian. [7, p. 76] In contrast to this theological concept, G.U. von Balthazar is arguing that it leads to demotivation of Christians in the nurture of ascetic faith and Christian discipline. Christianity, as such, makes this theory too easy to accept, separated from its original essence, and the creation of the probability of unconscious belonging to Christianity is an extreme simplification of Christianity.[21, p. 165]
Another approach to the process of defining Christian identity, which has the nature of ecumenical Christian existence, was developed by the Swiss theologian Hans Kung. The essence of this concept is the need to adapt Christian teaching, which was formed in the environment of Hellenistic culture, to the conditions of the modern world. The theologian proposes to identify as a Christian not only those who put faith in Christ at the center of their worldview, but those who focus their lives on the fullness of Christ's life, His death and resurrection, which creates an opportunity not to emphasize the dogmatic contradictions of specific denominations.^, p. 162] In his theological paradigm, H. Kung goes further, bringing to the fore the issue of acceptance of other religions, rather than the question of their truth, as a result of which religious truth as such becomes relative.^, p. 189] Concerning the basis of Christian ecumenism (taking into account mainly Protestantism and Catholicism) H. Kung emphasizes the solution of the problem of the difference of fundamental positions, which for Catholic church is manifested in Catholicism, universality, striving for a single Church; for Protestantism - in constant critical appeal to the Gospel. The Swiss theologian argues that these positions not only do not exclude each other, but can be metamorphosed into "evangelical Catholicism" vector-oriented to the Gospel and "Catholic evangelicality" based on Catholic universality. However, the consequences of the implementation of this paradigm can be as in the successful functioning of interfaith and interreligious dialogue as in the profaned Christian identity, its cardinal deple-tion.[18, p. 162]
That is why it is worth paying attention to the documents of the Second Vatican Council, which were devoted to the topic of ecumenism and interreligious dialogue. Despite the fact that the council helped to unleash the potential of such Catholic theologians as J. Ratzinger, A. de Lubac, G. Urs von Balthazar, who are considered conservatives in the theological circle, for many researchers and theologians it was perceived as
modernist.[10, p. 847] That is why in order to objectively and soundly assess the potential and purpose of the ecumenical concept of the Catholic Church, it is necessary to analyze the documents of the council, including the decree on ecumenism - "Unitatis Redintegratio", the decree on Eastern Catholic Churches "Ori-entalium Ecclesiarum", the declaration of Church attitude towards non-Christian religions "Nostra Aetate". These documents of the council not only became the main verifiers of the process of building ecumenical and interreligious dialogues, but also demonstrated the readiness of the hierarchs of the Catholic Church to respond to the challenges of time and openness to the movement towards consensus with a world that changes exponentially.[2, p. 87]
In turn, the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church on the island of Crete in 2016 played an important role among the Orthodox Church in outlining the ecumenical concept, namely its document "Relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of Christendom", which received diametrically opposed assessments in the Orthodox world, a new view of ecumenism, "optimistic ecclesiology", a new development of the tradition of the missionary approach of the Orthodox Church.[17, p. 232, 237] As the Pan-Orthodox Council remains in the historical plane, the interpretation of its results differs: among the Ecumenical Patriarchate they will be assessed as positive, and in the range of influence of the Russian Orthodox Church the theological interpretation of ecumenism carries a negative connotation.[3, p. 168]
Another component of ecumenical activity singled out by researchers is the social dimension of ecumenism, the consequences of which are much easier to characterize in the social sphere. It is worth noting that this dimension is important, given that there are many supporters of the ecumenical movement, who argue that the effectiveness of building ecumenical dialogue and consensus on theological issues is largely determined by social unity and development of social cooperation. [16, p. 10]
Given that social doctrine is an important component of every Christian denomination, as it is an effective way of shaping the social worldview, reflecting ideas about the Christian vocation in the world, it also has a constructive impact on shaping the axiological approach in society and the implementation of social synergy paradigms. [20, p. 129] The transfer of the emphasis of ecumenical activity by Christian denominations to the sphere of social service, as a result of confrontation with the difficulties that arose as a result of theological and dogmatic dialogue, created a favorable environment for forming a visible image of Christian unity.[11, p. 39] Paragraph 12 of the Decree on Ecumenism states that social cooperation should be aimed at: "proper appreciation of dignity of human person, nurturing of the benefits of peace, the application of evangelical principles in social life, development of sciences and arts in the Christian spirit, (...) overcoming such tragedies of today as famine and natural disasters, illiteracy and poverty, housing shortages, unfair distribution of material goods ".[6, p.137] Such cooperation
will also contribute to better interfaith knowledge of Christians and paving the way for unity.
The result of modern ecumenical discussions on the social cooperation of Christian churches has been a combination of three components: liturgy, mission and social diakonia, an inseparable combination of which causes the actualization and necessity of the social component of the ecumenical movement.[16, p. 11] Among Orthodox theology, they develop the concept of spreading the liturgy "outside the church fence", and such well-known church scholars as I. Ziziulas and A. Schmemann present it in their works on liturgical theology. Thus, the Liturgy is perceived not only as a temple service, but as a life directed to the Creator and through the Creator to people.[12, p. 19] Another Orthodox theologian, I. Bria, emphasizes the importance of transforming social associations into a kinonia (from the Greek koudmia - community), in which Christians unite with God and among themselves.[14, p. 82] Such conceptions of liturgical theology, which are aimed at regenerating the evangelical religiosity of early Christians, correlating with the new challenges of the time, were praised by a wide range of participants in the ecumenical movement.[16, p. 11]
As for the practical implementation of the concepts of social service, starting from the end of the twentieth century, the Eastern European Office of the World Council of Churches initiated the creation of Round Tables on interfaith assistance and social service. The purpose of their activities is to implement projects aimed at the development of information, publishing and educational activities, which were carried out in such countries as Russia, Armenia and Ukraine.[16, p. 11-12]
But despite the qualitative potential of such meetings, the development of concepts of social service and the implementation of this theorizing, the whole fundamentalist environment of the Orthodox Church condemns them as useless. In particular, the Russian Orthodox theologian O. Osipov criticizes the Christian Conference "Salvation Today" (Bangkok), arguing that no social problems outside the context of Christian so-teriology have any significance. And even such an interpretation, according to researcher Gorokholinskaia I.V., would be acceptable given the need for social service in the context of Christian soteriology. However, the further interpretation of the consequences of this meeting by O. Osipov shows a lack of understanding of the true mission of Christ, and Christians who intend to follow the Savior. "Being a light to the world means being a Christian and being socially responsible, active and mobile," mentions the researcher.[8, p. 449] Promotion of active elimination of a wide range of social problems, implementation of informational and educational work, fight against racism, active environmental and peacekeeping activities are only a superficial and generalized description of the consequences of the social component of ecumenism and its social pas-sion.[16, p. 12]
In short, we can conclude that the main theological justification for ecumenism is in the words of Jesus Christ: "That all may be one" (John 17:21), and all other
attempts to create the concept to overcome the fragmentation of Christians can only be based on them. That is why, in our opinion, the success of certain efforts to unite depends equally on the hierarchy of Christian denominations, and each Christian in particular, no matter how unfounded it may sound. That is why the importance of building both the theological and social dimensions of ecumenism should not be underestimated. Saint Pope John Paul II compares reason and faith to the two wings of the human spirit, which ascends to the contemplation of Truth, just as the ecumenical paradigm cannot be perfectly realized exclusively in the theological or exclusively in the social dimension.
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