The spiritual leader of the Orthodox, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople, front, seen here during a religious service in Kiev, Ukraine, Sunday 27 July 2008.
(AP)
Unity is a gift of God that demands a “profound sense of humility and not any prideful insistence”, said the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the opening of an ecumenical meeting on Wednesday.
More than 150 theologians are in Kolympari on the Greek island of Crete for a weeklong meeting of the World Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Plenary Commission.
The meeting will focus on how churches understand ecclesiology, or “one church”, how they relate to sources of authority, and how sources influence their decisions on issues of morality.
Speaking in his opening address, Patriarch Bartholomew I said the call to Christian unity was a “never-ending search” that required Christians to look to the past as well as the future.
"It is crucial that we learn from the early Fathers and Mothers of the Church", and "from those who – in each generation – maintained the integrity and intensity of the Apostolic faith,” he said.
"At the same time, we should turn our attention to the future, to the age to come, toward the heavenly kingdom."
Such an eschatological perspective, he added, would offer "a way out of the impasse of provincialism and confessionalism" and help Christians to discern areas of common ministry and united mission.
The meeting is being hosted by the Orthodox Academy of Crete. Although the majority of Greeks are Orthodox, the Archdiocese of Crete does not belong to the Church of Greece but is under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, a founding member of the WCC.
The WCC’s outgoing general secretary the Rev Dr Samuel Kobia delivered a sermon in which he encouraged the theologians to “work in love”.
"You may reach an agreement this week on the place of the teachers and early witnesses of the Church.
“You may find an agreement this week on how best to proceed on questions on moral discernment in the Churches.
“You may arrive at a clear, fresh direction on how to proceed on the work of ecclesiology.
“But if these things are not done in love, then they are merely clever,” he warned.
The Faith and Order Plenary Commission meets every seven years.
