Paul Ladouceur
On April 22, 2016, the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church issued a decision containing its objections to the draft document of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church on “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World.”
The Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church of Greece took a similar decision
on May 26, 2016. The brief decision of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church,
which contains no theological justification for its positions, rejects
the use of the appellation “Church” to refer to non-Orthodox Christian
denominations; it objects to the inference that Christian unity has been
“lost”; and it deplores the absence of affirmation that the only way to
Christian unity is the return of “heretics and schismatics” to the
Orthodox Church. Neither the Bulgarian nor the Greek decision go as far
as an earlier declaration of Bulgarian clergy and monastics which
postulates that “heretics are outside the ship of the Church and as a
consequence, beyond salvation” – but the practical conclusion is the
same.
Concerning the term “Church,” the Bulgarian statement reads: “Besides
the Holy Orthodox Church there are no other churches, but only heresies
and schisms, and to call the latter ‘churches’ is theologically,
dogmatically and canonically completely erroneous.” The Bulgarian
statement thus identifies the Church entirely and exclusively with the
current Orthodox Church. As we pointed out in another post on Public Orthodoxy (“On Ecumenoclasm: Who Can Be Saved?”), this
theology reposes implicitly on a rigorist and narrow interpretation of
St. Cyprian of Cartage’s famous dictum “No salvation outside the
Church.” Orthodoxy has never accepted an interpretation of Cyprian’s
dictum which limits the Church to a visible institution, but instead
recognizes that Christ and the Holy Spirit act outside the visible
limits of the Orthodox Church. As Fr. Georges Florovsky expresses this
notion, the canonical and the sacramental boundaries of the Church do
not coincide – the boundaries of the Church of Christ are a mystery
known to God alone.
By limiting the Church to a visible institution, the Orthodox
(Byzantine rite) Church, the Bulgarian approach negates the Pauline
notion, taken up by many Fathers of the Church, of the Church as “the
Body of Christ” (1 Co 12:12-31; Eph.4:11-13; Col. 1:24 etc.). In much
patristic and modern reflection on the Church, this came to be expressed
as the “mystical Body of Christ,” emphasizing that the Church extends
well beyond the limits of the limits of the Orthodox Church. Christ is
“the Way and the Truth and the Life” (Jn 14:6). The three
characteristics form one whole. Thus wherever there is Truth, there also
are the Way and Life – the way and life that are Christ Jesus. The
essence of Church is the possession of Truth, the witness to Truth, and
access to the means of salvation. While non-Orthodox Churches and
communities do not possess the fullness of the Truth found only in the Orthodox Church, they nonetheless possess elements
of the Truth, to the degree to which they witness to Jesus Christ and
manifest his teachings. They thus participate in the Church of Christ
and hence are indeed members of the Body of Christ, which entitles them
to refer to themselves and to be referred to as “Church.”
The statement of the Bulgarian Church also repeats the affirmation in
the earlier document of Bulgarian ecclesial figures to the effect that
“‘Christian unity’ has never been lost, because the Holy Orthodox Church
has never lost its unity and never will.” The statement cannot be
refuted as such because it is a tautology: here, the “Holy Orthodox
Church” is implicitly identical to “Christian unity.” By implication
too, not only are non-Orthodox ecclesial bodies not “Church,” but their
adherents are not Christians, since they do not figure in Christian
unity.
In a broader context, the statement is, of course, historical
nonsense. The ancient Coptic Church of Egypt, and the Armenian and
Syriac Churches, and indeed the Church of Rome, were all part of the
Catholic (=Universal) Church up to the Council of Chalcedon (451) for
the first group, and until the beginning of the second millennium for
the Church of Rome. These Churches are no longer in communion with what
became known as the Orthodox Church. Where is the continuous unity of
the Orthodox Church so confidently proclaimed in the Bulgarian
statement?
The statement also conveniently disregards recent ruptures in the
Orthodox Church itself, such as the 1996 break in communion between the
Churches of Constantinople and Russia over jurisdiction in Estonia, not
to mention the current squabble between the Churches of Antioch and
Jerusalem over jurisdiction in Qatar. During the period when
Constantinople and Russia were not in communion, was the Church of
Russia no longer “Church”? Or was it the Ecumenical Patriarchate?
The Bulgarian declaration complains about the absence of affirmation
in the draft document of the Pan-Orthodox Council that the only way to
Christian unity is the return of heretics and schismatics to the
Orthodox Church. Georges Florovsky, a leading Orthodox ecumenist for
some four decades, expresses this more delicately: “For me, Christian
reunion is just universal conversion to Orthodoxy.” Both Florovsky and
Sergius Bulgakov, who disagreed on many issues, were united in affirming
that only the Orthodox Church possesses the fullness of the truth of
Christ – but they never resorted to hitting fellow Christians over the
head with insulting epithets (such as “heretic” and “schismatic”), which
may be technically accurate, but are far removed from Christian
charity. As Jesus taught: “Whoever insults his brother shall be liable
to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the
hell of fire” (Mt 5:22).
The declaration of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church seeks to derail the
engagement of the Orthodox Church to dialogue with other Christians.
Orthodoxy must stand firm in its fundamental commitment to act in
accordance with Christ’s priestly prayer: “That they may be one just as
We are one” (Jn 17:22). Witness to the truth of the Orthodox Church must
not proceed by hurling insults and manifesting hostility towards fellow
Christians, but by humble witness to the Orthodox tradition in sincere
Christian love and respect towards all seekers of Truth.
Paul Ladouceur is Adjunct Professor, Orthodox School of Theology
at Trinity College (University of Toronto), and Professeur associé,
Faculté de théologie et de sciences religieuses, Université Laval
(Quebec).