HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL DOCUMENT

Draft Synodical Document

Δευτέρα 19 Δεκεμβρίου 2016

PARALLEL AGENDAS OF VATICAN II AND CRETE I? A CLOSE LOOK AT 'RELATIONS OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH WITH THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD'


Peter de mey, Academia Edu.
 For this journal issue in honour of one of my best friends in the academia, herself a major specialist on Orthodox theology in the West, I decided to focus on the most important event in the Orthodox Church since many decades, the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church convened in Crete from 18-27 June, 2016 after a difficult preparatory process of more than half a century and in the absence of four autocephalous churches.
I prefer to compare both the process and some partial results of the Council with the Second Vatican Council which the Catholic Church organized in 1962-1965. I will first compare a few more general aspects of the Second Vatican Council with the pan-orthodox Council. I will limit myself to the role of theologians, of canon law, and of the observers. Thereafter I will focus on the document on the Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, which allows for a fruitful comparison with Unitatis Redintegratio and Lumen Gentium, but also contains comments on the post-conciliar time of ecumenism. A comparison of The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World with both Dignitatis Humanae and Gaudium et Spes would be equally fruitful but extends the limits of this contribution.

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