Ecumenical Patriarchate Permanent Delegation to the World Council of Churches
The Faculty of Theology of the University
of Geneva and the Institute of Post-Graduated Studies in Orthodox
Theology in Chambésy (Switerland) co-organized an International
Conference on the Anthropology of Luther in Protestant and Orthodox
Perspectives on 7-8 December 2017 to mark the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation.
In his message sent for the occasion, Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew stressed that “the Reformation has not only transformed the
Church in the West, but has also influenced Christianity as a whole, as
well as the history of European and World civilizations. The Church of
the East has been confronted to the consequences of the Reformation
since its appearance”. He also noted that “the new focus on
anthropological and moral questions in the ecumenical dialogues was
characterized as a ‘change of paradigm’ in the Ecumenical Movement.
These subjects make heavy not only the inter-church relations, but are
also the origin of tensions and schisms among local Churches and
Confessions”. Therefore, “the major goal of theology in front of these
facts is to develop a Christian anthropology based on authentic
theological criteria”.
On his side, the Rev. Dr. Martin Jung, in the message he sent on
behalf of the Lutheran World Federation, stressed that the theme
“liberated by God’s grace”, which was chosen for both the 12th Assembly
of the Lutheral World Federation and the 500th anniversary of the
Reformation, “expresses in succinct and accessible way the core message
of the doctrine of justification which states that we are saved and
freed by God’s grace through faith only” and “also presents a second
aspect that is key to the Lutheran understanding of justification by
grace through faith alone”. He also underlined that “Luther’s
theological anthropology may sometimes seem as dim and pessimistic, but
it can also be seen as liberating and healing”.
Besides introductory remarks by Metropolitan Jeremiah of Switzerland
and Prof. Vlassios Phidas (Chambésy, read in abstentia), and the
conclusive address by Metropolitan of Pergamon John Zizioulas (Athens,
read in abstentia), the conference focused on the human being created in
the image and likeness of God (papers by Beate Bengard — Basel, and
Metropolitan of Diokleia Kallistos Ware — Oxford), sin and serf will
(papers by Christophe Chalamet — Geneva and Stavros Yangazoglou —
Athens), the freedom of the Christian (Hans-Christoph Askani — Geneva
and Konstantinos Delikostantis — Chambésy), faith and justification
(papers by Henning Theissen — Greifswald and Jack Khalil — Balamand),
sanctification and theosis (Reinhard Flogaus — Berlin and Archbishop of
Telmessos Job Getcha — Chambésy), political life and engagement (Marc
Vial — Strasbourg and Aristotle Papanikolaou — Fordham) and the
experience of God and trial (anfechtungen) (papers by Elisabeth
Parmentier — Geneva and Tamara Grdzelidze — Rome).
This was the third academic event organized on the Reformation by the
Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, the first
two being the seminar on “Luther and the German Reformation in an
ecumenical perspective” (1984) and the conference on John Calvin for the
500th anniversary of his birth (2009).