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INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION FOR THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE
ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES
ORIENTAL ORTHODOX CHURCHES
REPORT
Seventeenth Meeting
Atchaneh, Lebanon, January 26 - February 1, 2020
The seventeenth meeting of the International Joint Commission for
Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental
Orthodox Churches took place in Atchaneh, Lebanon, from January 26 to
February 1, 2020. It was hosted by the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox
Church in the patriarchal residence. The meeting was chaired jointly by
His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity, and by His Grace Bishop Kyrillos, Coptic
Orthodox Auxiliary Bishop in the Diocese of Los Angeles, California,
USA.
Representatives came from the Catholic Church and from the
following Oriental Orthodox Churches: the Antiochian Syrian Orthodox
Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church (Catholicosate of All Armenians
and Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia), the Coptic Orthodox
Church, and the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Representatives of
the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahdo
Church were not present.
The two delegations met separately on
the morning of January 27 and again in the evening of January 29.
Plenary sessions were held from January 27 to January 31, each day
beginning with a brief prayer service based on material prepared for the
Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
At the beginning of the
first plenary session, Cardinal Koch remembered prayerfully an original
member of the dialogue, Most Reverend Paul-Werner Scheele, Bishop
Emeritus of Würzburg, Germany, who had passed into eternal life on May
10, 2019. The Cardinal also announced that a new Catholic member had
been appointed: Maronite Chorbishop John D. Faris of Glen Allen,
Virginia, USA. Cardinal Koch also acknowledged the retirement of Most
Reverend Woldetensae Ghebreghiorghis, Apostolic Vicar Emeritus of Harar,
Ethiopia. He has been replaced by Most Reverend Lesanuchristos Matheos
Semahun, Bishop of Bahir Dar-Dessie, Ethiopia.
In the afternoon
of January 27, the members were received in audience by His Holiness
Patriarch Mor Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syrian Orthodox Church. He
greeted the members warmly and said that this dialogue is very important
for his church. He also spoke about the situation of his church in
India which is particularly sensitive at the present time. The Patriarch
hosted the members for dinner that evening.
On January 28, His
Beatitude Patriarch Ignatius Youssef III Younan hosted a dinner for the
members at the Syriac Catholic Patriarchate in Beirut. A number of
local church leaders were in attendance including the Apostolic Nuncio
in Lebanon, Archbishop Joseph Spiteri.
In the morning of January 30, Cardinal Koch and Bishop Kyrillos along with a small delegation of three were received by His Excellency Michel Aoun, President of the Lebanese Republic, in Baabda. In the afternoon of the same day, all the members were received by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, OMM in his residence in Bkerke. The Patriarch spoke about the general situation in Lebanon and the Middle East. The members then visited the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.
In the morning of January 30, Cardinal Koch and Bishop Kyrillos along with a small delegation of three were received by His Excellency Michel Aoun, President of the Lebanese Republic, in Baabda. In the afternoon of the same day, all the members were received by the Maronite Patriarch, Cardinal Bechara Boutros al-Rai, OMM in his residence in Bkerke. The Patriarch spoke about the general situation in Lebanon and the Middle East. The members then visited the sanctuary of Our Lady of Lebanon in Harissa.
In
keeping with the program of the dialogue, this session was devoted to
fundamental aspects of sacramental theology. The members heard five
Oriental Orthodox papers by Bishop Kyrillos, Metropolitan Theophilose
Kuriakose, Reverend Shahe Ananyan, Reverend Daniel Seifemichael Feleke,
and Metropolitan Theophilos George Saliba. Four Catholic papers were
presented by Reverend Frans Bouwen, M. Afr., Reverend Columba Stewart,
O.S.B., Professor Dietmar W. Winkler, and Chorbishop John D. Faris.
The members affirmed together that the mystery of God’s design of
salvation is revealed in history by audible words and tangible signs and
actions that refer and give access to a higher reality. History thus
becomes a history of salvation that reaches its culmination in Jesus
Christ, who by his words and actions, in particular by his death and
resurrection, is the full revelation and self-communication of God’s
mystery. Christ is the mystery in person.
The fruits of the
revelation and the redemptive work of Christ are dispensed to the
believers in the Church, through visible signs and actions that signify
and communicate an invisible grace that allows them to be “partakers of
the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4). Within this economy of salvation, the
Church has privileged some specific acts and celebrations that are
essential for the sanctification or deification of the believer and the
building up of the Body of Christ, and thus are called sacraments or
mysteries in a specific sense of the word.
In both the Oriental
and Western traditions, mystery is a visible or tangible object or event
that points to a higher reality. The Greek word mysterion was
translated as sacramentum in the early Latin translations of the Bible,
parallel to the transliteration of the Greek term as mysterium. The
Syriac term rozo, the Armenian khorhourd, the Ethiopian mestir, just as
the Coptic and Greek mysterion, also designate the mysteries of the
Triune God, the Incarnation and Redemption as well as the liturgical
acts through which God’s salvific blessings are dispensed in the Church.
Over the centuries, the Fathers of the Church and theologians of all
our Churches became more aware of the theological meaning of the mystery
of God’s efficacy within the sacred rites of the Church. The terms
mysterion/ sacramentum/rozo/khorhourd/mestir, as defined and used in the
patristic period as a visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace
given to us, did not make it possible to limit sacraments to a specific
number. Thus, all our Churches have been recognizing various numbers of
sacred and liturgical rites and blessings as having a sacramental
nature. At a later stage, the Western tradition identified seven sacred
and liturgical rites as sacraments, while the other blessings were
called sacramentals. As was the case in the Catholic Church, the
Oriental Orthodox Churches likewise articulated a list of seven
sacraments. In all of our traditions the seven sacraments (Baptism,
Chrismation/ Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Holy Orders, Matrimony
and Anointing of the Sick) are believed to be instituted by Christ,
established by the Apostles, preserved and handed down by the Holy
Fathers and faithfully celebrated in the Church. Among these seven, the
Eucharist is understood as the Sacrament of Sacraments.
The
intention of the number seven is to not to limit but to describe the
fullness of God’s Grace and the perfection of God’s saving work. The
holy figure seven is one of the most significant in the Bible and also
identified as the union of God with his creation, with three signifying
the Holy Trinity and four the whole creation. The core of this
definition is that sacramental life is a participation in the mystery of
God’s salvific work through Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy
Spirit.
The members discussed various aspects of sacramental
discipline, including the question of who ministers the sacrament, who
can receive a sacrament, and other canonical issues related to
matrimony. While all of the baptized faithful participate in the
celebration of the sacraments, some by ordination to the ministerial
priesthood administer the sacraments to the faithful. The members noted
that only in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church can deacons
administer baptisms and officiate at marriages. A further difference is
that in the Roman Catholic understanding, in marriage the couple are the
ministers of the sacrament rather than an officiating bishop or priest,
whereas in the Oriental Catholic Churches and Oriental Orthodox
Churches the minister of sacraments must be a priest or bishop.
The Churches reaffirmed that only the baptized faithful can receive a
sacrament. While the Roman Catholic Church acknowledges the validity of
marriages between the baptized and non-baptized, these are not
considered to be sacramental marriages. Because matrimony in particular
presents numerous canonical and pastoral questions, the members
discussed the approaches of their Churches to these issues.
The
next meeting will take place in Rome, hosted by the Pontifical Council
for Promoting Christian Unity. Arrivals on January 24 and departures on
January 30, 2021.
The members of the Commission are:Representatives of the Oriental Orthodox Churches (in alphabetical order)
Antiochian Syrian Orthodox Church: H.E. Mar Theophilus George Saliba, Archbishop of Mount Lebanon, Beirut, Lebanon; H.E. Kuriakose Mar Theophilose, Metropolitan of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Theological Seminary and President of the Ecumenical Secretariat of the Malankara Syrian Orthodox Church in India, Ernakulam, India; H.G. Bishop Mor Polycarpus Aydin (observer);
Armenian Apostolic Church: Catholicosate of all Armenians: H.E. Khajag Barsamian, Pontifical Legate for Western Europe and Official Representative of the Armenian Church to the Vatican; Reverend Father Shahe Ananyan, Director of the Interchurch Relationships Department, Etchmiadzin, Armenia (not present);
Armenian Apostolic Church: Catholicosate of the Holy See of Cilicia: H.E. Bishop Magar Ashkarian, Antelias, Lebanon; Reverend Father Boghos Tinkjian, Dean of the Armenian Theological Seminary, Antelias, Lebanon;
Coptic Orthodox Church: H.G. Bishop Kyrillos (Co-Chair), Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, Rev. Fr. Shenouda Maher Ishak, West Henrietta, New York, USA; H.G. Bishop Daniel of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Sydney, Australia (Observer); H.G. Bishop Barnaba El Soryany, Rome, Italy (Observer);
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church: no representative was able to attend;
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church: Archbishop Gabriel of Sidamo (not present); Rev. Fr, Daniel Seifemichael Feleke of Holy Trinity Theological University College and Director of Broadcasting Service in Addis Ababa;
Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church: H.E. Metropolitan Zachariah Mar Nicholovos, Northeast Diocese of America (not present); H.E. Metropolitan Dr. Youhanon Mar Demetrios (co-secretary), Metropolitan of the Diocese of Delhi, India (not present).
Representatives of the Catholic Church
His Eminence Cardinal Kurt Koch, President of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (co-chair);
Most Reverend Youhanna Golta, Patriarchal Auxiliary Bishop of the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate, Cairo, Egypt (not present);
Most Reverend Peter Marayati, Armenian Catholic Archbishop of Aleppo, Syria;
Most Reverend Paul Rouhana, OLM, Bishop of the Patriarchal Maronite Vicariate of Sarba, Jounieh, Lebanon;
Most Reverend Lesanuchristos Matheos Semahun, Bishop of Bahir Dar-Dessie, Ethiopia;
Most Reverend Boghos Levon Zekiyan, Archbishop of Istanbul and Turkey for the Catholic Armenians;
Rev. Fr. Frans Bouwen, M.Afr., Sainte-Anne, Jerusalem;
Chorbishop John D. Faris, J.C.O,D., Saint Anthony Maronite Catholic Church, Glen Allen, Virginia, USA;
Rev. Fr. Habib Mrad, Patriarchal Secretary and Chancellor, Syriac Catholic Patriarchate, Beirut;
Rev. Fr. Ronald G. Roberson, CSP, Associate Director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, US Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC, USA;
Rev. Fr. Mark Sheridan, OSB, Collegio di S. Anselmo, Rome;
Rev. Fr. Columba Stewart, OSB, Executive Director, Hill Museum and Manuscript Library, Professor of Theology, Saint John's Abbey and University, Collegeville, Minnesota, USA;
Rev. Malpan Fr. Mathew Vellanickal, Spirituality Center, Manganam, Kottayam, India;
Prof. Dietmar W. Winkler, Consultant to the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Salzburg, Austria.
Rev. Hyacinthe Destivelle, OP, Official of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, Rome (co-secretary).
