INTERNATIONAL THEOLOGICAL DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND THE ORTHODOX CHURCH

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church held its fifteenth plenary session from 1-7 June 2023 in Alexandria, Egypt, hosted by the Greek-Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.

The Commission, co-presided by Cardinal Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity, and Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, from the Ecumenical Patriarchate, reached agreement on a new document entitled “Synodality and Primacy in the Second Millennium and Today”.

As the joint communiqué issued at the end of the meeting states, “the discussion focused on synodality and primacy in East and West over the course of the second millennium, giving as far as possible a common reading of that history, and affording each other the opportunity to dialogue in a spirit of openness so as to 'further the mutual understanding and trust that are essential prerequisites for reconciliation at the start of the third millennium.'”

Ten Orthodox Churches were represented, namely the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchate of Alexandria, the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, the Patriarchate of Romania, the Patriarchate of Georgia, the Church of Cyprus, the Church of Greece, the Church of Poland, the Church of Albania and the Church of the Czech Lands and Slovakia.

Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity