From the current edition of the British Catholic weekly 'The Tablet':
Europe
New bar to unity with Orthodox.
Russia's Orthodox Church has warned it could downgrade ecumenical ties with other Christian denominations as a price for re-establishing communion with breakaway Orthodox communities abroad, despite plans to resume dialogue with Catholics under Benedict XVI.
"The Orthodox Church excludes any possibility of liturgical communion with the non-Orthodox. In particular, it is considered impermissible for Orthodox to participate in liturgical actions connected with so-called ecumenical or inter-confessional religious services," Orthodox leaders noted in a joint statement with representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA).
The document is one of four drawn up after 2004-5 talks with the US-based ROCA, which was formed in the 1920s by exiles escaping Bolshevik persecution, and has nine dioceses in North and South America, Western Europe and the former Soviet Union.
The two Churches are due to meet in San Francisco next May to discuss "normal relations". However, observers have cautioned that restored communion could mean a reduction in ecumenical ties, which have been consistently opposed as heretical by ROCA leaders. The joint statement, "On the Attitude of the Orthodox Church Towards the Heterodox and Towards Inter-Confessional Organisations", said both Churches had agreed to limit contacts with non-Orthodox denominations to charitable and educational projects, and to join in ceremonies and discussions only when they accorded with Orthodox "teachings, canonical discipline and ecclesiastical expediency".
The text said: "A significant portion of the Protestant world has embarked upon the path of humanist liberalism and is losing its bond with the tradition of the Holy Church ... changing by whim the divinely established norms of morality and dogmatic teachings, placing itself at the service of the interests of consumerist society, and subjecting itself to notions of earthly comfort and political goals ... It should recognise that only the Orthodox Church has fully and without error preserved the teaching handed down by Christ."
Speaking after 30 June talks with Benedict XVI, Metropolitan John Zizioulas, a representative of the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, said Orthodox Churches had responded to ecumenical pledges by the new Pope by agreeing to reopen an International Commission for Theological Dialogue with the Catholic Church after five years' suspension. However, Russian Orthodox leaders have warned that strong disagreements remain, particularly over the future of Ukraine's Greek Catholic Church, which combines the eastern liturgy with loyalty to Rome.
Jonathan Luxmoore
