Fifty Years of Theological Dialogue between Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodox Churches

The 2014 marks the 50th year of theological dialogue for unity between Orthodox Eastern Churches and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. The working group met for first unofficial dialogue meeting between the Orthodox and the Oriental Orthodox in Aarhus, Denmark, 1964.

There have been official and unofficial consultations and joint efforts to overcome the ancient schism in the eastern Christendom.

There were 4 unofficial meetings:

Aarhus – 1964
Bristol – 1967
Geneva – 1970
Addis Ababa – 1971

These were followed by a series of official dialogues between the Churches. These took place at:

Geneva – 1985
Egypt – 1989
Geneva – 1990
Geneva – 1993

A number of statements have been issued by the Joint Commission, as well as agreements relating to Pastoral matters.

The main agreement is that ‘We have inherited from our fathers in Christ the one apostolic faith and tradition.’

In the month of November the Working Group of the Joint Commission for the Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches was held from 24-25 2014 in Athens-Greece which is the latest among all the above mentioned dialogues for unity.There is much effort to be done in coming days with rigorous theological exercises with regular follow ups to achieve full union between the two ancient families of Orthodox Churches.

Source: OCP