www.byzcath.org Forums Faith & Christian Life The Christian East & West Russo-Orthodox Church ends dialogue with two Protestant churches

[Russo-Orthodox Church ends dialogue with two Protestant churches]

The Russian Orthodox Church - Department of External Church Relations (DECR)

3 June 2015
https://mospat.ru/en/2015/06/03/news119648/

Statement of the DECR Communication Service concerning the decision of the Church of Scotland on a possible ordination of gay people in civil partnership and of the United Protestant Church of France on a possible blessing of the so called same-sex unions:

On May 16, 2015, the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland allowed ordination of gay people in civil partnership and on May 21 voted to continue the study of this matter aimed at an extension of the adopted decision. On May 17, the Synod of the United Protestant Church of France allowed a possibility of blessing the so called same-sex unions.

These decisions of the Protestant Churches of Scotland and France have deeply disappointed the Russian Orthodox Church as they seem incompatible with norms of Christian morality

We state with profound grief that today we have new divisions in the Christian world not only on theological problems, but also on the moral issues.

The Russian Orthodox Church holds the firm position based on Holy Scriptures and has repeatedly declared that the mentioned innovations were inadmissible for moral teaching and thus is ought to reconsider a format of her relations with the churches and associations which trample upon the principles of traditional Christian morality. In 2003, the Russian Orthodox Church suspended contacts with the Episcopal Church in the USA because this Church consecrated an open homosexual as bishop. Similar reasons have brought about the severance of relations with the Church of Sweden in 2005 when it decided to bless the same-sex unions.

During last years we have kept attentive watch over debates in the Churches of Scotland and France. In 2013, Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations, sent a letter to the leadership of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland in which he expressed his anxiety and disappointment over a possibility of ordaining gay people and expressed hope that the consideration of this issue in future would be based on the apostolic tradition. Regrettably, these hopes have not been justified, and the words of warning have not been heard.

Guided by the resolutions of the Bishops’ Council of 2008, saying that ‘the future of relations with many Protestant communities depends on their faithfulness to the norms of Gospel and apostolic morality kept by Christians over many centuries,’ and of the Bishops’ Council of 2013 saying that ‘a dialogue with confessions which openly defy the Biblical moral norms is impossible,’ the Department for External Church Relations does not see any prospects in maintaining official contacts with the Church of Scotland and with the United Protestant Church of France.

It might be interesting to see how many more press releases the ROC puts out in the next little while naming other groups they are ending dialogue with over this issue . . .


Alex

And have any of the other patriarchates (Catholic or Orthodox) made similar pronouncements?

I believe the Coptic Church has made similar announcements, as well as it (along with ordination of women) being the cause of a turning point in the Catholic dialogues. For Catholics, the aim is no longer unity only joint action regarding whatever common good works can be agreed upon. (Less and less)

Not the same thing, but the Antiochian Orthodox in the U.S. left the National Council of Churches...not over gay issues necessarily but because Orthodoxy and the formerly mainstream Protestant bodies are so far apart -- they are not even on the same page -- that any attempt at dialogue would be fruitless.
Would it not have been wiser for the ROC to have taken this approach rather than the one it did take? I agreed elsewhere on this forum with this approach, but I also realise that the ROC is in danger of undermining the very good work they have done in the past quarter century or so. Pride goeth before the fall, and all that.

You are more than correct, in my view, and you raise an interesting point.

Orthodoxy's mission is to be a leaven and to witness to the truth. Ultimately, Orthodoxy can/should only be having ecumenical talks with the Oriental and Assyrian Churches as well as the RC Church (not to mention the "High Church" movement within Protestantism).

As for the rest, they should be made aware of the presence of Orthodoxy and what it is about to enable them to more closely consider how they themselves can begin moving closer to Apostolic Christianity.

To hold talks with individual Protestant groups just doesn't make sense any longer - if it ever did. There was a time when certain Anglicans bent over backwards to try and forge unity with Orthodoxy (in the USA I'm thinking of Archbishop Chapman) and who strove to bring Anglican praxis as close as possible to Orthodoxy in the process.

Alex

I think that history tells us that the Russian church's participation in the WCC during the middle of the 20th century was less a matter of internal Church theology and more a matter of KGB directive and Communist ideology at play. Neither the Romans nor the Greeks have any meaningful bi-lateral talks going these days with the churches accepting such radical change. Yes, the Greeks are still 'in' the WCC, but more for social justice issues than religious.

It is hard to be a leaven for truth when the dough has been poisoned.

Dear DMD,

You've hit the nail squarely on the head . . . again!

In Soviet times, the ROC actually presented itself as a harbinger for liberalism promoting peace and ecumenical understanding with Western denominations and the like.

In the post-Soviet (or "Neo-Soviet?") era, the ROC has made a sharp turn to the conservative right, according to some observers, appealing to the beleaguered conservative Christians of the West, breaking off relations with liberal denominations and, at the same time, also promoting peace . . .

There are those here who see in the state-controlled ROC a great champion of Christian values.

No one denies that there is a great need for the defense of such values and of Christians being killed and attacked in the Middle East.

But this approach by the RF and the ROC is one that, while filling the gap in this kind of leadership internationally, is predicated on geopolitical considerations rather than spiritual.

Alex

Orthodox Catholic why has the Roman Catholic Church made such an effort to have dialog with Russian Orthodox Church? It just seems rather odd to me a Roman Catholic. This has been a question in my mind for a while.