Russian Church Objects to New Ecumenical Charter for Europe's Churches

The Russian Orthodox Church, the world’s biggest Orthodox church, has distanced itself from an ecumenical charter for Europe, warning that the charter could prove “harmful and counter-productive” to dialogue between churches and might lead to “new divisions” between Christians.

The Charta Oecumenica, which has been almost two years in the making, sets down guidelines for ecumenical work in Europe. The Charta was signed on April 22 in Strasbourg by Orthodox Metropolitan Jeremie of France, Spain and Portugal, president of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and Cardinal Miloslav Vlk of Prague, president of the Council of European (Catholic) Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) during an Ecumenical Encounter here in Strasbourg.

Between them CCEE and CEC, which has more than 120 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches—including the Russian church—as members, represent almost all mainstream churches in Europe.

Deacon Andrei Elisseev, a staff member of the Moscow Patriarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church, told ENI that he had informed a meeting of CEC’s central committee earlier this week that his church disagreed “both with the form and the content of this document.”

Deacon Elisseev said his church was particularly concerned about commitments in the Charta to work towards the “visible unity of the Church of Jesus Christ in the one faith.” He said this contradicted a statement on inter-church relations adopted by his church’s council of bishops last August which rejected the idea that churches should “make visible” an existing but hidden unity of the world-wide church and also the “theory of branches,” according to which the church is separated into equal parts which have to be reunified to become whole again.

According to a statement presented by Deacon Elisseev to CEC’s central committee, which met in Strasbourg immediately before the Ecumenical Encounter, “even after a long and sometimes painful process of the Charta redaction [drafting],” the second draft contained “many ideas and practical and theological positions which do not take into account the present state of the ecumenical movement and inter-Christian dialogue.”

“Moreover, the basic text of the Charta can produce strong criticism within some churches and therefore can be harmful and counter-productive for the future of the dialogue and co-operation between Christians, and might lead to new divisions among the faithful.”

According to the Moscow Patriarchate, the signing of the document by Metropolitan Jeremie and Cardinal Vlk on Sunday, “may only be taken as an act of their own willingness and personal conviction, and not as a position of the churches, the Russian Orthodox Church in particular.”

Deacon Elisseev told ENI that his church was not “in principle” against the idea of a charter that would describe ways for churches to co-operate. “We tried to make the Conference of European Churches understand that the Charta should not be signed as itself, but be presented to the churches for study, for reflection and for further work.

“It was not a rejection of the idea of the Charta, but of some ideas, some theological positions expressed in this document,” he said, adding that he was concerned that the fact that it would be signed by CEC’s president might be understood as meaning that CEC member churches, and particularly the Russian Orthodox Church, agreed with the document.

“We wanted to show that there was disagreement with particular points in the document that we cannot accept, either for theological or for some ethical or practical reasons.”

Asked about the Russian objections, CEC’s general secretary, Dr Keith Clements, told ENI: “CEC’s position has always been that the Charta can only receive the authority which the member churches of CEC and the bishops’ conferences give to it. Therefore the signatures of the two presidents of CEC and CCEE will appear under a statement attached to the Charta that commends the Charta to the churches for reception, study and adaptation to different contexts.

“Therefore it is not as though the presidents of CEC and CCEE are signing on behalf of the members of their respective bodies, but are only commending and transmitting the Charta to them.”

Clements said that the process of drafting the Charta had taken into account the reactions of CEC’s member churches and Catholic bishops’ conferences, including those of the Russian Orthodox Church and a consultation of Orthodox church theologians in Crete in July 2000 at which a representative of the Russian church was present.

“Obviously not everything in the text will completely meet the expectations of every European church. Where misgivings remain, we hope these will be used as the occasion for further and intensified dialogue and not the end of conversations.”

He added that the Charta itself “cannot damage ecumenical relations nor can the Charta simply as a document improve them. Everything depends on the spirit with which it is received and discussed.”