Convention to Speak on Ecumenical Role
Episcopal News Service. July 8, 1982 [82164]
NEW YORK (DPS, July 8) -- Deputies and bishops at the Episcopal Church's Convention this fall will be asked to take steps furthering several ecumenical relationships including a mutual recognition statement between the Episcopal Church and three Lutheran bodies.
Holding its triennial meeting in New Orleans, Sept. 5-15, the Church's highest legislative body also will be asked to approve the study of The Final Report on the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission and of continued participation of the Episcopal Church in the Consultation on Church Union.
The Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations will propose a series of resolutions dealing with a variety of other ecumenical concerns, including a recommendation for study of a statement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry from the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches, and a study of the use of the word filioque in the Nicene Creed.
The resolution resulting from the Lutheran-Episcopal Dialogues, if approved by the Convention and conventions of the three Lutheran bodies, would mean that Episcopalians and Lutherans would recognize one another as churches "in which the Gospel is preached and taught." This action would mean a type of recognition to each other which neither body has granted before to a church outside its own respective framework.
Approval of the resolutions would endorse interim sharing of the Eucharist which would mean that a whole group, and not just individual members of the group, would be welcomed at the Eucharist.
Also incorporated in the resolutions are provision for joint worship by Episcopalians and Lutherans, cooperation in publication of dialogue materials, sharing of physical facilities and authorization of a third series of Lutheran-Episcopal dialogues.
The U.S. Lutheran-Episcopal dialogue had six meetings in the first series from 1969 to 1972. The second series was held from 1976 to 1980, with the Lutheran Church in America, the American Lutheran Church and the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches agreeing on the recommendations now ready for consideration by the conventions of the churches.
This summer and fall the conventions of the three Lutheran Churches will consider the same resolutions which are before the Episcopal Convention. None of the four church conventions can change the resolutions put before them unilaterally.
The Convention will be asked to "receive with appreciation" a report from the Anglican/Roman Catholic International Commission which contains its statements on Eucharist, Ordained Ministry and Authority in the Church. The second part of the report on Authority, dealing with papal primacy, was released last March.
The Ecumenical Relations Commission recommends that Episcopalians join with Roman Catholics in a study of these reports under its guidance with the Commission called upon to report on the study program to the 1985 Convention.
The Commission will ask the Convention to approve the Episcopal Church's continued participation in the Consultation on Church Union and to recognize that discussion "as a principal place for dialogue with many Churches as well as a unique opportunity for dialogue with three predominantly Black Churches."
For more than 20 years delegates from the Episcopal Church have been engaged in unity conversations with nine Protestant churches in the Consultation on Church Union.
At the Consultation's 15th plenary session last March, a document entitled "In Quest of a Church of Christ Uniting" -- which is the product of years of dialogue -- was recognized as a framework for an "emerging consensus" on theological issues among the participants. Episcopalians and members of the other participating churches responded to the document indicating that it contained much that was good but nevertheless had some serious problems.
The Episcopal Convention will be asked to express its gratitude for the "emerging theological consensus" which is reflected in the document. Also, the Convention will be asked to request the Episcopal delegation to continue to seek its concerns about the document pursued.
The Commission will also recommend to the Convention that the Church be asked to study an agreed statement on Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry which was prepared by the January 1982 Lima, Peru meeting of the World Council of Churches' Commission on Faith and Order. The Ecumenical Relations Commission says this may be "one of the most significant ecumenical documents to be produced in this century." It was 55 years in preparation with contributions made by many theologians, including Anglicans.
One matter referred to the Standing Commission on Ecumenical Relations for study by the 1979 Convention was the use of the word filioque ("and the Son") in the Nicene Creed.
Western Churches have traditionally said in the Nicene Creed that the Holy Spirit comes (proceeds) from the Father and the Son (qui de Patre Filioque procedit), while the Orthodox Churches of the East maintain the doctrine of the "single procession" of the Holy Spirit from God the Father.
The General Convention of the Episcopal Church in 1976 restored the word filioque to the Creed -- it had not been recommended in the Draft Proposed Book of Common Prayer. The Standing Commission, in its report to Convention, notes that "the altered creed thereby loses its ecumenical significance for the unity of Christians."
The 1979 Convention asked the Commission to make a study of the matter and to report back. The Commission reported that its basic theological study had begun and that it is attempting to work with other Anglican Churches in deciding what appropriate steps should be taken.
The Anglican Communion's 1978 Lambeth Conference of bishops requested that member-churches consider omitting the word filioque from the Creed.
The Convention will be asked to attempt to engage Episcopalians in the study of the filioque issue in consultation, as far as possible, with members of the Orthodox dioceses and seminaries.
The Theology Committee of the House of Bishops in San Diego in October 1981, made four recommendations to the Ecumenical Relations Commission for its consideration. They are as follows:
- "There is no dispute that the filioque clause was not found in the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed as it was received through the Council of Chalcedon in 451; thus for that reason alone there is sufficient cause to drop the phrase from the creed as presently used. Even now, on significant ecumenical occasions with the Orthodox, the creed should be recited without the filioque.
- "We recognize both western and eastern traditions of trinitarian theology as complementary aspects of the truth; neither one contradicts the other when properly understood. However, since the filioque phrase was introduced into the creed without the authority of an ecumenical council and without due regard for catholic consent, the text of the creed should be restored to the original form of 451 A.D.
- "Whatever steps the Episcopal Church in the U.S. takes to restore the text of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed to its original form, they should not be undertaken unilaterally, but in concert with the rest of the Anglican communion and hopefully with the collaboration of other western Christian churches.
- "We are committed to the continued study of the theological and canonical questions regarding the wording of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed and would hope that as we Anglicans and the Orthodox become more understanding of and sensitive to one another through common prayer and action, we might come to a deeper appreciation of each other's spirituality."