The International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue met June 17-22 in Bucharest, Romania. The commission is composed of representatives of the Orthodox churches and the member churches of the Anglican Communion.

Participants heard and discussed a paper on "The Risen Christ and the Church," and heard other papers on "Christ: Sovereign Over All," and "Priesthood and Identity in Christ." Discussion also was held on the nature and exercise of the Christian ministry, a topic the commission intends to discuss more fully at its next meeting.

Previous meetings have studied the mystery of the church in the light of faith in the Trinitarian God, and have begun to study the church in relation to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Since the last plenary meeting in 1996, a drafting committee has met and prepared a draft statement on "Christ, Humanity and the Church." That statement was discussed at this meeting.

Dialogue between the two churches began in 1973 in an attempt to reconcile differences between Anglicans and Orthodox. Agreements already have been published in the Moscow Agreed Statement of 1976 and the Dublin Agreed Statement of 1984. The present third phase of the dialogue, begun in 1989, is concerned with doctrine.

Anglican Communion News Service contributed to this article.