Anglican-Orthodox Commissions Meet at Oxford
Diocesan Press Service. August 8, 1973 [73190]
LONDON -- The Anglican - Orthodox Joint Doctrinal Commission met in a historic week-long session recently at Hertford College, Oxford, at which time there was a discussion of several papers.
The participants were a pan-Anglican commission of 15, including five from the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A., and a pan-Orthodox commission of 17 from 11 Orthodox church bodies.
Prior to this first gathering of the Joint Commission, a number of separate meetings of the two commissions were held. A joint meeting of two sub-commissions was held at Chambesy, Switzerland, in September, 1972, to prepare the agenda for the full meeting of the Commission at Oxford.
The commissions considered three papers which formed the basis for the dialogue.
One paper, prepared by the Anglican side, was on "Comprehensiveness and the Mission of the Church." While some Orthodox delegates were "not wholly satisfied" with the paper, they "found in the paper a new and hopeful approach to the problem" of comprehensiveness.
Two papers were presented by the Orthodox side. The first, prepared by Metropolitan Stylianos of Miletoupolis, was on "The Holy Spirit as Interpreter of the Gospel and Giver of Life in the Church Today." The Anglicans expressed appreciation of "both the spirit and content of the paper, " though a number of questions were raised about the work of the Holy Spirit outside the Orthodox Church and the limits of the Church.
A second Orthodox paper, on "The Redemptive Work of Christ on the Cross and in the Resurrection," was prepared by Archbishop Basil of Brussels. The Anglicans, recognizing in this paper "the common tradition of the two Churches," expressed their "very deep satisfaction" with the paper. After discussion, it was felt that after further "common study of this subject, the two Churches could arrive at a common statement."
Before the next full meeting of the Joint Commission in 1976, sub-commissions will meet and prepare papers on three subjects: " Inspiration and Revelation in the Holy Scriptures," " The Authority of the Councils," and " The Church as the Eucharistic Community. "
The 17 Orthodox delegates represented the Churches of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Finland, Greece, Jerusalem, Rumania, Russia and Yugoslavia.
The 15 Anglican delegates included seven from the Church of England; one each from the Anglican Church of Canada, the Church of England in Australia, and the Jerusalem Archbishopric; and five from the Episcopal Church in the U.S.A.
Delegates from the Episcopal Church were Bishop Jonathan Sherman of Long Island; Dr. Robert Terwilliger of Trinity Institute, New York City; Dr. Peter Day, Ecumenical Officer of the Executive Council; Dr. Paul Anderson, consultant on Orthodox relations; and Dr. Edward R. Hardy, Divinity School, Cambridge, England.