- The Early Stages: Pre-1910
- Laying the Foundations: 1910–1948
- Pivotal Years: 1948–1965
- Intense Activity: 1965–1990
- Consolidation and Challenge: 1990—Present
- Orthodox
- Anglican
- Methodist
- Catholic
- Lutheran
- Reformed
- Baptist
- Pentecostal and Charismatic
- Christology
- Church
- Baptism
- Eucharist
- Ministry
- Liturgy
- Justification
- Morals
- Mission and Evangelism
- Ecology
- Faith and Order
- World Council of Churches
- Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
- Bilateral Dialogues
- Chevetogne, Taizé, and the Groupe des Dombes
- Pro Oriente
- United and Uniting Churches
- Regional and National Councils of Churches
- Covenants
- Interchurch Families
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
- Global Christian Forum
- Britain and Ireland
- United States of America
- Africa
- Asia
- Latin America
- The Middle East
- Europe
- Unity in Reconciled Diversity
- The Unity We Seek
- What Model of Full Communion?
- In Search of a Way
- Method in Ecumenism
- Kenotic Ecumenism
Abstract and Keywords
This chapter considers the methodology of ecumenism from an Eastern Orthodox perspective. It begins by briefly reviewing the Holy and Great Council that took place in Crete in 2016, and its document on the relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world. The second part looks at the lukewarm or hostile reception of ecumenical dialogue, and the third examines more closely the debates for and against. The chapter then suggests ways to move Christian unity forward through a broader engagement of bishops; reconsidering the bold twentieth-century proposals of Sergius Bulgakov, Nicolas Afanasiev, and Nicholas Zernov; a ‘kenotic ecumenism’ based on Philippians 2:4–7 and the thought of John Zizioulas; and making communion with God the focus of a renewed ecumenical movement in which the Jesus Prayer could play an important unifying role.
Keywords: Orthodox, ecumenism, Crete, methodology, dialogue, reception, bishops, kenotic, Philippians, Jesus Prayer
John A. Jillions is Chancellor of the Orthodox Church in America and Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at St Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary in Yonkers, New York, USA.
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- The Early Stages: Pre-1910
- Laying the Foundations: 1910–1948
- Pivotal Years: 1948–1965
- Intense Activity: 1965–1990
- Consolidation and Challenge: 1990—Present
- Orthodox
- Anglican
- Methodist
- Catholic
- Lutheran
- Reformed
- Baptist
- Pentecostal and Charismatic
- Christology
- Church
- Baptism
- Eucharist
- Ministry
- Liturgy
- Justification
- Morals
- Mission and Evangelism
- Ecology
- Faith and Order
- World Council of Churches
- Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity
- Bilateral Dialogues
- Chevetogne, Taizé, and the Groupe des Dombes
- Pro Oriente
- United and Uniting Churches
- Regional and National Councils of Churches
- Covenants
- Interchurch Families
- Week of Prayer for Christian Unity
- Global Christian Forum
- Britain and Ireland
- United States of America
- Africa
- Asia
- Latin America
- The Middle East
- Europe
- Unity in Reconciled Diversity
- The Unity We Seek
- What Model of Full Communion?
- In Search of a Way
- Method in Ecumenism
- Kenotic Ecumenism