European churches sign new ecumenical charter to advance cooperation

‘In the Catholic Church, the synodal journey is ecumenical, just as the ecumenical journey is synodal,’ Pope Leo said when he was presented the updated Charta Oecumenica.

The president of the Conference of European Churches (CEC) and the president of the Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE) signed a new Charta Oecumenica, a foundational text for ecumenical cooperation across the continent.

Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain and Archbishop Gintaras Grušas of Vilnius signed the updated version of the Charta Oecumenica,originally signed in 2001, to reflect the evolving social, spiritual and ecological landscape in Europe.

Bishop Bertram Meier of Augsburg, a Catholic member of the joint committee of CEC and CCEE, said the Charta was a “practice-oriented synthesis of the progress made in bilateral and multilateral interdenominational dialogues at the European level and beyond”.

“Even though the Charta itself does not elaborate on ‘ecumenical reception’ as a concept, this term is fundamental to the entire project of the ‘Guidelines for Growing Cooperation among the Churches in Europe’”.

Ecumenism, Meier said, “is not merely a self-referential engagement of experts but service for the benefit of the whole body of Christ”. He explained that even if the signatory churches had different ideas about criteria, structures and instruments of ecumenical reception, they were in agreement that this was not primarily a matter of unique events but of long-term processes.

“It would be fruitful if the churches in Europe became more sensitive to … asymmetries, but perceived them not as frustrating, but rather as critically constructive feedback, in order to achieve a sustainable future together,” he continued.

Archbishop Nikitas and Archbishop Grušas presented the revised text to Pope Leo during a private audience at the Vatican on 6 November. The Pope called the Charta “a testimony to the willingness of the Churches in Europe to look at our history through the eyes of Christ”.

He encouraged European churches to listen to new voices and stories within their constantly evolving ecumenical journey, “so that Christians may learn better to promote dialogue and fraternity amid ‘the din of violence and war’”.

“In the Catholic Church, the synodal journey is ecumenical, just as the ecumenical journey is synodal,” he said.

The Sixth World Conference on Faith and Order took place at the St Bishoy Monastery at Wadi El Natrun in Egypt on 24-28 October, the first such conference since 1993. It was the centrepiece of the World Council of Churches’s activities to mark 1,700 years since the first Council of Nicaea in 325AD.

Pope Leo’s apostolic journey to Turkey will feature an ecumenical prayer meeting on 28 November near the ancient Basilica of Saint Neophyte in Iznik, the site of the Council. The next day, he will sign a joint declaration with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople.

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