Orthodox Reflections on Pope John Paul II’s Encyclical Letter on Ecumenism Ut Unum Sint: Reception and Contemporary Relevance

Abstract

The article reflects on the ecumenical relevance of the encyclical of Pope John Paul II in light of the most recent developments in the Christian Orthodox world: the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church (Crete, 2016) and the ongoing Ukrainian crisis, which determined the Moscow Patriarchate to sever ties with the Constantinople Patriarchate, as the latter recognized the independence of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. Both the absence of four autocephalous churches from the Council of Crete and the conflict between Constantinople and Moscow over Ukraine shows the very serious conciliar crisis of the Orthodox Church, which reveals a fragmented rather than symphonic Orthodoxy. This article argues that the hermeneutics of ecumenical receptivity that underpins the Encyclical Ut Unum Sint could also guide the Orthodox Church toward a solution to the crisis that affects its synodality or sobornicity. Just as Pope John Paul II invited all Christian churches to a joint reflection on the exercise of primacy, so the Orthodox Church should invite other Christian to a joint reflection on the practice of synodality. In the process of relearning how the embody synodality more fully, the Orthodox Church could benefit from the dialogue with the Christian other.