Mission and Christian Unity

Abstract

Orthodox missiology became interested in the issue of Christian unity in the 1960s, as Orthodoxy came to be involved more actively in the ecumenical movement, with the support of a new generation of theologians (such as Anastasios Yannoulatos, Nikos Nissiotis, Alexander Schmemann, and Ion Bria) who shared the deep concern of envisaging the universal dimension of evangelism. Drawing from new missionary tendencies (the missio Dei) and against the background of the Orthodox tradition – especially the Johannine literature, the eucharist, and trinitarian theology – the Orthodox stressed that the proclamation of the gospel concerns equally the non-Christians, as a call to communion with God, and the non-Orthodox, as a call to the consolidation of this communion primarily among Christians. In this case, the mission becomes a living witness of the church to the world, with the purpose to bring the world into unity with God. Thanks to this perception, “unity as mission” has entered into the very centre of ecclesial action. These ideas can also be found in official Orthodox statements, from the 1990s to the Holy and Great Council of 2016, which largely embraced these new demands, although they also point out the limits of this “common Christian witness” and the danger of proselytism. In any case, common Christian witness seems to belong to the future of the ecumenical and global missionary movement.