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ANTELIAS: HH Aram I on the decline of multilateral ecumenism

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  • ANTELIAS: HH Aram I on the decline of multilateral ecumenism

    PRESS RELEASE
    Catholicosate of Cilicia
    Communication and Information Department
    Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
    Fax: (04) 419724
    E- mail: [email protected]
    Web: http://www.ArmenianOrthodoxChurch.org/

    PO Box 70 317
    Antelias-Lebanon


    "BILATERAL ECUMENISM NEEDS TO BE GIVEN PRIORITY IN VIEW OF THE GROWING
    DECLINE OF MULTILATERAL ECUMENISM"

    H.H. ARAM I

    The Vatican: Addressing the staff of the Vatican's Pontifical Council
    for Promoting Christian Unity, His Holiness Aram I, Catholicos of Cilicia
    emphasized the growing importance of bilateral theological dialogues as "the
    credible and efficient way of leading the churches towards the visible
    unity".

    His Holiness begun his talk by reminding the pivotal importance of the
    ecumenical movement for "being church", because "it reminds the churches of
    their ecclesial interrelatedness, emphasizes the urgency of healing the
    brokenness of the church, calls for a deeper interaction between unity and
    mission, and enhances the interconnection between the local and global".
    Hence, in his view, "the ecumenical movement is not an option but an
    imperative for staying together and being church".

    Against the background of these introductory remarks, Aram I said that
    the present ecumenical landscape is marked by a shift "from institutional to
    people-centered ecumenism, multilateral to bilateral, Christocentric to
    ecclesiocentric, fellowship-centered to non-committal, multi-confessional to
    confessional, and global to local ecumenism". Hence, according to the
    Armenian Catholicos, "the ecumenical movement has become restless, in search
    of a new self-understanding, new self-articulation and a new vision". The
    ecumenical agenda, too, steadily is shifting "from visible unity to issues
    pertaining to church and society, from church-centered ecumenism to
    inter-religious dialogue". These developments said Aram I are the result of
    globalization and radical changes taking place in the life of churches and
    societies at large.

    His Holiness Aram I then identified some of the implications of these
    emerging ecumenical realities for the life and witness of the World Council
    of Churches (WCC). As a person who knows the WCC well having served for
    fifteen years as the Moderator of its Central and Executive Committees,
    Catholicos Aram I pointed out that "visible unity has almost lost its
    centrality, and reception-oriented processes, such as BEM, Apostolic Faith,
    nature of the church etc. remain in the shelves of the Council". He said
    that although the 10th Assembly called for "moving together", "pilgrimage of
    justice and peace stressed by the Busan Assembly, may eventually push
    visible unity to the periphery of the ecumenical moment". In his view the
    inter-religious dialogue, a major ecumenical challenge of present times, has
    become "an area of marginal importance; it needs serious attention". His
    Holiness expressed his concern about the Orthodox participation and
    contribution, "which have been significantly reduced". As to WCC-Catholic
    collaboration, Aram I considered it a vital dimension of the Council's work
    and called for "the broadening of its agenda and revising of its
    methodology".
    ##
    http://armenianorthodoxchurch.org/gallery-2

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