Toward a Common Future
“Truth,” Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I wrote in an Encyclical for the Sunday of Orthodoxy 2010, “does not fear dialogue.” The Encyclical articulated the vibrant relationship between Orthodoxy and a world filled with living, breathing cultures and peoples.
This symposium explores the ways in which the Holy Spirit is active within this long and dynamic dialogue. Drawing on the lived experience of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Lutheran and Pentecostal churches similarities as well as differences will be named and respected with the understanding that these churches — with their various histories and contexts — have grown variously in the same Spirit.
An enduring struggle among cultures and peoples is how to respond to differences. Need they be dividing? Need they induce suspicion? Need they lead to condemnation?
This symposium will highlight several approaches to difference that have emerged in dialogues between pairs of these churches, and consider possible application in other contexts. From the “differentiated consensus” that led the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation to address the central theological issue of the Reformation to the emerging idea of “differentiated participation,” participants will not only learn about these tools but have the opportunity to engage with ecumenical leaders who are presently seeking to apply them.
Hosted by Saint Peter’s Church
with the
Archdiocese of New York
Franciscan Friars of the Atonement
Metropolitan New York Synod, ELCA
Santa Maria Foundation
Yale Divinity School
Wednesday, November 13
Registration and reception
6:00 pm
Keynote address
6:30 pm – 8:00 pm
His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
with responses offered by
Msgr. John A. Radano
Former Director, Pontifical Counsel for Promoting Christian Unity Western Division
Vatican City
The Rev. Paul Egensteiner
Bishop, Metropolitan New York Synod
ELCA
Compline
8:00 pm – 8:45 pm
Thursday 14 November
Lecture: Methodology
10:30 am - 12:00 noon
The Rev. Dr. William G. Rusch
Yale Divinity School
New Haven, CT
Lunch
12:00 noon – 1:30 pm
Consensus in the Dialogues: Lutheran-Orthodox
1:30 – 2:15
The Rev. Dr. Jennifer Wasmuth
Institute for Ecumenical Research
Strasbourg, France
The Very Rev. Dr. John Behr
Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary
Yonkers, NY
Consensus in the Dialogues: Roman Catholic – Pentecostal
2:15 – 3:00
Dr. Teresa Francesca Rossi
Centro pro Unione
Rome, Italy
The Rev. Dr. Dale M. Coulter
Regent University
Virginia Beach, VA
Concluding Remarks and sending prayer
3:00 – 3:30
Fr. James Loughran, SA
Franciscan Friars of the Atonement
Garrison, NY
His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
Recently elected as Archbishop of America, His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros is a scholar and practitioner of ecumenical theology. He served for many years as the Secretary of the International Lutheran-Orthodox Dialogue and in 2009 completed two dissertations for the prestigious Theological School of Thessaloniki: “The Synaxis’s of the Hierarchy of the Ecumenical Throne (1951-2004)” and “Luther’s Ninety-five Thesis. Historical and Theological aspects. Text - Translation – Commentary.”