Page 296 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
Anglicanism belongs to the Western theological tradition and
whether that tradition can be reconciled with the Eastern one.
This has drawn attention increasingly to the issues that di-
vided East and West in the Middle Ages, such as the Filioque
and the doctrine of grace, and has shown that no bilateral
dialogue can proceed in isolation from the dialogue with
Rome.
And yet the possibilities are real. Orthodoxy and Anglican-
ism share important elements. Both preserve the episcopal
structure of the Church and regard the bishop as the center of
ecclesial unity. Both give a central place to the Eucharist, and
both can benefit from a return to the ancient sources. Even the
Anglican notion of comprehensiveness, if clarified, may prove
positive, for its reluctance to define truth in narrowly concep-
tual terms has affinities with apophatic and non-confessional
aspects of the Orthodox tradition. A particularly hopeful sign
was the recommendation at Moscow in 1976 that the Filioque
be removed from the Anglican Creed, at least for canonical
reasons. Yet even here the wider interdependence of the dia-
logues becomes clear, since Anglican attitudes to such ques-
tions are inseparable from their relation to the Western tradi-
tion as a whole.
The dialogue with the Old Catholic Church occupies an
important place in the modern history of Orthodoxy. It began
as early as 1871, first through Orthodox participation in Old
Catholic conferences, then by correspondence between Rus-
sian Orthodox and Old Catholic theological commissions,
and later within the ecumenical movement. This eventually
led to the Bonn meeting of 1931 and, from 1973 onward, to an
official pan-Orthodox dialogue.
From the beginning there was a strong desire, especially on
the Old Catholic side, for unity and sacramental communion.
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