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PRESS RELEASE
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.armenianprelacy.org
Contact: Iris Papazian
July 26, 2006
MEMBERS OF CILICIAN SEE PARTICIPATE IN
ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE IN SWITZERLAND
NEW YORK, NY-His Grace Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General of the
Eastern Prelacy of the United States and Ecumenical Officer of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia for the United States, and Ms. Nayiri Baljian,
delegate to the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), joined
18 other men and women from around the world for an ecumenical seminar
entitled, "What It Means to be Human: Orthodox and Evangelicals in
Dialogue." The Seminar, which took place at the Ecumenical Institute,
Bossey, Switzerland, was the fourth in a series of topical dialogues between
members of Evangelical and Orthodox churches. The previous three seminars
each focused on one of the following themes: salvation, ecclesiology,
scriptures, and the way in which Orthodox and Evangelicals perceive one
another.
As indicated by its title, the agenda for this seminar centered on the
theme of theological anthropology, with the first two full days of the
program dedicated to hearing and responding to papers prepared by Rev. Dr.
Andrew Louth, Antiochian Orthodox priest and lecturer at the University of
Durham (England), and Dr. Mark Elliot, an evangelical and professor for the
School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrew's (Scotland). Dr. Louth,
in his paper entitled, "An Orthodox Understanding of What it is to be
Human," discussed both the idea of human creation in the image of God and
the notion of hypostases, a Greek term used to express the existential
nature of human beings. Dr. Louth noted that from the Orthodox perspective,
and opposed to Western individualism, humans primarily exist in
relationship, with one another and God. Via current Orthodox scholarship,
Dr. Louth linked creation in the image of God to the individual's prayer
life, while Orthodox participants in the seminar insisted that the
hypostatic reality of humanness relates to participation in the Eucharist,
i.e. corporate worship. Dr. James Stamoolis, Professor of Biblical Studies
at Trinity International University (United States), read a thoughtful
statement of response from the Evangelical perspective. Dr. Elliot presented
his paper on humanness from the Evangelical perspective, acknowledging that
a single "Evangelical perspective" on any matter is difficult to define. Dr.
Elliot concluded that in general Evangelicals view anthropology with
"sobriety," given Calvinistic views on the seriousness of sin and the
hopeless nature of the human soul sans Christ; however, in light of human
salvation and redemption through Jesus, humanness assumes a hopeful,
service-oriented significance.
Rev. Dr. Stelian Tofana, Romanian Orthodox priest and member of the
Theological Faculty at Cluj (Romania), responded to Dr. Elliot's paper from
the Orthodox perspective. Through response statements and group discussion,
the plenary concluded that despite obvious differences pertaining to human
salvation and the depravity of human nature, Evangelicals and Orthodox share
a similar theological understanding of anthropology.
Day three of the seminar was spent in nearby Geneva, at the headquarters
of the WCC. Participants heard two lectures under the heading "Revisiting
the thought of the Reformation about anthropology within the context of
patristic views." Lecture one was given by Rev. Dr. Sven Opengaard, from the
Lutheran perspective, lecture two by Rev. Dr. Odair Pedroso Mateus, from the
Reformed perspective. Immediately following, Rev. Dr. Kersten Storch
presented recent work on anthropology by the Faith and Order commission of
the WCC. This work has been published in a booklet entitled, "Christian
Perspectives on Theological Anthropology: A Faith and Order Study Document"
(Faith and Order Paper No. 199, WCC, 2005, 58pp).
Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the WCC, met briefly with
the group, discussing his vision for the WCC, including facilitating breadth
and depth of relationship among churches, via means such as ecumenical
dialogue.
The final two days of the seminar were dedicated to work in small
groups. Groups first focused either on the idea of creation in the image of
God or on the corporate vs. individual nature of anthropology, discussing
each (as assigned) from the Orthodox and Evangelical perspectives. Groups
next discussed practical matters pertaining to our convergent and divergent
views on anthropology. Various suggestions were made regarding steps that
might be taken jointly, particularly on social and ethical issues, in light
of the strong agreement between Evangelicals and Orthodox regarding
theological anthropology. A publication encompassing the reports of groups
and the papers/response statements presented from the entire series of
Evangelical-Orthodox dialogues at Bossey will be forthcoming.
Participants at the seminar strongly recommended continuing the
Orthodox-Evangelical dialogue in the same forum, and as such, a similar
seminar has been tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2008 at Bossey,
with a topic yet to be determined. The newly-formed dialogue steering
committee, to which Ms. Baljian was named, will stress the recruitment of
Orthodox theologians and lay leaders, as out of 20 attendees on this
occasion only six were Orthodox while 14 were Evangelical. Although the
Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is affiliated with the WCC and its seminars
receive support from WCC staff, the Orthodox-Evangelical dialogue series is
considered "unofficial," as participants need not be official delegates of
their churches. Open to the public, all Bossey seminars may be applied to,
following the instructions found online at www.wcc-coe.org/bossey.
Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America
138 East 39th Street
New York, NY 10016
Tel: 212-689-7810
Fax: 212-689-7168
e-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.armenianprelacy.org
Contact: Iris Papazian
July 26, 2006
MEMBERS OF CILICIAN SEE PARTICIPATE IN
ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE IN SWITZERLAND
NEW YORK, NY-His Grace Bishop Anoushavan Tanielian, Vicar General of the
Eastern Prelacy of the United States and Ecumenical Officer of the
Catholicosate of Cilicia for the United States, and Ms. Nayiri Baljian,
delegate to the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), joined
18 other men and women from around the world for an ecumenical seminar
entitled, "What It Means to be Human: Orthodox and Evangelicals in
Dialogue." The Seminar, which took place at the Ecumenical Institute,
Bossey, Switzerland, was the fourth in a series of topical dialogues between
members of Evangelical and Orthodox churches. The previous three seminars
each focused on one of the following themes: salvation, ecclesiology,
scriptures, and the way in which Orthodox and Evangelicals perceive one
another.
As indicated by its title, the agenda for this seminar centered on the
theme of theological anthropology, with the first two full days of the
program dedicated to hearing and responding to papers prepared by Rev. Dr.
Andrew Louth, Antiochian Orthodox priest and lecturer at the University of
Durham (England), and Dr. Mark Elliot, an evangelical and professor for the
School of Divinity at the University of St. Andrew's (Scotland). Dr. Louth,
in his paper entitled, "An Orthodox Understanding of What it is to be
Human," discussed both the idea of human creation in the image of God and
the notion of hypostases, a Greek term used to express the existential
nature of human beings. Dr. Louth noted that from the Orthodox perspective,
and opposed to Western individualism, humans primarily exist in
relationship, with one another and God. Via current Orthodox scholarship,
Dr. Louth linked creation in the image of God to the individual's prayer
life, while Orthodox participants in the seminar insisted that the
hypostatic reality of humanness relates to participation in the Eucharist,
i.e. corporate worship. Dr. James Stamoolis, Professor of Biblical Studies
at Trinity International University (United States), read a thoughtful
statement of response from the Evangelical perspective. Dr. Elliot presented
his paper on humanness from the Evangelical perspective, acknowledging that
a single "Evangelical perspective" on any matter is difficult to define. Dr.
Elliot concluded that in general Evangelicals view anthropology with
"sobriety," given Calvinistic views on the seriousness of sin and the
hopeless nature of the human soul sans Christ; however, in light of human
salvation and redemption through Jesus, humanness assumes a hopeful,
service-oriented significance.
Rev. Dr. Stelian Tofana, Romanian Orthodox priest and member of the
Theological Faculty at Cluj (Romania), responded to Dr. Elliot's paper from
the Orthodox perspective. Through response statements and group discussion,
the plenary concluded that despite obvious differences pertaining to human
salvation and the depravity of human nature, Evangelicals and Orthodox share
a similar theological understanding of anthropology.
Day three of the seminar was spent in nearby Geneva, at the headquarters
of the WCC. Participants heard two lectures under the heading "Revisiting
the thought of the Reformation about anthropology within the context of
patristic views." Lecture one was given by Rev. Dr. Sven Opengaard, from the
Lutheran perspective, lecture two by Rev. Dr. Odair Pedroso Mateus, from the
Reformed perspective. Immediately following, Rev. Dr. Kersten Storch
presented recent work on anthropology by the Faith and Order commission of
the WCC. This work has been published in a booklet entitled, "Christian
Perspectives on Theological Anthropology: A Faith and Order Study Document"
(Faith and Order Paper No. 199, WCC, 2005, 58pp).
Rev. Dr. Samuel Kobia, General Secretary of the WCC, met briefly with
the group, discussing his vision for the WCC, including facilitating breadth
and depth of relationship among churches, via means such as ecumenical
dialogue.
The final two days of the seminar were dedicated to work in small
groups. Groups first focused either on the idea of creation in the image of
God or on the corporate vs. individual nature of anthropology, discussing
each (as assigned) from the Orthodox and Evangelical perspectives. Groups
next discussed practical matters pertaining to our convergent and divergent
views on anthropology. Various suggestions were made regarding steps that
might be taken jointly, particularly on social and ethical issues, in light
of the strong agreement between Evangelicals and Orthodox regarding
theological anthropology. A publication encompassing the reports of groups
and the papers/response statements presented from the entire series of
Evangelical-Orthodox dialogues at Bossey will be forthcoming.
Participants at the seminar strongly recommended continuing the
Orthodox-Evangelical dialogue in the same forum, and as such, a similar
seminar has been tentatively scheduled for the summer of 2008 at Bossey,
with a topic yet to be determined. The newly-formed dialogue steering
committee, to which Ms. Baljian was named, will stress the recruitment of
Orthodox theologians and lay leaders, as out of 20 attendees on this
occasion only six were Orthodox while 14 were Evangelical. Although the
Ecumenical Institute at Bossey is affiliated with the WCC and its seminars
receive support from WCC staff, the Orthodox-Evangelical dialogue series is
considered "unofficial," as participants need not be official delegates of
their churches. Open to the public, all Bossey seminars may be applied to,
following the instructions found online at www.wcc-coe.org/bossey.