Ecumenism as Hope: The Prophetic Role and the Eschatological Function of the Church

The article is structured around one of the questions that has been at the forefront of controversies in the orthodox church in recent years: why is ecumenical dialogue necessary and why “must” we engage in it? The answer can be simple: because it is the will of the Saviour Jesus Christ, who prays t...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Religions
Main Author: Sonea, Cristian-Sebastian (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: MDPI 2023
In: Religions
Further subjects:B Orthodox Church
B Modernity
B Ecumenism
B Prophetism
B Postmodernity
B Eschatology
B Hope
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Summary:The article is structured around one of the questions that has been at the forefront of controversies in the orthodox church in recent years: why is ecumenical dialogue necessary and why “must” we engage in it? The answer can be simple: because it is the will of the Saviour Jesus Christ, who prays to the Father “that they may all be one” (John 17:21). Nevertheless, some Christians reject or even condemn ecumenical dialogue. To explain the presence of the orthodox church in the ecumenical movement, I proposed the concept of ecumenism as hope. In this article, I also offered a synthesis of the relations between the orthodox church and the other Christian communities from the perspective of teleology. I then tried to show that the re-evaluation of eschatology could oppose the “mechanical paradigm” of the historical–critical method, because eschatology contains the element of “hope”. I concluded that “hope” in the eschatological sense could be understood as the eschatological inauguration of the unity of faith in the church.
ISSN:2077-1444
Contains:Enthalten in: Religions
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.3390/rel14101225