The ninth session of the International Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the World Alliance of Reformed Churches has taken place in Dhour Choueir Evangelical Conference Centre of the Presbyterian Synod of Syria and Lebanon from Oct. 13-19, 2005.

|TOP|The dialogue, which in fact initially commenced in 1988, this time had the main theme of “The Catholicity and Mission of the Church”.

The meeting was jointly chaired by His Eminence Metropolitan Panteleimon Rodopoulos of Tyroloë and Serention, of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the Very Rev. Prof. Iain Torrance, of the Church of Scotland, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, USA.

On the topic of the catholicity of the church, papers were successively presented by Prof. Dr. Dawn DeVries (Reformed, Richmond, USA) and by Prof. Christos Voulgaris (Orthodox, Athens, Greece). Papers on the Orthodox and Reformed understanding of koinonia or communion were read by the Protopresbyter Prof. George Dragas (Orthodox, Boston, USA) and by Rev. Dr. Karel Blei (Reformed, Haarlem, the Netherlands). The mission of the church was the theme of papers presented by Fr. Prof. Dorin Oancea (Orthodox, Sibiu, Romania) and by Prof. Phee-seng Kang (Reformed, Hong Kong, China).

Participants prayed together according to their respective traditions:

Attending the Divine Liturgy at the St. George Orthodox Church near Beirut on Oct. 16, was the Orthodox delegation.

Meanwhile, the Reformed delegation gave worship at the Beirut Church of the National Evangelical Union of Lebanon.

On the same date, the National Evangelical Church of Beirut hosted a reception in honour of the two delegations. Also attending were members of the Lebanese government and the Lebanon Parliament. The Orthodox Metropolitan of Beirut along with his clergy also attended, as well as the Reformed Churches in Lebanon headed by the president of the Supreme Council of the Evangelical Community of Syria and Lebanon.

Also gathered were the Greek Catholic (Melkite) and Armenian Orthodox bishops of Beirut, representatives of the Maronite, Anglican, and Baptist Churches, the general secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches, the president and dean of the Near East School of Theology, the Arab Baptist Seminary, and the Secretary of the Middle East Desk of the World Council of Churches.

At the conclusion of meeting the two commissions had agreed on and adopted a common statement on the Catholicity and Mission of the Church.

Making up the Orthodox delegation was: The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople (Metropolitan Panteleimon Rodopoulos of Tyroloë and Serention), (Protopresbyter Prof. George Dragas), the Patriarchate of Alexandria (Metropolitan Makarios of Kenya and Eirenoupolis), Patriarchate of Antioch (Exarchos Fr. George Dimas), Patriarchate of Moscow (Fr. Igor Vyzhanov), Patriarchate of Belgrade (Fr. Prof. Zoran Krstic), Patriarchate of Bucharest (Fr. Prof. Dorin Oancea), the Church of Cyprus (the Chorepiskopos Georgios of Arsinoe), the Church of Greece (Prof. Dr. Vlassios Fidas, Prof. Dr. Christos Voulgaris), the Church of Poland (Prof. Andrzej Kuźma) and the Church of Albania (Bishop Ilia Katre of Philomelion). Mr. Caliopie Papacioc served as secretary to the Orthodox Co-Chair.

Within the Reformed delegation was: Rev. Prof. Iain Torrance (Church of Scotland, President of Princeton Theological Seminary, USA), Rev. Dr. Habib Badr (National Evangelical Union of Lebanon, Beirut), Rev. Dr. Carnegie Samuel Calian (Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, USA), Rev. Dr. Edgar Moros Ruano (Seminario Evangélico Unido de Teología, Madrid, Spain), Dr. Vuadi Vibila (United Evangelical Mission, Germany), Prof. Dr. Michael Weinrich (Theological Faculty of the University of Bochum, Germany), Prof. Dr. Dawn DeVries (Presbyterian Church USA), Rev. Dr. Karel Blei (Reformed, Haarlem, the Netherlands), Prof. Phee-seng Kang (Reformed, Hong Kong, China), and Dr. Odair Pedroso Mateus (WARC staff, Geneva, Switzerland).

The next Orthodox-Reformed dialogue session I scheduled to take place in 2007 under the theme of the Creed of Nicea-Constantinople: “We look for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”