Study Days of the Catholic and Orthodox Clergy, 10–11 February 2025
On 10–11 February 2025, the Orthodox Church of Finland and the Catholic Church in Finland organized joint study days for their clergy in Helsinki. On Monday afternoon, 10 February, participants gathered at the Orthodox Uspenski Cathedral, while Tuesday morning, 11 February, was spent at the Catholic St. Henry’s Cathedral.
These study days provided priests from both churches with an opportunity to get to know one another better and to learn from each other. The lectures were also open to all interested attendees and offered an excellent overview of the current state of ecumenical relations between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. Additionally, the anniversary of the First Council of Nicaea was a prominent theme throughout the event.
The first lecture was delivered by Metropolitan Job of Pisidia, who, together with Cardinal Kurt Koch, leads the international theological dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. In his presentation, the Metropolitan provided an outstanding summary of the achievements of this dialogue over the past decades. “Much has already been accomplished in the effort to restore the visible unity between the Churches of the West and the East, but much still remains to be done,” Metropolitan Job emphasized.
No More Schism
From elementary school religious education, we learn the year 1054 as the date of the Great Schism when the Catholic Church of the West (Rome) and the Orthodox Church of the East (Constantinople) separated due to political and theological disputes. However, it is less commonly known that these excommunications were formally lifted on 7 December 1965 at the conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, following the will of Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras. Since then, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches have not been in full schism but rather in a state of Eucharistic separation (akoinōnēsía). While the Churches of the East and West share the same apostolic faith, their members cannot yet partake in each other’s Eucharist except by special dispensation from their bishops (for example, in Finland, Catholics may receive permission if they live far from a Catholic parish but near an Orthodox church, where they can participate in the Divine Liturgy).
To overcome the remaining theological differences between the Catholic and Orthodox Churches, Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Demetrios established the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue in 1979, with the goal of restoring full communion between these Churches.
Over the years, this commission has produced seven significant joint documents. The dialogue has been based on a return to the shared heritage of the first Christian millennium. Through this process, the Catholic Church has recognized that not all developments that took place in the West during the second millennium were necessarily entirely correct. Dialogue with the Orthodox has reminded Catholics, for example, that the Holy Mass is a single, unified whole, and should not focus solely on the words of consecration, but also on the epiclesis, the invocation of the Holy Spirit over the Eucharistic elements, which has a decisive significance. Likewise, in recent decades, the Western Church has rediscovered the intrinsic connection between the sacraments of Christian initiation—Baptism, Confirmation (Chrismation), and the Eucharist—as well as the broader significance of the Sacrament of the Anointing of the Sick.
The Role of the Pope
Naturally, the position of the Bishop of Rome among other bishops remains a major point of contention between the Churches of the East and the West. For all who honor apostolic tradition, it is clear that the Church of Rome holds the “first place in love” (prokathēménē tēs agápēs), as expressed by St. Ignatius of Antioch in the early 2nd century. The dispute concerns how Rome exercises this primacy. The Orthodox Churches of the East insist on the synodal tradition of the first millennium, in which decisions were made collectively by the Churches. The Catholic Church of the West, however, cannot ignore the developments of the second millennium, during which the unique role of the Bishop of Rome as the successor of Peter became increasingly clear. Certainly, the primacy of the Pope can be misunderstood and has sometimes been exercised in ways that reflected worldly power rather than Christian love. Nevertheless, Catholics view the papacy as a great gift to the Church of Christ, ensuring its unity and common witness to the Lord. The Church of Christ can never be subject to any worldly or national power but must always be free to proclaim the Truth that alone will set us free (cf. John 8:32).
The three most recent documents of the Joint International Theological Commission (Ravenna 2007 (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.), Chieti 2016 (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.), and Alexandria 2023 (Visit an external site. The link opens in a new tab.)) form, in Metropolitan Job’s words, a significant triptych addressing this crucial question of the Church’s synodal nature and primacy. These texts are essential reading for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of the dialogue between the Western and Eastern Churches. The topic is especially relevant now, as the Church of Rome itself is rediscovering synodality. Perhaps our Eastern brethren have preserved certain aspects of the Church’s mystery more faithfully than we in the West?
The Transmission of God’s Word
The Catholic Church’s self-understanding also includes the conviction that the tradition inherited from the apostles progresses (proficit) and grows (crescit) under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and through the prayer life of God’s people (cf. Dei Verbum 8). This theme of doctrinal development was addressed in Fr. Oskari Juurikkala’s lecture on Tuesday morning at St. Henry’s Cathedral. It is not self-evident that the clarity of divine revelation is best understood at any particular moment in history, just as the purest water of a river is not necessarily found at its source. The perfect self-revelation of the Triune God in Jesus of Nazareth is such a monumental event in history that it is no wonder if it takes centuries, or even millennia, to grasp even a fraction of its significance! As John Henry Newman recognized in the 19th century, the transmission of God’s Word through the centuries is not a straightforward process; at times, the Church can even drift from the truth of the Gospel.
Unity in Diversity
Professor Serafim Seppälä highlighted in his lecture that Nicene faith is not bound to Greek language or thought. By the 4th century, Christianity had already spread across many linguistic and cultural traditions. Fr. Seppälä explained how St. Ephrem the Syrian, in his poetic and Semitic style, expressed fully orthodox Christianity by developing Old Testament themes. The Nicene definition of Christ as both eternal God’s Son and temporal man is a paradox that infinitely surpasses human reason. In his poetic hymns and sermons, Ephrem beautifully summarized this central mystery of our faith in such exquisite formulations as: “His divinity is from God; His humanity from mortals.” Christian truth does not require one particular language or set of concepts but can be expressed in many ways. Likewise, the unity sought in ecumenical work is not uniformity, but unity in diversity.
In his closing address, Archbishop Elia emphasized that in Finland, the Catholic and Orthodox Churches do not carry the same historical baggage of mutual disputes as they do in some other countries. In Finland, both Churches are small minorities that coexist in a predominantly Lutheran culture, providing a unique opportunity to move forward together on a common path.
A Common Witness
Longtime member of the Joint International Commission, Fr. Thomas Pott, encouraged us in his lecture to respect each other’s differences. The Western and Eastern traditions are distinct ways of living out Christianity. Theology can define many things, but if ecumenism does not reflect the lived experience of the faithful, it cannot bear lasting fruit. True ecumenism requires a heartfelt passion for the unity that Christ Himself entrusted to His disciples (cf. John 17:21). May the Holy Spirit inspire us to find ever new ways to share and live out our common faith together!
Fr. Pott highlighted the joint Catholic-Orthodox pilgrimage in Helsinki in September as an excellent example of fruitful ecumenism. On Sunday, 8 September 2024, in honor of the liturgical feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, pilgrims walked together from Uspenski Cathedral to St. Henry’s Cathedral. This is becoming an annual tradition between these sister churches, and next year, on Sunday, 7 September 2025, the pilgrimage will be made in the opposite direction, from St. Henry’s to Uspenski. This is a beautiful testimony to our shared faith in the diversity of our traditions.
Walking this common path together, we can move forward courageously and with hope!
Alpo Penttinen
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