Lutheran-Orthodox Commission Explores Understanding of Ministry/Priesthood

Archbishop Gregorios Underlines Long – Standing Theological Conversations

A preparatory meeting for the 16th session of the Lutheran-Orthodox Joint Commission identified areas of agreement and a considerable number of open questions and differences between the two traditions on their understanding of ministry/priesthood in the Church.

Meeting in London 5-10 May, representatives from The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and the Ecumenical Patriarchate began a new phase in the commission’s work by exploring the topic “The Understanding of Ministry/Priesthood in the light of the Holy Scriptures and the early Church,” which had been agreed at their 2011 meeting.

Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain offered a warm welcome to the participants in London, bestowing upon them the blessing of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

In his address the archbishop noted that the dialogue between the two traditions dated back to the theological conversations between the Lutheran theologians of Tübingen and the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the 16th century.

Archbishop Gregorios emphasized that the dialogue between Lutherans and Orthodox is the oldest discourse between Protestant churches and the Orthodox and expressed his wishes for its continuation.

The next preparatory meeting, 24-29 May 2013, will examine Lutheran understanding of ministry/priesthood during the period of the Reformation and apostolic succession, and ordination from a historical, patristic and canonical point of view. The event will be hosted by the LWF.

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