The Exercise of Communion in the Life of the Early Church and its Implications for Our Search for Communion Today

Abstract

POC is publishing a French translation of the second common document published by the International Joint Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches and adopted at the meeting in Rome, in January 2015. In the study on the exercise of communion in the early church, the Commission comes to the conclusion that communion was multidimensional and may not be reduced only to a hierarchical communion. It was expressed in various ways: by mutual responsibility, in the exchange of letters and visits, in liturgy and prayer, through common witness and martyrdom, in monasticism and veneration of saints. The conclusion notes that many of the relationships that existed among the churches in the early centuries have continued to the present day in spite of the divisions, or have been recently revived. Consequently, the Commission will examine in a positive way the remaining divergences in doctrine and practice. It will determine to what extent they can be accepted as legitimate and not as compromising the essence of the faith. This will be a central question to be addressed in the next phase of the dialogue when the sacraments of initiation will be studied.