Prawosławna idea „ekumenizm w czasie”

Abstract

It is the basic conviction of this article that the idea of “ecumenism in time”, first formulated by G. Florovsky at the Second General Assembly of the WCC in Evanston (1954), may well be considered as the best expression of the Orthodox ecumenical consciousness. The author tries first of all to explain its full meaning, in the light of Orthodox understanding of tradition and Church unity. The concept of “ecumenism in time” focuses a special attention on the tradition of the undivided Church. The roots of division are to be found in the history of the Church itself, and more precisely in the mutual estrangement between the East and the West. The Orthodox understanding of the unity of the Church is in fact closely linked with the concept of the living Tradition which at the beginning was common source of in spiration for all Christians, and which has been preserved uninterrupted in the Orthodox Church. All Christian denominations have to aim in their respective traditions at making their own the fullness of the apostolic faith. If one day the unity is restored, it will be of the same nature, the Orthodox believe, as the unity which the Orthodox Church enjoys in its deepest dimensions. The life and tradition of the first millennium must therefore remain aconstant point of reference for Christian theology. The article deals next with some practical implications of the idea of “ecumenism in time” in relation to the method of ecumenical dialogue (direct doctrinal confrontation between the Christian East and West) and the necessity of a new structure of the WCC. In his final conclusions the author urges once more the importance of further studies on the problem of tradition, its significance for Christian unity, and finally on the methodology of our common search for unity.