page_title: Ecumenism
section_title: Orthodoxy
hierarchical_section_title: Ecumenism / Three approaches to Christian unity / Orthodoxy
caption_attribution_description: English: The consecration of Reginald Heber Weller as an Anglican bishop at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle in the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac. Seated (left to right): The Rt. Rev. Isaac Lea Nicholson, Episcopal Bishop of Milwaukee; Rt. Rev. Charles Chapman Grafton, Episcopal Bishop of Fond du Lac; Rt. Rev. Charles P. Anderson, Episcopal Bishop Coadjutor of Chicago. Standing (left to right): Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozłowski of the Polish National Catholic Church; Rt. Rev. G. M. Williams, Episcopal Bishop of Marquette; Rt. Rev. Reginald Weller, Rt. Rev. Joseph M. Francis, Episcopal Bishop of Indianapolis, Rt. Rev. William E. McLaren, Episcopal Bishop of Chicago; Rt. Rev. Arthur L. Williams, Episcopal Bishop Coadjutor of Nebraska; St. John Kochurov, Russian Orthodox protomartyr of the Bolshevik Revolution; St. Sebastian (Dabovich) St. Bishop Tikhon (Bellavin) of Alaska and the Aleutian Islands.
context_page_description: Ecumenism is the concept and principle by Christians of different church traditions and denominations to develop closer relationships and better unity between other traditions and denominations of Christianity. The adjective ecumenical is also applied to any interdenominational initiative that encourages greater cooperation between Christians and their churches, and is also applied in the same way to other religions, or to refer to the unity between religions and people in general, in a non-sectarian, non-denominational sense.
  The terms ecumenism and ecumenical come from the Greek οἰκουμένη, which means "the whole inhabited world", and was historically used with specific reference to the Roman Empire. The ecumenical vision comprises both the search for the visible unity of the Church and the "whole inhabited earth" as the concern of all Christians.
  In Christianity, the qualification ecumenical was originally and still is used in terms such as "Ecumenical council" and "Ecumenical Patriarch", in the meaning of pertaining to the totality of the larger Church rather than being restricted to one of its constituent local churches or dioceses.
context_section_description: The Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox churches are two distinct bodies of local churches. The churches within each body share full communion, although there is not official communion between the two bodies. Both consider themselves to be the original church, from which the West was divided in the 5th and 11th centuries, respectively (after the 3rd and 7th Ecumenical councils).
  Many theologians of the Eastern and Oriental Orthodoxies engage in theological dialogue with each other and with some of the Western churches, though short of full communion. The Eastern Orthodox have participated in the ecumenical movement, with students active in the World Student Christian Federation since the late 19th century. Most Eastern Orthodox and all Oriental Orthodox churches are members of the World Council of Churches. Kallistos of Diokleia, a bishop of the Eastern Orthodox Church has stated that ecumenism "is important for Orthodoxy: it has helped to force the various Orthodox Churches out of their comparative isolation, making them meet one another and enter into a living contact with non-Orthodox Christians."
  Historically, the relationship between the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Anglican Communion has been congenial, with the Patriarch of Constantinople in 1922 recognising Anglican orders as valid. He wrote: "That the orthodox theologians who have scientifically examined the question have almost unanimously come to the same conclusions and have declared themselves as accepting the validity of Anglican Orders." Moreover, some Eastern Orthodox bishops have assisted in the ordination of Anglican bishops; for example, in 1870, the Most Reverend Alexander Lycurgus, the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Syra and Tinos, was one of the bishops who consecrated Henry MacKenzie as the Suffragan Bishop of Nottingham. From 1910–1911, the era before World War I, Raphael of Brooklyn, an Eastern Orthodox bishop, "sanctioned an interchange of ministrations with the Episcopalians in places where members of one or the other communion are without clergy of their own". Bishop Raphael stated that in places "where there is no resident Orthodox Priest", an Anglican (Episcopalian) priest could administer Marriage, Holy Baptism, and the Blessed Sacrament to an Orthodox layperson. In 1912, however, Bishop Raphael ended the intercommunion after becoming uncomfortable with the fact that the Anglican Communion contained different churchmanships within Her, e.g. High Church, Evangelical, etc. However, after World War I, the Fellowship of Saint Alban and Saint Sergius was organized in 1927, which much like the Anglican and Eastern Churches Association worked on ecumenism between the two Churches; both of these organisations continue their task today.
  In accordance with the Soviet anti-religious legislation under the state atheism of the Soviet Union, several Russian Orthodox churches and seminaries were closed. With ecumenical aid from Methodists in the United States two Russian Orthodox seminaries were reopened, and hierarchs of the Orthodox Church thankfully made the following statement: "The services rendered by the American Methodists and other Christian friends will go down in history of the Orthodox Church as one of its brightest pages in that dark and trying time of the church. Our Church will never forget the Samaritan service which your whole Church unselfishly rendered us. May this be the beginning of closer friendship for our churches and nations."
caption: The consecration of The Rt. Rev Weller as an Anglican bishop at the Cathedral of St. Paul the Apostle in the Protestant Episcopal Diocese of Fond du Lac, with the Rt. Rev. Anthony Kozlowski of the Polish National Catholic Church and the Patriarch Tikhon of Moscow (along with his chaplains Fr. John Kochurov, and Fr. Sebastian Dabovich) of the Russian Orthodox Church present
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