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Conference in Helsinki, 15-16 Novembre 2003

by Christine Chaillot, Founder and Secretary

For a practical Dialogue between the Oriental Orthodox and the Eastern Orthodox. Genesis and Activities of the Association ‘Inter-Orthodox Dialogue’ in Paris (‘Dialogue entre Orthodoxes’)
by Christine Chaillot

In Paris, in November 2000, it was decided that an Association would be founded and called ‘Inter-Orthodox Dialogue’ (‘Dialogue entre Orthodoxes’), that is between the two families of Churches called Eastern Orthodox (Greeks, Russians, Romanians, etc.) and Oriental Orthodox Christians (Coptic, Ethiopian, Eritrean, Armenian, Syrian Orthodox and Indian Malankara). The main goal of the Association is to provide opportunities for practical and spiritual exchanges and dialogue between the clergy and faithful of the two families of Orthodox Churches.

Father Boris Bobrinskoy, the dean of the Orthodox Theological Institute of Saint Sergius in Paris, was appointed as President and myself, the founder, to the position of Secretary and Treasurer. The Vice-President and Vice-Treasurer is Michel Stavrou, a professor in Saint Serge Institute (1).

Some of the internal rules are as follows :
a) Publication of books, brochures, etc.
b) Organization of conferences, concerts, meetings, pilgrimages, etc.
c) Creation of a website. This had become possible when the Association has been recognized since 2002 by the ‘Fraternité Orthodoxe en Europe Occidentale’ (‘Orthodox Fraternity in Western Europe’), based in Paris, which has given space on its website (2).
Reports and texts of the activites and lectures are given in French and some in English.

Now I should maybe explain how and why I decided to form such an Association.
Since 1981, I often had the chance of travelling to the Middle East to see the historical churches and places, the monasteries, as well as to meet prelates, clergy, monks and nuns and faithful of the Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox Churches. I also met these communities in the so-called ‘diaspora’, mainly in Western Europe.
At the same time, being a faithful of the French speaking parish in Chambésy in Geneva, under the Patriarchate of Constantinople, I was privileged to be an outside observer when several conferences of the Official Theological Dialogue between the two families of Churches took place in Chambésy (in 1985, 1990 and 1993). Metropolitan Damaskinos was then responsible for Switzerland and he was one of the Co-President of the Theological Dialogue.
I was very enthusiastic about this inter Christian dialogue which seemed to be able to bear fruit quickly as the statements of the meetings of the Unofficial Dialogue, from 1964 to 1971, were agreeing on saying that the only theological  difference, on christology, was
solved. Thay was done after agreeing that there was a misunderstanding on the Greek word ‘physis’ that could be understood/translated as ‘nature’ or ‘person’. And also that both families believed that Christ is real God and real Man, without confusion, without change, without separation and without division.

Among the texts of the Dialogue, I had a special interest for the texts about Recommendations on Pastoral Issues which were very meaningful to me as I was not a theologian but a simple parishioner who wished to be active, ‘somehow’, for the practical dialogue.

Because I had already prepared two files on Coptic icons for the review Le Monde Copte in 1990 and 1991 (3), when I read the official texts, my first reaction was about the paragraph speaking of the veneration of icons: « In relation to the teaching of the Seventh Ecumenical Council of the Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox agree that the theology and practice of the veneration of icons taught by that Council are in basic agreement with the teaching and practice of the Oriental Orthodox from ancient times, long before the convening of the Council of Chalcedon, and that we have no disagreement in this regard» (Second Agreed Statement, Chambésy, 23-28 September 1990, in Towards Unity p. 63).

Then I decided to write on the veneration of icons in the tradition of all the Oriental Orthodox Churches, trying to establish a short demonstration to show, as stated by the text of the Dialogue, that there was a continuity of veneration since early Christianity, as stated by the text of the Dialogue. I looked for and found texts from the different Oriental Orthodox Churches’ traditions (for example from the lives of their saints), as well as for prayers of consecration of icons which were other proves of the existence of icons in these Churches (4).

At the level of the theological dialogue, my main argument was that if the Oriental Orthodox Christians have icons of Christ, that meant that they do believe in His Humanity which was represented on the icon ; and that the Humanity of Christ was not absorbed by His Divinity (which shows that they have not a monophysite attitude).

As for the other texts of recommendations on Pastoral Issues, for example about publications, they would say: a) «We need to publish, in the various languages of Our Churches, the key documents of this Joint Commission… in small pamphlets to be sold at a reasonable price in all our congregations ; b) We need a book which gives some brief account, both historical and descriptive, of all the Churches of our two families. This should also be produced in the various languages of our people, with pictures and photographs as much as possible (Second Agreed Statement, Chambésy, 23-28 September 1990, in Towards Unity p. 65).
These sentences have become a real work programme for me and I tried to execute it with my weak means in the following way.

In 1998 I published a compilation of all the texts of the Unofficial and Official Dialogues, along with other texts in a book called Towards Unity (5).

In 1996, after a trip in the south of India, I published an account of my impressions and included some interviews so that people of that Church could express themselves. It came out as a book called The Malankara Orthodox Church (Geneva, 1996), that is the autocephalous Syrian Orthodox Church in India (6).
It was the first book of a serie. The next book was on The Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch and All the East (Geneva, 1998), of the same liturgical and spiritual tradition as that in India. I tried to give an introduction to its life and spirituality by having chapters on history and life of the Church in Syria, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and around the world. The second part of the book presents the Syriac language, literature and studies, liturgical life, monastic tradition, spirituality, as well as contemporary spiritual figures, and also ‘Our Father’ in Syriac and in phonetics.

In 2002 I finished another similar book on The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Tradition (Paris, 2002), including the newly established Patriarchate in Eritrea. I am now beginning the book on the Coptic Church and I hope to finish the serie with the Armenian Church.

In my books, I always try to be simple and paedagogical, for example by putting maps with all the names of the places referred to in the text, with a bibliography for further reading and with many little pictures. Once an Eastern Orthodox lady told me that my books look like family albums : I was happy of this remark because I was really writing these books in such a spirit so that people of the two families of Churches (Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox) would perceive and acknowledge how much they have in common in their liturgical, spiritual and monastic life.

At that point I felt that, in order to promote the dialogue, writing was not enough : effective practical dialogue and encounters had to be organized as much as possible, wherever and whenever I could do it (7).

In some of the texts of recommendations on Pastoral Issues, we read that : 1) « a period of intense preparation of our people to participate in the implementation of our recommendations and in the restoration of communion of our Churches is needed » ; 2) « It is important to plan an exchange of visits by our heads of Churches and prelates, priests and lay people of each one of our two families of Churches to the other… » ; 3) »In localities where Churches of the two families co-exist, the congregations should organize participation of one group of people – men, women, youth and children, including priests-, where possible from one congregation of one family to a congregation of the other, to attend in the latter’s Eucharistic worship on Sundays and feast days » (Chambésy, September 1990, in Towards Unity p. 65).

With these words in mind, I decided to form the Association ‘Dialogue entre Orthodoxes’ in Paris. After the creation of the association I began to organize concerts of liturgical music and lectures in several European countries.

Here are some examples of the activities of the Association.

In 2001, the Association organized in Paris three successful concerts with liturgical music from the following traditions : Syrian Orthodox, Coptic, Ethiopian, Armenian, Greek/Arabic, Bulgarian, Rumanian, Georgian, Slavonic or Old Russian, in the Russian Orthodox church in 91 rue Lecourbe (under the Patriarchate of Constantinople), in the Greek Orthodox Cathedral and in UNESCO.

Also in 2001, lectures were organized in Paris in the Hall of the Musée de l’Homme during a small exhibition entitled « Ethiopia. Aspects of the historical and cultural patrimony »; in the Syrian Orthodox Church in Montfermeil, north Paris, Dr. J.C. Chabrier, a lecturer in Sorbonne university, gave a conference with slides on ‘the Monasteries and villages of Tur Abdin (South East Turkey); Mrs Gohar Haroutiounian, an Armenian and graduate student in Saint Serge Institute gave explanations about the exhibition ‘Ani, capital of Armenia in the year 1000’, in the Pavillon des Arts, les Halles; in the Syrian Orthodox Centre, the Syrian Orthodox liturgy had the participation of Copts, Ethiopians, Armenians, and of some Eastern Orthodox, and this was followed by a lunch and hymns sung by the people of the Church traditions who were present.

All events were free of charge, except for one exhibition entrance.

In 2001, 2002 and 2003 I also gave lectures in Brussels, Dublin, London, Bialystok (Poland), Geneva (Switzerland), Moscow (Russia) and Hamburg (Germany), often with liturgical concerts. Most of the time there was also time for questions and comments which is the core of the encounter as everybody can express oneself and speak of his/her tradition directly to other people.

From 27 to 29 July 2001, a special meeting was held in Germany between Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox in Warburg in the Syrian Orthodox Monastery and in the Coptic Centre nearby: the aim was to know each other better, as well as to discuss questions of common interest and possibilities of common action. There were more than 30 participants, priests, monks, deacons, laypeople and youth coming from eleven European countries, and with the presence and blessing of three bishops: Bishop Seraphim of the Romanian Church in Germany and Northern and Central Europe, Archbishop Cicek of the Syrian Orthodox Church in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Switzerland, and Bishop Damian of the Coptic Church who was inviting us (cf Service Orthodoxe de Presse, Paris no 261).
We discussed several issues, attended several offices of the different traditions with liturgical explanations, and expressed our wish and hope for common work and projects (e.g. pilgrimages, retreats, study seminars and lectures, exhibitions of icons or others, any cultural event, youth camps, charitable and diaconical work, common website and radio projects, etc.).
Discussions took place in small groups according to proposals, e.g. : What can we do together in our respectives countries ? A final evaluation was written with conclusions for future general and local projects.

In November 2002 a pilgrimage was organized in Egypt to visit the Coptic monasteries, the Patriarchate and some parishes. A similar pilgrimage is planned for February 2004.

At the beginning of the Association there was also a dream of a creation of a global European Orthodox radio broadcast with programme in English, French and other languages to be used by the two families of Churches, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox. But at the moment it seems impossible, mostly because the expenses would be very high.

In conclusion I would say that the Association tries to have members in several European countries and outside Europe. We also hope in the future to have similar manifestations to the ones mentioned above in several countries, and maybe in other continents.
There are many other ways, I am sure, to organize all kinds of such encounters, and I would be very thankful if anyone could give me suggestions. I do hope that all Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox, in their ancestral places as well as in the present diaspora, will put all the possibilities of encounters into practice.
I want to congratualte the Parish of Saint Isaac of Nineveh, the International Orthodox Community in Helsinki, for its unique manner of cohabitation and common prayer between Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Orthodox.

Notes

1)To contact the Association, please send an email to acchaillot@hotmail.com
2) address : www.fraternite-orthodoxe.org; then click ‘movements’, then ‘Dialogue entre Orthodoxes’/ N.B. This was true as long as that site was working); see also Bulletin de la Fraternité (November 2001)
3)Le Monde Copte 18 and 19 (1990, 1991; 11 bis rue Champollion, 87000 Limoges, France).
4)Chaillot, C., Rôle des Images et Vénération des Icônes dans les Eglises Orthodoxes Orientales, Geneva, (1993) ; the texts of the prayers of the consecration or blessing of icons are included.
5) Towards Unity: The Theological Dialogue Between the Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches (compilation of texts of the theological dialogue since 1964 with supplementary articles), Geneva, (1998), chief ed. Chaillot, C.; (Russian translation in Moscow in 2001)
6) In India, there are two Churches of the Syrian Orthodox rite and tradition : one is autocephalous and the other is under the Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch, with seat now in Damascus in Syria.
7) In 1985 I had already organized an encounter between the mother superior and a nun of the Coptic Convent of Saint Demiana in Egypt with Greek nuns. The Coptic nuns visited twelve convents in Greece, in order to see the monastic life there, an in order to have contacts with Greek nuns who, they realized, had a very similar daily life and spirituality cf Chaillot, C., ’Démarches eclésiologiques pratiques dans le Dialogue entre Eglises orthodoxes chalcédoniennes et pré-chalcédoniennes : rencontres, informations et voyage de deux moniales coptes en Grèce’, Le Monde Copte 17, 1990, 58-61.