Christian Unity (the book) - The Maranatha Community

Kingdom. On the contrary, Christ rewards each man according to whether hisworks are done with faith or without faith in Himself.’ A further note, from theeditor of the paper, reminded us that when Jesus was asked, ‘What shall wedo, that we may work the works of God?’, he answered, ‘This is the work ofGod, that you believe him whom he sent.’ It concluded by showing that truefaith in Christ produces ‘works of faith’ in action and attitudes.But while Protestant, Catholic and Orthodox are so near on such afundamental matter of faith, there are growing differences in matters ofecclesiology.Since Vatican II an issue has arisen which seems to have put to an end anyrealistic hopes of union between the Anglican Church and both Rome and theOrthodox Churches. This is the ordination of women priests and bishops.In June 2006 Cardinal Walter Kaspar gave warning to the House of Bishopsthat the consecration of women bishops in the Church of England (a step thatseems inevitable) would end ecumenical dialogue with the Church of Rome. Inthis he was echoing the position of the Orthodox Church as expressed byArchbishop Hilarion of Vienna at the 9 th Assembly of the WCC at Porto Alegre.If anything, the Orthodox position on the question is more inflexible than theRoman. For Archbishop Hilarion, ‘A revelation from above is needed forOrthodox Churches to start ordaining women.’The idea of Anglicans and Orthodox sharing the Eucharist together, as oncehoped for, is, according to the Archbishop, now ‘completely impossible.’ 155 Hemaintains that the Anglicans’ moral stance (no doubt referring to thehomosexual-practice debate) has made dialogue even more difficult. All thisreinforces my view, that the path to Christian Unity is not along officialchannels, but must proceed by working out a ‘spiritual ecumenism‘, bymeeting fellow Christians on an unofficial level on the basis of a shared love forJesus as Lord and Saviour, an acknowledgement of the authority of theScriptures and the joint confession of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.155Church of England Newspaper, 16 June 2006 and 22 August 2008. Bishop Hilarionrepeated his warning that, for the Orthodox church, Anglican moves to instal women bishopswould mean the exclusion of ‘even the theoretical possibility of the Orthodox churchesacknowledging the apostolic succession’ of Anglican bishops.Page 167