The need for dialogue

Before the 20th century, relationships between separated churches could get very bitter.

The language of anathema continued in Christian disputes. It was particularly strong in the debates after the Council of Chalcedon. Such rhetoric continues to the present day, and I have recently read condemnations of Orthodoxy by conservative Protestants that are unseemly.

There are also groups of traditional Orthodox and traditional Catholics who consider the other side to be heretical and are not sparing in their mutual anathemas. The language of mutual condemnation of the “other” has been definitely in the mainstream of theological history.

With a love for Scripture and for the tradition of the church’s faith as expressed by its teaching authority, is there any way to “rationalize” this policy of anathema? It really should not be defended. There is another tradition also.

In the Gospels, Jesus calls us definitely to love for the other, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your heavenly Father, for he makes his sun rise on the bad and the good, and causes rain to fall on the just and the unjust” (Mt 5:43-45).

It is Jesus who calls us to unity, as a part of our deification: “I pray not only for them, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, so that they may all be one, as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, that the world may believe that you sent me” (Jn 17:20-21). 

St. Paul also preaches “one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph 4:4-6).

One might point out that this unity is in one true belief, and the “others” are excluded. But it also points out that we are not to condemn the others, but to bring them into unity, hopefully through dialogue and not through violence.

We cannot simply “rationalize” Scripture, but we can observe that the purpose of Scripture and tradition is to strengthen our faith, to make us more committed to the truth, to have a zeal for the Gospel.

At the same time, we might also say that “tradition” is good, but “traditionalism” is deadly; that “zeal” is good — and Scripture and tradition are about zeal — but “zealotry” is about hate.

At the same time, what we know may be the truth and, indeed, even the absolute truth, but as human beings with limitations, it may not be “all that we can know.” It is hubris to think that we cannot learn from the other. This does not compromise our faith, but helps to deepen it.

If we pray honestly to God, we must pray for unity, as we do in every Divine Liturgy: “For peace in the whole world, for the stability of the holy churches of God, and for the union of all, let us pray to the Lord” (Litany of Peace).
 
As published in Horizons, Nov. 11, 2018.
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