North American Orthodox-Catholic Theological Consultation

This semiannual Consultation met three times between May 2003 and June 2004 under the co-chairmanship of His Eminence Metropolitan Maximos, Greek Orthodox Bishop of Pittsburgh, and the Most Reverend Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati. Each meeting usually runs for an afternoon, a full day, and a morning and is usually divided into seven sessions: one business; two informational; and four theological. The business sessions draw up plans for the next meeting–time, place and theological subjects to be examined. The informational has various members of the Consultation report briefly on recent developments in each Church. The theological sessions normally involve presentation of pre-assigned papers for discussion. Because the theological sessions comprise the heart of each meeting, this report focuses on them.

May 27-29, 2003, held at St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, Crestwood, NY. All four theological sessions were devoted to consideration of the Consultation’s draft text on the filioque.
October 23-25, 2003, held at St. Paul’s College, Washington, DC. The draft text on the filioque again commanded the Consultation’s attention at all four theological sessions. The text was finalized and approved for publication.
June 1-3, 2004, held at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, Brookline, MA. The first theological session was devoted to reactions to the Consultation’s statement on the filioque. The Consultation then began its deliberations on Papal primacy, with a paper by Metropolitan Maximos on the Papal encyclical, Ut Unum Sint, and another by Fr. Brian Daley on The Ministry of Primacy and the Communion of Churches. At the second theological session Fr. Thomas Fitzgerald summarized the Consultation’s earlier statements on apostolicity and primacy/conciliarity. Prof. Paul Meyendorff followed with presentation concerning the document on the Petrine Ministry issued by the National Council of Churches’ Faith and Order Commission. Fr. John Long then spoke concerning the document on Petrine Ministry issued by the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of Christian Unity. At the third theological session, Fr. John Galvin summarized Metropolitan John Zizioulis’ article, Primacy in the Church: An Orthodox Approach. Fr. Nicholas Apostola followed with a summary of Zizioulis’ article, Recent Discussions on Primacy in Orthodox Theology. The third session closed with Prof. Thomas Bird’s summary of the Opening Address delivered by Walter Cardinal Kaspar at the Symposium on the Petrine Ministry, convened in Rome in May 2003. In lieu of a fourth theological session, a discussion took place concerning the next phase of the Consultation’s study of Papal primacy.

Robert M. Haddad, the author of this report, has been a member of St. Mary’s Orthodox Church (Brooklyn, NY) since its inception and a member of this Consultation for more than twenty-five years. He received his Ph.D. in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University and is Sophia Smith Professor of History and Professor of Religion Emeritus at Smith College. >From 1993 to 1997, he served as president of the American University of Beirut. Dr. Haddad has pursued research in the Middle East and Europe as a Fulbright Scholar, a Ford Foundation Fellow and a Fellow of the Social Science Research Council. He is author of Syrian Christians in Muslim Society: an Interpretation (Princeton University Press, 1970) and numerous articles dealing mainly with the intellectual and political interaction between Islam and Eastern Christianity and between Greek and Latin Christianity. His current work-in-progress deals with the affinities and divergences that characterized medieval Islam, Greek Christianity and Latin Christianity.