Esau's Birthright and Jacob's Pottage: A Brief Look at Orthodox-Methodist Ecumenism in Twentieth-Century Russia

Abstract

The Orthodox Church has been a critical part of Russian for more than a thousand years. Its role and status as a state church has dominated the Russian political, economic, and social life at times throughout the country's history. Despite several challenges, such as a Soviet attempt to eradicate religion, the Orthodox Church has remained a vital institution. Now, in a more liberalized post-Soviet milieu, the church's influence is growing again, continuing to exercise significant influence over Russia's economic, political, and ideological changes.The 1990s brought new challenges to the Orthodox Church in Russia. One of these was the resurgence of non-Orthodox Christian confessions, including the Church-a denomination completely eradicated in Russia during the Soviet era. light of recent religious laws and democratizing trends, the Orthodox Church in Russia has been forced to more directly engage the Methodists and other new and resurgent confessions. Analyses of Orthodoxy's ecumenical relationships with these confessions can be important to understanding Russian social change and development.This article provides an account of the ecumenical relationship between the Orthodox Church (OC) and the Church (MC) in Russia during two periods of the twentieth century-the 1920s and the 1990s-with a focus on the latter, post-Soviet era. Comparatively, Methodism stands unique among Protestant confessions in its history of formal engagement with and support for Russian Orthodoxy. Two patterns emerge from this review. First, ecumenical dialogue with the Methodists appears strongest when the OC is weakest in organizational strength and influence. Second, ecumenical dialogue and tension with the MC is not primarily theological, but instead reflects social and political trends, especially those related to an emerging Russian democracy.The Ethos of EcumenismEcumenism is the engagement between Christian confessions with the goal of church unity. Ecumenism-and its understanding of unity-can be placed on a continuum ranging from informal dialogue to organic or institutional fusion. The Church has supported ecumenical efforts from its earliest beginnings.The Church was a reluctant church, emerging from its Anglican society structure only when forced to do so. This occurred when practicing Anglicans were left behind in America as the British vacated the colonies, taking their priests with them. John Wesley, the founder of the renewal movement, did not want to see any of these renewed Anglicans left without the benefits only the clergy could provide, such as holy communion and baptism (Norwood 1974). Taking matters into his own hands, Wesley formed a new ecclesiastical institution and sent his own pastors out into the American frontier. This new Methodist Church was almost wholly American in its foundation and its polity. Its structure, for example, was comprised of three branches of government. The MC also saw the Protestant principles of individual responsibility reflected in a burgeoning national democracy.John Wesley was steeped in both Eastern Orthodox and Western Catholic piety, and passed on this ecumenical heritage and appreciation to the earliest members (Tuttle, 1968). Methodism, today only a little more than two hundred years old, has already merged more than once with other denominations, has become a worldwide institution, and is actively involved in both ecumenical efforts and interfaith dialogues. The MC is an active member of the premier ecumenical organization, the World Council of Churches (WCC),1 and singlehandedly financially rescued one of the WCC's regional counterparts, the National Council of Churches. Ecumenism combines Methodism's theologies of ecclesiology (the nature of the church) and evangelism (the nature of transformation of individuals and systems). John Wesley's ecumenical watchword (quoting St. Augustine) is well known to Methodists: In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberality; in all things, charity. …