Lima Document: Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry

Abstract

One of the most important ecumenical documents — the Lima document (1982), has adopted as a result of a long-term effort of the Faith and Order Commission, and since then it holds the unquestionable primacy among numerous joint documents, both within the seventy- year history of the World Council of Churches, and within the bilateral dialogues of various Christian denominations. But while the Lima document within the “Western Christianity” — especially in the churches of the English and German- speaking areas — is the subject of permanent pastoral and academic discussions, somehow within the Orthodox East — thus, within the context of the Serbian Orthodox Church, too — its proper theological reception is missing. This may be surprising if we take into consideration that, according to the opinion of many contemporary theologians, the Orthodox made an irreplaceable contribution to the creation of the Lima document — the greatest liturgical document of the ecumenical importance so far. The intention of this document was to provide a concrete framework of a (possible) joint (ecumenical) Liturgy, using the Orthodox liturgical rite as a basis. The purpose of this paper is to reactivate the discussion on the Lima topic within the Serbian Orthodox circles, aiming to foster a proper academic reception of this document in Orthodox theology, as well as to contribute to the further development of its content and possible realization of its goals within the ecumenical movement in the future.