Receptive Ecclesial Learning through Ecumenical Engagement

Abstract

The ecumenical engagements of the Orthodox churches have been a great contributor to modern Orthodox thinking. Even so, the wealth of experience acquired through formal and informal interchurch relations has not been discerned and reflected by the Orthodox churches as profoundly as one might assume. A great deal of this partial or selective reception emerges from unresolved inter-Orthodox issues, such as an insufficient background in the hermeneutics of dialogue. A further significant challenge is the political stance of local Orthodox churches within national states. The chapter attempts to show how a lack of political consent internally affects reception of ecumenical experience by the highest ecclesial authority, as well as seeing how that same experience of ecumenical encounter can help the modernization of Orthodox ecclesial discourse.