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A Dialogue Between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia (1979–1980) with Its Wider Baptist Context Paul S

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A Dialogue Between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia (1979–1980) with Its Wider Baptist Context Paul S International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church, 2013 Vol. 13, No. 3, 222–254, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1474225X.2013.829320 A dialogue between the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia (1979–1980) with its wider Baptist context Paul S. Fiddes and Malkhaz Songulashvili In 1979 –80 conversations were held between representatives of the Orthodox Church of Georgia and the ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ of Georgia in a situation of oppression by the Communist state. The agreed document that emerged from this dialogue is printed here, and is preceded by an article which expounds it from a Baptist perspective, sets it in the wider context of Baptist theological and ecumenical theology, and relates it to the practices of the present-day Baptist Church of Georgia. The stated purpose of the dialogue was to achieve reconciliation and unity between Orthodox and Baptist Christians in Georgia, first by agreeing substantial matters of doctrine and then by adopting a common liturgy and common sacramental life. Among the range of subjects reviewed, including the Blessed Virgin Mary, the saints, nationalism, confession and icons, the discussion on baptism is perhaps the most adventurous, and remains promising though flawed. The document does not represent the views of the present-day Orthodox Church of Georgia, and its contents clearly reflect the political pressures under which it was composed. However, it is of historical interest, and some will see it as a sign of hope for co-operation in the mission of God. Keywords: Orthodox Church of Georgia; Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia; dialogue; Blessed Virgin Mary; Theotokos; saints; baptism; confession; Eucharist; Church and nation; icons; liturgy; mission Introduction: the dialogue document In 1983 the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Revd Philip Potter, visited the Soviet Republic of Georgia. He preached both in the central Evangelical Christians-Baptist1 Church in Tbilisi, and in the Orthodox Cathedral. Before his departure he declared: ‘My visit to Georgia has made a deep impression on me. The ecumenism practised in the life of religious organisations in Georgia is to be welcomed.’2 That period in the late 1970s and early 1980s should indeed be considered as the peak of ecumenical relations in Georgia. Michael A. Fahey, who has analysed the vast amount 1The title ‘Evangelical Christians-Baptists’ is clumsy in English, but translates literally the Russian name of the united church of what had been formerly two distinct groups of ‘Evangelical Christians’ and ‘Baptists’ among both Russian and Georgian Baptists, an amalgamation which existed from 1944 to 1991 as part of the Soviet-era ‘All-Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists’. This was a union forced by Stalin’s church policy. The newly independent ‘Evangelical Christian Baptist Church of Georgia’ emerged as a Georgian-speaking church in 1991, whose name was shortly afterwards replaced by the shorter ‘Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia’. The abbreviation used for the Church up to 1991 will be ECB, and from 1991 onwards, EBC. 2‘Chronicles’, 15. q 2013 Taylor & Francis International Journal for the Study of the Christian Church 223 of theological literature on Orthodox ecumenism during 1978–83, offers convincing evidence of Orthodox ecumenical activities in general during these five years. While he does not write much about the ecumenical movement in Georgia in particular, he admits that ‘much of what is taking place nationally and internationally, especially in bilateral dialogues, is buried under a bushel’.3 Among the buried material, what happened in those five years in Georgia in ecumenical relations between the Orthodox Church of Georgia (OCG) and the Evangelical Christians-Baptists (ECB), with its accompanying text, deserves to be known and analysed in academic and ecumenical circles. The agreed statement of conversations that took place in 1979–80 is appended to this article; it has never before been published in complete form, and not at all in English translation. The reader should be aware that the document was not intended as a technical theological treatise. It is a pastoral piece, virtually a pastoral letter to the churches of both communions, and attempts to communicate sensitive theological matters in a popular form, understandable at ‘pew-level’. The informed reader today might criticise it for lacking theological finesse in places, but this would be to overlook its purpose and its context. Its context was church life under the pressure of communist government – a pressure which must have influenced the outcome and which must never be forgotten in the reading of what follows here. Its stated purpose was to achieve reconciliation and unity between Orthodox and Baptist Christians in Georgia. It addresses this, first, in terms of agreeing substantial matters of doctrine and then – quite surprisingly – by the intention of adopting a common liturgy and common sacramental life. Within this pastoral horizon, the document does in fact display considerable subtlety in places. It has the tone of a homily or devotional writing, and although there is no evidence that it was read aloud in Orthodox or Baptist congregations, one could readily imagine its being so. In its own opening words: The goal of the dialogue is: to bring Christian believers into closer spiritual and fraternal relations, exchanging views about the faith and consequently implementing a common worship-service by believing Christians in Georgia ... Assuming that Christ is our true Preceptor, every obstacle, as difficult and heavy as it may seem, will be overcome by means of divine love, patriotism and unshakeable faith; then steps will be taken in the direction of common Christian faith and common Christian worship.4 It appears that, for the participants of the dialogue, the ‘worship-service’ (msakhureba) or liturgy5 was the crucial point for bringing ‘believing Christians’ from both traditions into closer spiritual relations. The common liturgy was to be both a symbol of Christian unity and a starting point for their further co-operation. They believed that, because of allegiance to Christ and the affirmation of Georgian-ness, Christian unity was mandatory: ‘disunity and every kind of separation do not bring us closer to the head of the Church, Christ, but rather drive us away from him. Consequently, to refuse Christian unity is to refuse Christ’. They urge ‘Georgian believers’ to celebrate ‘in our homeland’ the ‘establishment of a common Christian faith and its practical implementation’, and believe that the motivation to ‘build bridges of love’ has already matured among them. Despite this confidence, the document does however reveal a tension between the two parties, not 3Fahey, ‘Orthodox Ecumenism’, 692. 4See p. 24 below. 5Msakhureba, as in the English ‘service’, can mean both a worship-service and diaconal service. That the primary meaning here is ‘worship-service’ or liturgy (though leading to diakonia)is demonstrated by the actual concern of the dialogue to establish a common liturgy and sacramental practice, and is verified in the final section by the explanation of msakhureba in paranthesis as tsirva, which means ‘liturgy of sacrifice’ or eucharistic liturgy. 224 P.S. Fiddes & M. Songulashvili so much about doctrinal issues, but about locality and catholicity in the mission of the Church, different emphases being placed here by the Orthodox and the ECB respectively. In the concluding part of the document it becomes clear that the question of patriotism and cosmopolitanism was discussed at length. As well as a caution about the style and genre of the document, another caution that should be registered at the beginning of our discussion is that this is a historical document. It does not represent the views of the Orthodox Church of Georgia today, which no longer shares the ecumenical aspirations expressed in the dialogue; nor does the text entirely represent the present-day Evangelical Baptist Church (EBC)6 of Georgia, although it overlaps with many current concerns and opinions of the EBC. Nevertheless, it should be read in its historical context as a courageous attempt in its time to think through contentious issues that might divide two communities, and has implications for church and ecumenical life in the present age. Our aim, in writing this article, is to expound the text of the dialogue from a largely Baptist perspective, to compare it with Baptist and ecumenical theology on a global level, and to record recent developments of Baptist practice in Georgia that might be seen as a legacy of the document – or at least of the mood in which it was conceived. From the early 1990s the Evangelical Baptist Church of Georgia became involved in liturgical reforms which were characterised by the revival of Orthodox spiritual legacy among Georgian Baptists. This is where the dialogue document has found its continuation. It has been constantly referred to and is seen as a kind of prophetic document issuing from representatives of the ECB community, even being regarded as a legitimation of recent changes. It must remain for Orthodox theologians to make their own commentary on the text, and the present authors of this article look forward to this happening. Two original documents of the text have come to light through the researches of one of the present authors, Malkhaz Songulashvili. The first copy was found in the early 1990s in the papers of Lado Songulashvili (1929 – 2007), formerly Presbyter of the ECB Church in Tbilisi,7 and the second in 1997 in the papers of the former Superintendent of the Transcaucasian region of the All Union Council of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, Nodar Kvirikashvili (1925 – 93).8 The first version seems to be a working document, typed double-spaced on 17 A4 size pages, most likely by a secretary of the Georgian Orthodox Patriarchate. This version does not contain names of the participants, providing only numbers with spaces for typing or writing in the names, and there is a page missing from the section on baptism.
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