Concordia Seminary - Saint Louis Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary Edinburgh Centenary Series Resources for Ministry 1-1-2013 Orthodox Perspectives on Mission Petros Vassiliadis University of Edinburgh, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: http://scholar.csl.edu/edinburghcentenary Part of the Missions and World Christianity Commons Recommended Citation Vassiliadis, Petros, "Orthodox Perspectives on Mission" (2013). Edinburgh Centenary Series. Book 19. http://scholar.csl.edu/edinburghcentenary/19 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Resources for Ministry at Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. It has been accepted for inclusion in Edinburgh Centenary Series by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Resources from Concordia Seminary. For more information, please contact [email protected]. REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES Volume 17 Orthodox Perspectives on Mission REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES The Centenary of the World Missionary Conference of 1910, held in Edinburgh, was a suggestive moment for many people seeking direction for Christian mission in the twenty-first century. Several different constituencies within world Christianity held significant events around 2010. From 2005, an international group worked collaboratively to develop an intercontinental and multi-denominational project, known as Edinburgh 2010, and based at New College, University of Edinburgh. This initiative brought together representatives of twenty different global Christian bodies, representing all major Christian denominations and confessions, and many different strands of mission and church life, to mark the Centenary. Essential to the work of the Edinburgh 1910 Conference, and of abiding value, were the findings of the eight think-tanks or ‘commissions’. These inspired the idea of a new round of collaborative reflection on Christian mission – but now focused on nine themes identified as being key to mission in the twenty-first century. The study process was polycentric, open-ended, and as inclusive as possible of the different genders, regions of the world, and theological and confessional perspectives in today’s church. It was overseen by the Study Process Monitoring Group: Miss Maria Aranzazu Aguado (Spain, The Vatican), Dr Daryl Balia (South Africa, Edinburgh 2010), Mrs Rosemary Dowsett (UK, World Evangelical Alliance), Dr Knud Jørgensen (Norway, Areopagos), Rev. John Kafwanka (Zambia, Anglican Communion), Rev. Dr Jooseop Keum (Korea, World Council of Churches), Dr Wonsuk Ma (Korea, Oxford Centre for Mission Studies), Rev. Dr Kenneth R Ross (UK, Church of Scotland), Dr Petros Vassiliadis (Greece, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki), and co-ordinated by Dr Kirsteen Kim (UK, Edinburgh 2010). These publications reflect the ethos of Edinburgh 2010 and will make a significant contribution to ongoing studies in mission. It should be clear that material published in this series will inevitably reflect a diverse range of views and positions. These will not necessarily represent those of the series’ editors or of the Edinburgh 2010 General Council, but in publishing them the leadership of Edinburgh 2010 hopes to encourage conversation between Christians and collaboration in mission. All the series’ volumes are commended for study and reflection in both church and academy. Series’ Editors Knud Jørgensen Areopagos, Norway, MF Norwegian School of Theology and the Lutheran School of Theology, Hong Kong. Former Chair of Edinburgh 2010 Study Process Monitoring Group Kirsteen Kim Leeds Trinity University College and former Edinburgh 2010 Research Co-ordinator, UK Wonsuk Ma Oxford Centre for Mission Studies, Oxford, UK Tony Gray Words by Design, Bicester, UK REGNUM EDINBURGH CENTENARY SERIES Volume 17 Orthodox Perspectives on Mission Edited by Petros Vassiliadis Copyright © Petros Vassiliadis, 2013 First published 2013 by Regnum Books International Regnum is an imprint of the Oxford Centre for Mission Studies St. Philip and St. James Church Woodstock Road Oxford OX2 6HR, UK www.ocms.ac.uk/regnum 09 08 07 06 05 04 03 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 The right of Petros Vassiliadis to be identified as the Editors of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electric, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher or a licence permitting restricted copying. In the UK such licences are issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1P 9HE. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN: 978-1-908355-25-6 Typeset by Words by Design Printed and bound in Great Britain for Regnum Books International by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, Cornwall CONTENTS Foreword Konrad Raiser vii INTRODUCTION Introductory Remarks Petros Vassiliadis 1 PART ONE: THE ORTHODOX HERITAGE Orthodox Mission: Past, Present, Future Archbishop Anastasios (Yannoulatos) 15 The Church: Her Nature and Task Georges Florovsky 34 The Liturgy after the Liturgy Ion Bria 46 The Eucharist as Missionary Event in a Suffering World Emmanuel Clapsis 60 The Missionary Implications of St. Paul’s Eucharistic Inclusiveness Petros Vassiliadis 67 The Witness and the Service of Eastern Orthodoxy to the One Undivided Church Nikos Nissiotis 74 The Self-Understanding of the Orthodox and Their Participation in the Ecumenical Movement John Zizioulas 83 Unity of the Church – Unity of Mankind John Meyendorff 93 Mission for Unity or Unity for Mission? An Ecclesiological / Ecumenical Perspective KM George 107 Christianity in a Pluralist World: The Economy of the Holy Spirit Georges Khodr 114 The Wonder of Creation and Ecology Patriarch Bartholomew 123 vi Orthodox Perspectives on Mission An Ecumenical Ethic for a Responsible Society in a Sustainable Creation Catholicos Aram 143 Tradition as Impulse for Renewal and Witness: Introducing Orthodox Missiology in the IRM Athanasios N Papathanasiou 160 PART TWO: ORTHODOX CONTRIBUTIONS AT EDINBURGH 2010 Mission as Liturgy before Liturgy and as Contestation Geevarghese Mor Coorilos 175 A Biblical Message for Today Nifon Mihaița 179 Ecumenical Charity as Christian Witness Antonios Kireopoulos 182 An Orthodox Reflection on the Centenary of the Edinburgh 1910 World Mission Conference Anastasia Vassiliadou 187 Theological Foundations of Mission: An Orthodox Perspective Petros Vassiliadis 190 Mission among Other Faiths: An Orthodox Perspective KM George, Petros Vassiliadis, Niki Papageorgiou and Nikos Dimitriadis 197 Two Orthodox Comments on the Study Process on Mission and Power Anastasios Elekiah Kihali 201 Theological Education in the Orthodox World Petros Vassiliadis, Pantelis Kalaitzidis, Eleni Kasselouri-Hatzivassiliadi 203 Youth Envisioning Ecumenical Mission: Shifting Ecumenical Mission Paradigms for Witnessing Christ Today Vineeth Koshy 233 Incarnation as a Mode of Orthodox Mission: Intercultural Orthodox Mission – Imposing Culture and Inculturation Kosmas (John) Ngige Njoroge 242 Bibliography 253 List of Contributors 259 FOREWORD Since the 2010 centenary celebrations of the famous World Mission Conference at Edinburgh in 1910 and the subsequent meeting of the Conference on World Mission and Evangelism of the World Council of Churches at Manila 2012 the ecumenical discussion on mission has entered a new phase. A new ecumenical affirmation on mission and evangelism “Together towards Life: Mission and Evangelism in Changing Landscapes” will be presented to the forthcoming 10th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches at Busan/Republic of Korea. It has clearly benefitted from the broadening of the circle of partners in the discussion on mission, including now not only recognized Orthodox and Roman Catholic, but also Pentecostal and Evangelical representatives from all world regions. It is in this context that the present publication on “Orthodox Perspectives on Mission” comes as a welcome and timely contribution to the renewed efforts to articulate a common understanding of the missionary vocation of the Christian community. The editors of the Regnum Edinburgh Centenary Series, and Petros Vassiliadis as the editor of the volume, deserve grateful recognition for making this valuable compilation of Orthodox voices on mission available. For too long the Orthodox churches with their particular and very rich history and tradition of missionary outreach have remained on the side-lines of Christian efforts for cooperation in mission and evangelism. This has changed during the last 40 years, not least thanks to initiatives of the World Council of Churches with the aim to encourage Orthodox participation in the missiological discussion through a series of Orthodox consultations on various mission topics and by establishing a special desk for Orthodox studies and relationships in mission in the secretariat of its Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. The fruits of these efforts have been shared in several earlier publications. These include e.g. “Martyria/Mission. The Witness of the Orthodox Churches Today”, ed. by Ion Bria (Geneva 1980); “You Shall be My Witnesses. Mission Stories from the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches”, ed. by George Lemopoulos (Katerini 1993); and “The Liturgy after the Liturgy. Mission and Witness from an Orthodox Perspective”, ed. by Ion Bria (Geneva 1996). The