Interconfessional Marriages
Migration is not a mark of our time – it has existed in all times. But today it is at the top of the political agenda – and it shapes the ecumenical coexistence of denominations. A significant number of the members of Oriental Orthodox Churches now live in the West. This also applies to Orthodox churches to an increasing extent. The situations in which diaspora communities find themselves lead to completely new challenges.
One of these challenges is the swift increase of the number of interconfessional marriages. It was therefore not by chance that this matter was one of the most controversial points on the agenda of the Holy and Great Synod of Crete in 2016. While individual churches invoked the prohibition of interconfessional marriages, as expressed in early-church canons, others emphasized pastoral responsibility and therewith the possibility of complying with the rules in a less strict of a manner.
RES 3-2018 seeks to address interconfessional marriages, especially the cases in which one of the spouses is a member of the Orthodox Church. How do different Orthodox churches ponder upon this possibility, and how do their ecumenical partners see it? Can there be different rules for the Diaspora than in the case of majoritarian churches? How can one understand the difference between akribeia and oikonomia? Is it understandable to partner churches, or does it lead to unsolved theological questions? Is the question of how and to what extent marriage is understood as a sacrament crucial? What are the pastoral practices in introducing marriage, in child rearing, in the involvement of the partners in their own ecclesial community? Are there liturgical models that express the ecumenical dimension of interconfessional marriage? Have there been – in the history of the church – different solutions to these questions?
Deadline: June 15, 2018
Email: res@ecum.ro.
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