Реферат: Catholic

resumed after the problem of uniatism has been jointly studied and resolved.

On the basis of jointly worked out documents, the International Joint Commission

for the Theological Dialogue, at its sixth plenary session in Freising (Munich) on June

6 – 16, 1990, issued a Statement, saying, among other things, that “Unia, as a

method, failed – where it was introduced – to bring the Churches closer. On the

contrary, it caused further disunity. The situation, as a whole, gave occasion to

confrontation and pain which became imprinted in the historical memory of both

Churches. Ecclesiological motives, too, call for some other methods to be found.”

Archbishop Ireney of Rovno and Ostrog and Professor Archpriest Nicholas Gundyaev

took part in that session.

The Joint Commission reached another stage in its work at a meeting of the

Coordinating Committee in Ariccia, Italy, (June 10-15, 1991). It produced the first

draft of the joint statement with the title “Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past and

the Present Search for Full Communion”, which unambiguously affirmed that,

“Because of the way in which Catholics and Orthodox once again consider each

other in their relationship to the mystery of the Church… this form of ‘missionary

apostolate”… which has been called ‘uniatism’, can no longer be accepted either

as a method to be followed nor as a model…” (par.12). In addition to that, the

document offers practical recommendations for overcoming the tension between

the Orthodox and Greek Catholics on the local level, especially in Western Ukraine. It

points out, that “…Pastoral activity in the Catholic Church…. no longer aims at

having the faithful of one Church to pass over to the other; that is to say, it no

longer aims at proselytizing… It aims at answering the spiritual needs of its own

faithful (Greek Catholic – IB ed.)….Within this perspective, so that there will be no

longer place for mistrust and suspicion” (par.22)

This text served as a basis for the Balamand Document, adopted on June 23, 1993 by

representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and those of nine Local Orthodox

Churches, except the Church of Jerusalem the Greek, Serbian, Bulgarian and

Czechoslovak Churches. The Document excludes Uniatism as a method (par.4) and