The Encyclopedia of World Religions

ecumenical movement S 129

patriarch of Moscow established the Orthodox Church of America, but not all Orthodox churches in America belong to it. See also R OMAN C ATHOLICISM AND E ASTERN O RTHODOXY IN A MERICA . Further reading: John Binns, An Introduction to the Christian Orthodox Churches (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002); Emmanuel Clapsis, The Orthodox Churches in a Pluralistic World: An Ecumenical Conversation (Brookline, Mass.: Holy Cross Orthodox Press, 2004); Timothy Ware, The Orthodox Church (Baltimore, Md.: Penguin, 1963); Nicholas Zernov, Eastern Christendom (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1961). ecumenical movement A movement among Christian churches that seeks to reunite them. Throughout its history, C HRISTIANITY has experi enced divisions. The most important divisions occurred in the fourth and fifth centuries C . E ., when Christians such as Arians and Nestorians were expelled as heretics; in 1054, when the Ortho dox churches and the Roman Catholic Church split; and in the 16th century and later, during the Protestant R EFORMATION . The ecumenical move ment has attempted to overcome these divisions. It began in the early 20th century and continues today. The impetus for the ecumenical movement developed in the 19th century. At that time, mis sionaries from Europe and North America were taking the message of Christianity to other parts of the world. They discovered that divisions at home were not so important overseas. In fact, they found that these divisions confused people and made mis sion work more difficult. In response, they started to look for ways to eliminate the divisions. In 1910 several missionary societies held a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland. Their goal was to formulate a common plan of action. Even tually these societies organized three groups to work on three sets of issues. One group was the International Missionary Society, responsible for coordinating activities so that missionaries did

is recognized as the first among equals. The lead ers of the Orthodox churches have never claimed the political powers that the PAPACY claimed in the West. That is because in the Eastern Roman Empire political power did not disintegrate the way it did in the West. Until 1453 the Byzantine Empire patronized Orthodoxy. The Russian Empire took over that role until 1917. Orthodox theologians have generally expressed the truth of Christianity differently than Catholic and Protestant theologians. Catholics and Protes tants have tended to think in judicial terms. They have talked about original SIN , guilt, reparation, and atonement. Orthodox theologians talk instead about the divinization of humanity. In their eyes, human beings were made for communion with G OD . Indeed, human beings find their fulfillment in the divine. The INCARNATION and especially the RESURRECTION of Jesus testify to that fulfillment, despite the obstacles that life in the world pres ents. The church and its SACRAMENTS are the places where such communion and divinization take place today. Like the Roman Catholic Church, the Ortho dox churches recognize seven sacraments. Their central WORSHIP practice is the celebration of the E UCHARIST in the Divine L ITURGY . Orthodox ser vices are long but are noted for their beauty and mystical quality. Orthodox churches allow even infants to receive the bread and wine of commu nion, provided they are baptized ( see BAPTISM ). Orthodox churches also make rich use of sacred pictures known as icons ( see IMAGES , ICONS , IDOLS IN RELIGION ). They have well-developed traditions of monasticism. Although Orthodox priests may be married men, bishops must be celibate. Orthodox churches have not won as many converts through foreign missions as have Catho lic and Protestant churches. The rise of I SLAM in the seventh century restricted their opportunities. So did the relative weakness of the Christian terri tories in which they lived. But the Russian church spread across Asia and then established missions in Alaska. In the 19th and 20th centuries, immi grants also brought many other forms of Ortho dox Christianity to the United States. In 1970 the