With the blessing of His Beatitude Theodoros II, Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all Africa, the Second Throne Senior Patriarchate is hosting the meeting of the Joint International Committee of Theological Dialogue between the Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Church. Participating in this important meeting, which will last from June 1 to 7 this year, are 24 Orthodox and 18 Roman Catholic representatives, clergy and lay theologians.
The event acquires particular importance, since it is being held in the historic See of the Ancient Alexandrian Church, in the land of the Nile, cradle of Christianity and creator of Theology through the exalted pioneers and pillars of the right faith, of the Great Fathers and Holy Archbishops of Alexandria, through the celebrated Catechetical School of M. Polis, as well as through the vast deserts that gave birth to hermits and asceticism and definitively shaped monasticism under heaven and its rules.
It is noted that the International Commission is the highest official body for the “Dialogue of Love” between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. The aforesaid Committee met for the first time on the holy island of Patmos in the year 1980 and progressively discussed in various parts of the world a series of critical theological issues with sincerity and a spirit of brotherly love.
The Declarations-Texts issued at these meetings formed the foundation and point of reference for the ongoing global meeting and dialogue between the two Churches. The last meeting of the Commission was held in Chieti, Italy in the year 2016 on the topic of Primacy and Synodicity in the Church in the first millennium. The Commission continues its work on the same subject in the second millennium.
The official opening ceremony of the deliberations of the International Joint Theological Commission will take place tomorrow, 1st June 2023 in the Throne Room of the Patriarchal Palace of Alexandria.
From the Chief Secretariat of the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria
