Baptist, Orthodox leaders hold groundbreaking conference in Europe

PRAGUE, Czech Republic (ABP) -- European Baptist and Orthodox scholars convened Feb. 8-11 in talks aimed to promote understanding between two Christian groups often at odds over issues like proselytizing and the separation of church and state.

The International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic, was host for the "Christian Mission in Orthodox Context" colloquium. The seminary co-sponsored the event with the Orthodox faculty of St. Clement of Ohrid University in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Planners called the meeting, spearheaded by Parush Parushev, academic dean at IBTS and a Bulgarian, a major initiative for both institutions.

"We are delighted at the developing cooperation between ourselves and St Clement of Ohrid University in Sofia," said IBTS Rector Keith Jones. "It complements the partnership we have had for the past decade with the Orthodox Academy at Vilemov in Moravia on the theology of creation care."

The aim of the colloquium, attended by more than 30 participants from Orthodox, Baptist, free evangelical and Pentecostal traditions, was to discuss points of tension and opportunities for enriching Christian witness in secularized European contexts with a majority Orthodox religious presence.

"Much of the difficulties and the challenges faced by the baptistic faith communities in the interactions with Orthodox religious communities and the governments of culturally Orthodox countries arise from misunderstandings related to the Orthodox notion of canonical territories (and largely of Orthodox canon law), evangelical emphases on religious freedom and the nature of religious proselytism," said a web page announcing the event.

Other papers discussed social ministries, shared spiritual roots of Russian Baptists and Russian Orthodox and writings of the famed Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

A press release termed the event "highly successful." At an informal social event on the final night, Jones and Orthodox professor Emil Trajchev exchanged gifts as a sign of the continuing partnership.

Internationally, the Baptist World Alliance has held preliminary discussions with the Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate in Istanbul, but a formal dialogue has not yet been inaugurated. Baptist and Orthodox scholars and church leaders have begun to make such connections in local contexts, however.

Baptist leaders in Russia recently applauded the election of Metropolitan Kirill as primate of the Russian Orthodox Church as "a clear vote for openness and dialogue." Leaders of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists said Kirill, who directed the church's ecumenical relations for 20 years, fully supported the dialogue and fraternity with Russia's Protestants started by his predecessor, Patriarch Alexei II, who died in December.

In visits to Russia and the Republic of Georgia in 2008, BWA General Secretary Neville Callam asked Orthodox representatives for cooperation in facing secularism and ministry to the poor and marginalized.