The Current Bilateral Dialogue Between the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Oriental Orthodox Churches

Model, Serge
(2025) Relations and Exchanges Between the Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian) and the Oriental Orthodox (Non-Chalcedonian) Churches in the Past and Today — ISBN: [978-618-86453-5-6], 526-535, submitted

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This chapter analyses the contemporary bilateral dialogue between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. It situates current interactions within a long historical trajectory, from 19th-century scholarly contacts to their interruption after 1917 and revival under Soviet conditions after 1943. The study shows how theological dialogue, initially informal, became progressively institutionalised through commissions and official frameworks from the 1960s onward. Particular attention is paid to the Christological agreements of the Chambésy process (1990) and the limits of their reception within the Russian Church. The chapter then examines the multiplication of bilateral dialogues since the late 1990s, especially with the Armenian, Coptic, Ethiopian, Syriac, and Malankara Churches. It highlights a shift from strictly theological issues toward practical cooperation (education, humanitarian action, social ethics). The analysis demonstrates that these dialogues are increasingly shaped by geopolitical contexts, including Russian foreign policy priorities and regional conflicts. It also underlines persistent doctrinal ambiguities and internal resistance within the Churches. While convergence exists at the level of shared traditions, full ecclesial communion remains unlikely in the short term. The chapter concludes that dialogue continues, but under conditions where theology, ecclesiastical politics, and geopolitics are deeply intertwined.
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Model, S. (2025). The Current Bilateral Dialogue Between the Russian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) and the Oriental Orthodox Churches. In Chaillot Christine (ed.), Relations and Exchanges Between the Eastern Orthodox (Chalcedonian) and the Oriental Orthodox (Non-Chalcedonian) Churches in the Past and Today (Volos Academy Publications, pp. 526-535). Volos Academy Publications. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/275927