The Ecclesiology of the Ravenna Agreed Statement: Analysis and Correction

The Thomist 73 (2009): 437-54 THE ECCLESIOLOGY OF THE RAVENNA AGREED STATEMENT: ANALYSIS AND CORRECTION ANSGAR SANTOGROSSI, 0.S.B. Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary Denton, Nebraska IN OCTOBER 2007 the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue between the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church published "Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church: Ecclesial Communion, Conciliarity and Authority." The document has been greeted with much satisfaction insofar as Orthodox agree with Catholics that the bishop of Rome is the first of the "patriarchs" in the universal Church. Moreover, in comparison with previous documents which strongly if not exclusively emphasized the Church as sacramental communion (in baptism, Eucharist, and episcopal ordination), the Ravenna statement gives a higher profile to the necessity of canonical legitimacy in the episcopate. One may hope for future agreement on the nature and consequences of the primacy of the bishop of Rome in the universal Church. However, the Ravenna statement also opines that there cannot be an ecumenical council in the strict sense as long as the Churches are divided. This assertion is both problematic and a consequence of unresolved theological tensions that characterize the document as a whole. The present article will examine these tensions and suggest that they arise from deeply rooted presuppositions in recent ecclesiology that need to be re-examined in light of the integral Tradition of the Church. 437 438 ANSGAR SANTOGROSSI, O.S.B. I Noticeable in the Ravenna statement is a tendency to conceive the Church's being and nature as sacramental in such a way that baptism, "apostolic succession" understood as episcopal ordination, and Eucharistic celebration suffice to make "the Church" be. The consequence of this sacramental sufficiency is language that views "canonical" structures as only "expressions" of the mystery of koinonia. The overall tone of the document is set in the following passage: On the basis of these common affirmations of our faith, we must now draw the ecclesiological and canonical consequences which flow from the sacramental nature of the Church. Since the Eucharist, in the light of the Trinitarian mystery, constitutes the criterion of ecclesial life as a whole, how do institutional structures visibly reflect the mystery of this koinonia? Since the one and holy Church is realised both in each local Church celebrating the Eucharist and at the same time in the koinonia of all the Churches, how does the life of the Churches manifest this sacramental structure? Unity and multiplicity, the relationship between the one Church and the many local Churches, that constitutive relationship of the Church, also poses the question of the relationship between the authority inherent in every ecclesial institution and the conciliarity which flows from the mystery of the Church as communion.1 To say only that "institutional structures" must "reflect" the communion of the Church tends to superpose "institution" over "communion," such that the Church would exist essentially as communion, while relations of hierarchical subordination would be accidental, no matter how normal or desirable. Despite the diffusion of statements in modern theology such as "The Church is a communion before it is an institution," such a theory does not do justice to authentic Christian life in the Church. Communion in the mystery of Christ necessarily includes subordination to his visible representatives, the successors of the apostles, and not only in the time of liturgical celebration. For a Catholic, there is no licit sacramental communion without 1 "Ecclesiological and Canonical Consequences of the Sacramental Nature of the Church," par. 3-4 of the Ravenna statement, available in English on the Vatican website (www.vatican.va), under the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, "Dialogo con le Chiese Ortodosse di tradizione bizantina." ECCLESIOLOGY OF THE RAVENNA AGREED STATEMENT 439 hierarchical communion with the pope; the communion of the Church is essentially hierarchical and canonical as well as sacramental. The Ravenna statement seems to defend the contrary when it says that authority is an aspect of every ecclesial "institution," while conciliarity is said to derive from the Church as communion. The Catholic would ask, isn't the authority instituted by Christ, the once visible and now invisible head of the Church, also an invisible reality accepted in faith...