Meetings of INTER-ORTHODOX COMMISSION

• November 1-15,1964 – Rhodes, Greece
  “Appointment of the Inter-Orthodox commission in subsequence to the 3rd Panorthodox Conference”September 1-15, 1966 – Belgrade, YugoslaviaOctober 16-24, 1970 – Chambésy / Geneva, Switzerland

  June 22-30, 1971 – Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany

  July 5-7, 1973 – Penteli/Athens, Greece

Meetings of INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE OF OLD CATHOLIC BISHOPS

• • April 19-20, 1971 – Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany
    “Appointment of the Old Catholic Commission for Dialogue with the Orthodox”

Preliminary Mixed Meeting of INTER-ORTHODOX COMMISSION and OLD CATHOLIC COMMISSION

• • • July 8-14, 1973 – Penteli / Athens, Greece
      “Common conclusion of the separate preparations: determination of the scope and method of the official dialogue; themes to be treated: starting with doctrine of God, Christology, ecclesiology, and subsequently soteriology, doctrine of the sacraments and eschatology”
    • February 5-8, 1974 – Penteli/Athens, Greece
      “First meeting of a mixed sub-committee of co-ordination to prepare the worship at Morschach”
    • September 25-28, 1974 – Morschach / Schwyz, Switzerland
      “Workshop with three mixed groups to discuss written and oral statements on issues concerning the doctrine of God, christology and ecclesiology”
    • April 28,1975 – Zurich, Switzerland
      “Second meeting of a mixed sub-committee of co-ordination to prepare the first plenary session”

FULL COMMISSION AND SUB-COMMISSION MEETINGS 1975-1987

MEETINGS

• • 1. August 20-28, 1975 – Chambésy / Geneva, Switzerland
       “Holy Trinity; divine revelation and its tradition; canon of the Holy Scriptures” – AGREED STATEMENTS: Doctrine of God and ChristologySeptember 27-
       October 3, 1976 – Penteli, Greece
       Sub-commission meeting: preparation of common texts on the Mother of God and on ecclesiology
    2. August 23-30, 1977 – Chambésy / Geneva, Switzerland
       “The teaching on the Mother of God; the teaching on the essence and signs of the Church” – AGREED STATEMENTS: Christology and EcclesiologyAugust 24-31, 1978 – Penteli, Greece
       Sub-commission meeting; examination of open questions; preparation of texts on the unity of the Church and the local church; the limits of the church; authority in the Church; infallibility of the Church; and began work on the seven ecumenical councils and local councils
    3. August 20-24, 1979 – Bonn, Federal Republic of Germany
       “The unity of the Church and the local churches; the boundaries of the Church” – AGREED STATEMENT: EcclesiologyMarch 9-13, 1981 – Bern, Switzerland
       Sub-commission meeting: revision of the texts on four ecclesiological themes of authority, infallibility, councils of the Church, and the necessity of apostolic succession
    4. September 15-22, 1981 – Zagorsk/Moscow, USSR
       “The infallibility of the Church; Church councils; the need for apostolic succession” – AGREED STATEMENT: EcclesiologyMarch 15-18, 1983 – Penteli/Athens, Greece
       Sub-commission meeting: revision of the texts on four ecclesiological themes of authority, infallibility, councils of the Church, and the necessity of apostolic succession
    5. October 3-9, 1983 – Chambésy/Geneva, Switzerland
       “The head of the Church; Christ’s work of salvation; the work of the Holy Spirit and salvation” – AGREED STATEMENTS: Ecclesiology and SoteriologyOctober 23-28, 1984 – Kavala and Thasos, Greece
       Sub-commission meeting: Preparation of common texts on sacraments, baptism, confirmation, eucharist
    6. September 30-October 5, 1985 – Amersfoort, Netherlands
       “The sacraments or mysteries of the Church; baptism; confirmation; Holy Eucharist” – AGREED STATEMENT: SacramentsJuly 1-5, 1986 – Minsk, URSS
       Sub-commission meeting: discussion on the sacraments of the priesthood, penance, anointing and marriage and the implications of ecclesial communion between the two churches
    7. October 12-19, 1987 – Kavala, Greece
       “Penance; unction; ordination; marriage; the doctrine of the last things; church community” – AGREED STATEMENTS: Sacraments and Eschatology and Church Unity

CO-CHAIRS

Rt. Rev. Léon Gautier, Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland (OC)
Metropolitan Irenaios, Metropolitan of Germany (O) (1975-1980)
Metropolitan Damaskinos, Metropolitan of Switzerland (1981-1987)

CO-SECRETARIES: Prof. Werner Küppers (OC) (1971-1980)
Prof. Ernst Hammerschmidt (OC) (1981-1987)
Prof. Ioannes Karmiris (O) (1975-1980)
Prof. Vlassios Fidas (O) (1981-1987)

The following two formats of bilateral Orthodox and Old Catholic meetings were created by the Ecumenical Patriarchate (i.e. without any panorthodox involvement) and the Union of Utrecht

ORTHODOX – OLD CATHOLIC CONSULTATION 1996

MEETINGS

• • • February 25-March 1, 1996 – Levadia/Boeotia, Greece
      “Consultation on the role of women in the Church and the ordination of women as an ecumenical issue”December 10-15, 1996 – Konstancin/Warsaw, Poland
      “Consultation on the role of women in the Church and the ordination of women as an ecumenical issue” – AGREED STATEMENT: Common considerations on the role of women in the Church and the ordination of women as an ecumenical issue

PATRON BISHOPS

Bishop Hans Gerny, Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland (OC)
Metropolitan Damaskinos, Metropolitan of Switzerland (O)

CO-SECRETARIES

Prof. Urs von Arx (OC)
Prof. Anastasios Kallis (O)

ORTHODOX-OLD CATHOLIC WORKING GROUP
2003-

MEETINGS

• • • September 14-17, 2003 – Istanbul, Turkey
      Request from the Old Catholic Church to resume dialogue with the Orthodox Church. Both sides agreed that it should be carried on, especially with respect to the two issues deemed to be an Old Catholic obstacle to the ecclesial implementation of the official Orthodox-Old Catholic dialogue concluded in 1988: (a) the ordination of women to the priesthood; (b) the nature of ecclesial communion between Old Catholics and Anglicans since 1931

MEETINGS

• • 1. February 17, 2005 – Chambésy/Geneva, Switzerland
       “General exchange of the issue of ordination of women and the nature of the ecclesial communion between Old Catholics and Anglicans”
    2. November 24, 2005 – Bern, Switzerland
       “Continuation of the exchange about the ordination of women, especially including the statements of the interorthodox symposium of Rhodes in 1988 and of the Orthodox-Old Catholic consultation in 1996″
    3. April 16-17, 2007 – Chambésy/Geneva, Switzerland
       “Continuation of the exchange on the two issues, now also including the Agreement between the Old Catholic Church in Germany and the Evangelical Church of Germany on Eucharistic hospitality of 1985″
    4. December 11 -12, 2007 – Chambésy/Geneva, Switzerland
       “Continuation of the exchange on the two issues”
    5. October 22-23, 2009 – Chambésy, Switzerland
       “The working group (on the Orthodox side newly constituted in Spring 2008) took notice of three texts previously written on (a) the ordination of women to the priesthood (Prof. Urs von Arx [OC] and Prof. Vlasios Fidas [O]) and (b) on the nature of ecclesial communion between the Union of Utrecht and the Anglican Communion as well as the Independent Philippine Church since 1965 (Prof. Urs von Arx [OC]); Prof. Grigorios Larentzakis (O) asked to write an equivalent in Orthodox perspective; exchange of ideas how to engage younger theologians of each church in the common realization of unity”
    6. March 11-12, 2010 – Chambésy/Geneva, Switzerland
       “Exchange on the Orthodox and Old Catholic understanding of communion with special view to the theological and culturally shaped presuppositions of ecclesial communion between the Union of Utrecht and the Anglican Communion”
    7. November 4-5, 2010 – Bern, Switzerland
       “Drafting of two projects: (a) a joint seminar program of the Department of Old Catholic Theology at the University of Bern and the Postgraduate Institute of the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for young Orthodox and Old Catholic students of theology in Chambésy, Switzerland realized April 7-8, 2011; (b) an ecumenical study trip to the Orthodox Church of Crete and the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Kolymbari, to enable Old Catholics to become more familiar with the Orthodox faith, realized September 14-20, 2011; public panel at the Theological Faculty of the University of Bern”
    8. November 20-23, 2011 – Istanbul and Chalki, Turkey
       “Evaluation of two projects in 2011: first, a joint seminar program of the Department of Old Catholic Theology at the University of Bern and the Postgraduate Institute of the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for young Orthodox and Old Catholic students of theology in Chambésy, Switzerland; second, an ecumenical study trip to the Orthodox Church of Crete and the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Kolymbari in September 2011 to enable Old Catholics to become more familiar with the Orthodox faith; launch of next project: ‘A Christian Vision for a Humane Europe in Solidarity’”
    9. June 26-28, 2012 – Bern, Switzerland
       “Planning of a conference at Zurich (postponed to May 22-23, 2015) to convey to interested lay members of Orthodox and Old Catholic parishes the social and societal significance of their shared theology”October 4-5, 2013 – Bern, Switzerland
       “Meeting on ‘Change in Society – Life of the Church. Orthodox and Old Catholic Perspectives in Dialogue’”
    10. April 24-25, 2014 – Amersfoort, Netherlands
        “Exchange on the report ‘Utrecht and Uppsala on the way to communion’ (2013); meeting with HH Bartholomew, Ecumenical Patriarch, who paid a visit to the Archbishop of Utrecht, president of the International Old Catholic Bishops’ Conference”May 22-23, 2015 – Zurich, Switzerland
        “Conference to convey to interested lay members of Orthodox and Old Catholic parishes the social and societal significance of their shared theology”
    11. May 4, 2017 – Bern, Switzerland
        “Information was given from the Old Catholic side about (a) a project of exchanges on ethical and societal themes between the Armenian Apostolic Church and the Union of Utrecht, (b) the final stage of the theological dialogue between the Malankara Mar Thoma Syrian Church and the Union of Utrecht; preparation of a new project: the working group intends to evaluate the official documents of the 2016 Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete from an ecumenical perspective and in terms of Orthodox-Old Catholic relations; a conference on selected texts of the Council of Crete was planned for May or June 2018 in Zurich (but had to be postponed)”
    12. March, 5-6, 2019 – Bern, Switzerland
        “Exchange on problems shared by the two communions and the current significance of the texts adopted by the Orthodox Council of Crete in 2016 for any joint Orthodox-Old Catholic testimony in the world; renewed preparation for the postponed conference on selected texts of the Council of Crete, now planned for 26 March 2020 in Bonn (but had to be cancelled due to the corona virus restrictions)”

CO-CHAIRS

Bishop Joachim Vobbe. Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Germany (OC) (2004-2010)
Bishop Harald Rein, Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Switzerland (OC) (2010-2019)
Bishop Matthias Ring, Bishop of the Old Catholic Church of Germany (OC) (2020-)
Metropolitan Jeremias, Metropolitan of Switzerland (O) (2004-2008)
Metropolitan Michael Staikos, Metropolitan of Austria (O) (2009-2011)
Bishop Prof. Kyrillos Katerelos, Bishop of Abydos (O) (2011-)