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all of us, and forming our universal Patrimony. At the same time, I have tried to
point out some of the weaknesses of this model of authority, not least its
relation to nationalism, and the natural tension between centrifugal and
centripetal forces within the Church.
I have spoken about the fact that all our churches are now living the
reality of diaspora life, wherever we find ourselves. I have asked a theological
question of the meaning of forced dispersion as potentially being a gift of the
Holy Spirit to our lives as Christians. While this may sound strange or ironic as
an understanding of the reality of war and poverty which so many millions
experience, a partial answer would be given by asking the opposite question,
“Does violence, war and instability mean the absence of God and the Holy
Spirit?” I feel sure that, as Anglicans and Orthodox together, we would not
answer yes to that question!
Neither Anglicans nor Orthodox claim to represent the whole of God’s
church. This is important to us, and is rooted in the wisdom of the early
Pentarchy. At the same time, our contemporary situation poses the same
challenges to all of us, which can also be opportunities. At the Lambeth
Conference of 2008, Metropolitan Kallistos Ware said to the assembled
Bishops of the Anglican Communion, “Your questions are our questions and if
they are not, they will be.”
It is my hope that we can together draw on the ancient wisdom of the
early church to illuminate the questions we face today. In attempting to play
my own part, as a Bishop in the Church of England, I am guided by the
question posed by the Pope as Bishop of Rome to himself in Ut Unum Sint,
“What does my Office need to do?” This is, of course, at the same time a
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question for all the baptised though virtue of holding the dignity and office of
the baptised, the source and origin of any ministry and authority in the church.
I rejoice that we share this together. In conclusion, I use words from the
publication of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue, In the Image and
Likeness of God, published earlier this month, “We are baptised into the saving
death of the Lord and we will rise with him in newness of life. For He is “the
Head of the body, the Church, he is the beginning the firstborn from the dead,
so that he might come to have first place in everything.”…. God who created us
in wonderful diversity will keep used to all eternity, each in our unique
personhood.”

13 Ut Unum Sint, Pope John Paul II, CTS, 1995

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