Was sagen denn eigentlich die Orthodoxen?

Angesichts des momentanen ökumenischen Trubel vergessen wir leicht, daß es noch einen großen und wichtigen Partner in der Ökumene gibt - die Orthodoxie.

Huw verweist in seinem Doxos-Blog auf einen Vortrag des russisch-orthodoxen Bischofs von Wien und Österreich, Hilarion Alfejew, der kein Blatt vor den Mund nimmt:

"The main challenge from within Christianity is the liberalization of doctrine and morality which is occurring in many churches of the Reformation under the influence of processes taking place in secular society. This liberalization is constantly criticized by the Orthodox Churches, but their voice is not properly heard, and the gap between them and their ecumenical partners of the Reformist background is only widening. (...)

In my opinion, recent liberalization of teaching and practice in many Protestant churches has alienated them from the Orthodox much more than all prior Protestant history.

It has also undermined the common Christian witness to the secularized world. Here in Europe Christian voice is not united: we preach different moral standards, our doctrinal standpoints are dissimilar, and our social positions vary a great deal. One wonders whether we can still speak of ‘Christianity’ or whether it would be more accurate to refer to ‘Christianities’, that it, markedly diverse versions of the Christian faith.

Liberal tendencies, I contend, make Christianity ever more vulnerable in the face of militant secularism, which steals from us millions of people, notably youth. Many Christian communities, especially in Western Europe, experience a catastrophic shortage of vocations. But what is the reason for this? One of the reasons is precisely that doctrinal and moral liberalism which not only undermines credibility of Christian communities in the eyes of the secular world but also makes Christianity uninteresting and irrelevant, since it does not challenge secular society and does not have anything significantly different to offer to young people educated by secular culture." (Orthodoxy Today)