Sf. Euharistie ca „locus theologicus” al învăţăturii despre Biserică şi episcopat în cadrul dialogului teologic bilateral Ortodox-Catolic
The Holy Eucharist as “locus theologicus” in the teaching upon the Church and episcopacy inside the dialogue between Orthodoxy and Catholicism

Summary/Abstract: Although both the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church have common underlying traditions and a hierarchical structure of Apostolic extraction, they are not yet in a position to celebrate together the same Holy Eucharist. While the Orthodox Church is structured on a Synodal basis, which grants to all the bishops the same sacramental service, the Catholic Church grounds its way of life and organization in a centralist foundation within which Synodality is but a secondary element, the bishop of Rome having an absolute primate of jurisdiction. The restoration of the much desired unity between the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church may only be attained when all these theological aspects can be interrelated within a symbiosis of mutual theological convergences. The imperative of such a mission pertains to the bilateral theological dialogue which, since 1980, has highlighted in the theological convergence documents several aspects, among which we consider to be relevant for this paper those concerning the Church, the Episcopate and the Holy Eucharist. The last one, regarding the Holy Eucharist, proves to be the “locus theologicus” of the presentation, the understanding, interpretation and explanation of the other two (Church and Episcopate). This becomes all the more important since a very possible convergence regarding the Episcopal service may be the key to future theological convergences of the bilateral dialogue. The first three great meetings of the Joint Commission for Dialogue (München/Germany – 1982, Bari/Italy – 1987, Valamo/Finland – 1988) have shown that a major theological convergence, in which the Episcopal service becomes, based on a common theology that can be accepted by both parties, that modus vivendi capable of leading to the restoration of full communion, may not overlook the context of an ecclesiology which grounds its reason and way of being in the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, which thus becomes the theological place and paradigm in which the unity of the Church is mirrored.

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