The Procession and Work of the Holy Spirit was released in book form in time for the annual meeting of the Anglican Oriental-Orthodox International Commission.
The statement was signed in October 2017 after lengthy discussions by commission members. It is part of the efforts to heal a centuries-old continuing division within Christianity.
At the core of the agreed statement is the Filioque, which says the Holy Sprit proceeds “from the Son” as well as the Father. The agreed statement says that Anglicans should omit the Filioque.
This year’s meeting was dominated by work on “Authority in the Church,” with discussions on bishops and synods (councils), and the Ecumenical Councils. “It seeks to draw on established ecumenical agreements in the framework of this Commission, and the distinctive characteristics of the two families of Churches,” said a communiqué issued after the meeting. “The Commission hopes to finalize and make available the fruits of its work on Ecumenical Councils in 2019.”
Commission members heard about the “present critical situation of Christians in the Middle East,” particularly in Iraq and Syria, from Mor Ignatius Aphrem II, Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, and Catholicos Aram I of the Holy See of Cilicia.
“The Commission was acutely mindful that its meeting took place in Lebanon, itself home to over a million of refugees from war and conflict in the region,” the communiqué said. “The Commission holds before the wider oikumene the costly witness of the Churches in this country, offered in love and service to the dispossessed and the victims of war.”
The Procession and Work of the Holy Spirit is available from the Anglican Communion Office’s online shop.
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Adapted from ACNS
Matthew Townsend is a Halifax-based freelance journalist and volunteer advocate for survivors of sexual misconduct in Anglican settings. He served as editor of the Anglican Journal from 2019 to 2021 and communications missioner for the Anglican Diocese of Quebec from 2019 to 2022. He and his wife recently entered catechism class in the Orthodox Church in America.
