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The European Ecumenical Assembly 3 -A trip to Romania

This was a fascinating and exhausting time.  The Conference was held in Sibiu, European Capital of Culture for 2007 and the capital of  Transylvania.  This unfortunately meant very long journeys both there and back.  This was a big Conference of 2,500 delegates and the organisation was willing but not always competent to deliver on such a large scale.  Romania itself was fascinating in its mixture of post communism and budding capitalism.  We stayed in University accommodation which was very basic, and enlivened for me by building workers starting their day outside my window at 6am!  In contrast our main meals were taken at the Ramada Hotel, a new, stylish 4-5 star palace - with large holes in the pavements as soon as you were out of the immediate vicinity.  There seems to be lots of investment, new hotels, low unemployment in cities, but lots of rural poverty.  I was very struck by the juxtaposition of new build and ramshackle but still lived in that seemed to be a constant feature of both town and country. A group of us went out to some small projects supported by an Ecumenical Credit Union - providing employment to some of the poorest and working really well, which was good to see.

At the Conference itself one abiding impression is the constant ebb and flow of people throughout the sessions, also the constant background noise of conversations and the frequent appeals for silence, usually totally ignored.  The style of Conference was very different to what I would generally be used to.  We were talked at almost continually and there was little supporting technology or visuals and little opportunity for input, except to a degree in the forums which took place in the afternoons.  The theme of the Conference was the “Light of Christ” with each day taking a different aspect - Church, Europe and the World.  Fairly unsurprisingly I found the day on the world the most interesting as it focused on issues of peace and justice. 

In terms of Church culture it was fascinating to be deep into orthodox territory. Particularly an Orthodoxy that has survived Communism and returned apparently intact.  Orthodox Vespers was an amazing experience, as was the Armenian service. This is a very different style of church and understanding. It wouldn’t be my permanent choice - too hierarchical and patriarchal but it certainly has confidence in what it is offering.  What struck me was the strength of that confidence in the consistency of their tradition.  Their emphasis is on the tradition being maintained and  handed down through generations.  There is no attempt to strive for  ‘modern’ cultural relevance. This stands in stark contrast to the current church anxiety over relevance and constant search for the next ‘new’ thing to bring people in.  Here it’s the Priest’s role to perform the right ceremonies in the right way and then the people will be blessed.  This comes alien to my understanding of church but those worshippers I saw were clearly familiar and comfortable with it.  There’s an obvious security in knowing exactly how everything will be.

In terms of Ecumenism the combination of Orthodox and Roman Catholic made for an interesting study of power and privilege. There was certainly a lot of confidence in the power and influence of Catholic and Orthodox.  There were many Eminences, an All Holiness, various Beatitude’s  and other exotic titles.  I’ve never seen so many men in exotic robes in one place before!  Awareness of status was evident in special seats for VIP’s and in the endless greetings as all said much the same thing but all had to have their turn, each it seemed at greater length.  There was also a clear confidence in their ability to influence secular and political life.  This can, of course be both positive and negative.  During the session on the world the Changemakers group from Sweden described how they had spent months trying to get access to a Government Minister without success.  When they went through an Archbishop they had a meeting in short time;  he gave a brief introduction then allowed them to put their points.  Influence used to good effect.  However there was also quite a lot of emphasis on the Church setting ‘moral values’ for secular life.  This makes me uneasy, particularly in respect to the Catholic church whose ‘moral values’ are often very conservative and detrimental to women (eg. contraception, abortion, condoms and Aids)

It was very evident that the Free Churches were very much in the minority.  There was lots of talk about unity but my strong sense at this level is that talk of unity means the minorities joining the majority.  The assumptions that underly their confidence are very hard to challenge. Unity in the church universal is a great ideal and one we should have in mind - but not at any price.  At bedrock the larger and established denominations have a lot of power and I gravely doubt that they would ever be willing to give that up.  One only has to consider the bitter divisions within the Anglican Church at present to see the difficulties of unity!  Unity shouldn’t be achieved at the cost of justice.  The Conference produced a Final Statement with recommendations.  On the Baptist view I was pleased to see a modification made in response to concerns about the move to an acceptance of ‘common baptism’ to allow for  our differing understandings of what Baptism means. Also very welcome was the emphasis on encouraging all churches to take seriously the challenge of Climate Change and strive to be effective models of sustainable living. However I’m not certain what status the Conference statement has or what effect it has on the ground in day to day church life.  This was a fairly rarefied atmosphere - more church than Gospel. An illustration of the underlying assumptions came for me most strongly on the last day when a Catholic Cardinal was summing up.  He clearly wanted to express Paul’s ‘neither Jew nor Greek’ etc in reference to the church in Europe.  Unfortunately his high flown rhetoric for unity came crashing down on his repeatedly expressed desire for the ‘brotherhood’ of all European Christians.  I am many things but nobody’s brother and this illustration excluded, without any sign of awareness of doing so, the female majority of European Christians.

One of the positives of this experience was the chance to side meet other European Baptists and to visit the Sibiu Baptist Church.  It was a beautiful building and obviously a lively and committed congregation who gave us a very warm welcome.  Hopefully they also received some encouragement from us.  It was clear that for some Europeans being a Baptist is still a choice which causes hardship.  I particularly enjoyed meeting the Baptist Bishop from Georgia in his splendid purple robes in the Orthodox style!  This gives him some acceptance for the tiny Baptist church in Georgia and his stance in support of persecuted minorities makes him an excellent example of the radical nature of Baptist belief.

All this, and much more, went into the week before the final day.  Up at 5am to catch the coach to Bucharest Airport, no sign of breakfast or the promised packed lunch.  The coach journey out had been six and a half hours.  Thank God for the lovely Salvation Army man next to me who shared his sandwich, cheese and ham at an early hour, - ecumenism in action!   Oh, and the journey back was much quicker - so four hours to wait at Bucharest for the plane.  Was I glad to finally get home?  Oh, yes!

                                                                                     Kay Coupland