12 PART ONE: INTRODUCTION of Jesus, provided immediately after the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper and on the eve of his death and resurrection. The prayer reflects the double meaning of the term ecumenical, as used by the church throughout history. The termwas used by the Greeks to indicate the entire inhabited world. The Romans identified this world with their empire, an identification adopted by the early Church. Thus, the ecumenical councils (the prototype of which is recorded to be held in Jerusalemby the Apostles13) addressed issues concerning all of Christianity within the Roman-Byzantine Empire. Likewise, Eastern Orthodoxy speaks of the patriarch of Constantinople as an ecumenical patriarch, recognizing him as the primus inter pares of all the Orthodox bishops.14 A similar role is attributed to the bishop of Rome in the West, although it is theologically and canonically defined differently compared to the Orthodox ecumenical patriarchate. The papacy is conceived as a “ministry of unity.”15 The unity of the followers of Christ has thus in several ways been given practical implications throughout history. As the prayer of Jesus indicates, the unity of the church is not merely a goal in itself. Ideally the entire inhabited world and the church coincide. This is the Christian conception of the eschaton – a situation in which the new or renewed creation is inhabited by the people of God. Christianity has the mission to proclaim the Kingdom of God and thus to evangelize, to which the unity of the church ought to contribute. This basic conclusion is fundamental for the modern ecumenical movement, which itself emerged from the fields of mission. The 1910 Edinburgh Missionary Conference is commonly recognized as the starting point of the ecumenical movement. This was a conference aimed at closer cooperation between Protestant denominations in their respective mission activities. Inspired by the prayer of Jesus, the conviction that Christian 13 Cf. Acts 15:1-35. Held from the fourth century onward, seven councils are commonly accepted and therefore called ecumenical. However, with Western and Eastern Christianity parting ways, the ecumenicity of subsequent councils is disputed. The Roman Catholic Church acknowledges the Second Vatican Council to be the 21st ecumenical council, whereas the Orthodox do not recognize any council after the Second Council of Nicaea as ecumenical. In its reception, the 2016 Holy and Great Council of Crete may prove to have been an ecumenical synod. Protestants in general do not attribute theological significance to councils, although many accept (parts of) the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils, among which is the creed of Nicene-Constantinople. 14 Thomas E. FitzGerald, The Ecumenical Movement: An Introductory History (Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 2004), 3. 15 John Paul II, Ut Unum Sint, Encyclical on Commitment to Ecumenism (Rome, 1995), secs. 88–89, http://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_ enc_25051995_ut-unum-sint.html (henceforth cited as UUS).
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