[Please note: The following are personal musings and not to be construed as *the* Orthodox understanding. If anything here contradicts the received teaching and way of life of the (Orthodox) Church, please correct me. As always: check with your priest or spiritual father.]
It should by now be clear how it is that the modern ecumenical movement has failed, and, indeed, can only fail. Here, however, I want to come at the point again from another angle.
I hope that it can be seen that Church unity is accomplished by the Holy Trinity through the Eucharist presided over by the bishop. Certainly there is doctrinal or dogmatic unity, and institutional unity is important as well. But these are founded on the Eucharist which embodies the fullness of the Gospel: the reality of the Holy Trinity, the proclamation of the Incarnation, the unity of the Holy Trinity and of the Church with and in the Trinity.
Modern ecumenism fails by way of two fallacies (Roman Catholics and Orthodox would call these fallacies heresies): 1) reductionism and 2) the denial of the Church.
Let's start with the latter. Protestants simply cannot get around the reality that Rome and the Orthodox each claim to be the one true Church--which means Protestants (and Rome or the Orthodox) are not. Protestants can only continue in ecumenical efforts by denying this claim, either actively and intentionally or passively by simply ignoring the claim. Concomitantly, Protestants claim to be a part of the one true Church (which, in Protestantism is an invisible, spiritual entity). But simple denial is no argument. It's a fallacy. Further, Protestant ecclesiology fails to follow through on the logic of the Incarnation. That is to say, given the Incarnation, the Church must itself be incarnate. This entails an historic institution whose life is instantiated in quite specific ways. There is an objective standard against which Protestant ecclesiologies can be measured. Not only that, Protestants beg the question of the true Church by simply assuming they are (a part of) it.
(Aside: Protestants could claim the same sort of question begging of Rome or the Orthodox. However both Rome and Orthodox have objective, rational arguments supporting these claims. Not to mention the simple fact that the Roman Catholic Church, or, as I would contend, the Orthodox Church, is. That is to say, the claim to exclusivity is based on the reality of that which is itself what it claims to be. Clearly, between Rome and Orthodox, I stand on the side of the Orthodox and these reflections have been written from that perspective. But I will not here argue for Orthodoxy over Rome. That has been done by abler minds and more Christ-like spirits than mine.)
But Protestants commit another fallacy as well: reductionism. How can it not be otherwise when not only do Protestants differ from Roman Catholics and Orthodox in their fundamental doctrinal beliefs, but, as importantly, differ among themselves as well. Given that, in contradistinction to Rome and the Orthodox, Protestants start from contradictory beliefs, ecumenism cannot even get off the ground without beginning to pare away those things that are “not essential” to the Gospel. Despite my great esteem and admiration for C. S. Lewis, there is no such thing as “mere Christianity” which can be boiled down to an essence. (And in fact, those who argue for a “mere Christianity” would not even all agree with C. S. Lewis on what “mere Christianity” actually is.) What is essential to the Gospel? All of it. It is as essential to the Gospel that we affirm Jesus of Nazareth to be God in the flesh as it is that we affirm divorce is a sin as it is that we fast, pray and give alms, as it is that we affirm the wine and the bread are the Blood and Body of Christ, and so it goes.
In other words, true Christianity is maximalist not minimalist, and the only Christian unity that can obtain in reality is the unity that affirms all of the Gospel. This is not to say that all Gospel things are important in the same ways (one would rightly prioritize the importance of the truth about the Eucharist over the specific ways one fasts or prays or gives alms and the sanctity of marriage over these). But all Gospel things are important and cannot be relegated to adiaphora. Because quite frankly, once one wields the knife to cut, the cutting will and must take on a life of its own. One simply need trace the life of the Christian churches in America over the last two hundred years. Both evangelical and mainline congregations have abandoned the sanctity of marriage by not only allowing for multiple divorces but also for divorced clergy to continue to serve at the altar. Not coincidentally, American Christians are increasingly affirming that Jesus is not the only pathway to God, and even questioning his divinity. After all, if marriage is not at the core of the Gospel, then why need one continue to adhere to Jesus' exclusivity or even his divinity? Reductionism is a fallacy precisely because it assumes what it must first prove: that some Gospel things are unnecessary.
The Church has always held--as was briefly noted in the previous post--that unity in Christ is maximalist. That means bishops, sacramental Eucharists, and one true visible Church. Protestants will not bring about Church unity via these two fallacies/heresies. But they may become one with the Church if they reject these fallacies/heresies and embrace the fullness of the Church which has remained whole, one and complete for two millennia.
[This is another in a handful of reflections I want to make on the matter of Church unity.
Previous posts:
Ecumenism I
Ecumenism II
Ecumenism III]
Ecumenism IV]