The Perspective of Ecumenistic Union Reaffirmed in the Letter of Pope Leo Before the Celebration of the First Ecumenical Council Together with the Ecumenical Patriarch

Hieromonk Lavrentie | November 28, 2025

(Translated from the original Romanian)

The letter of Pope Leo In unitate fidei stood out especially by the fact that it cited the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed without the addition of the Filioque. But more interesting to me seemed the perspective it offers on the envisaged union of the “Churches.” There had also been indications in this regard in a document from last year concerning the way in which the primacy of the Bishop of Rome will be reconciled with synodality for a future church union.

Renunciation of the Filioque?

Perhaps the most generous gesture by which the current Pope shows his availability for sincere union with the “other Christians” is the apparent renunciation of the addition Filioque from the Creed. In the letter from recent days, translated also into Romanian in Catholic [i.e., Papist] language for those who cannot consult it in the languages officially offered by the Vatican, the article about the Holy Spirit from the Symbol of Faith is cited without the addition Filioque. In this way, the authentic synodal variant of 381 is officially acknowledged, but with an observation added in a footnote.

Catholic diplomacy offers the view about the addition Filioque in one sentence: “The declaration ‘and proceeds from the Son (Filioque)’ is not found in the text from Constantinople; it was introduced into the Latin Creed by Pope Benedict VIII in 1014 and is the subject of Orthodox–Catholic dialogue.” From this clarification it follows that the Pope has not renounced the Filioque, even if he takes a step back. Nothing is said about whether the insertion of 1014 is correct and justified, but it is left in official debate with the Orthodox. In other words, a revision is possible if a future agreement is reached, but for the moment things remain unchanged. For this reason, we are interested in what a possible union of the Orthodox and the Catholics will look like.

Indications about the future ecumenist union

Although the current Pope was persuaded with difficulty to come to Nicaea for the commemoration of the First Ecumenical Council, it seems that in the end he does not strike a discordant note with regard to the ecumenist tradition already inscribed in the papist attitude toward the rest of the Christian world. At first, he refused to follow the program made by the late Pope Francis to visit Istanbul in the first part of the year 2025, but in the end, he accepted to come at the end of the year.

And his coming this weekend is prefaced by a positioning from which there emerges the availability and effort to reach a Christian unity on the basis of the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and the “one” baptism. Thus, the Pope declares that the ecumenical movement has brought Catholics to the current state of “recognizing the members of the other Churches and ecclesiastical communities as our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ.” For the moment, “what unites us is much greater than what separates us” (§12).

Thus the Pope declares that, at the official level, there exists a mutual recognition of communion among the “Churches,” but not full and not visible.

In what way will the visible and formal union look, according to the Pope? It will be achieved through an inclusive ecumenism, which is to accept both some and others.

The ecumenism described by the Pope “must leave behind the theological controversies, which have lost their raison d’être, and develop a common understanding and even a common prayer to the Holy Spirit in order to gather us together into one faith and one love.”

More precisely, again according to the letter, it is not about “an ecumenism that seeks to return to the state before the divisions, nor about a mutual recognition of the present status quo of the diversity of Churches and ecclesial communities. Rather, it is an ecumenism that looks toward the future, that seeks reconciliation through dialogue as we share the gifts and the spiritual heritage.”

I think that this perspective is difficult to contemplate by any logical and normal thinking. In what way can a union be achieved that is neither a return to the state before the ruptures, nor a remaining in the present division, and yet it be an authentic reconciliation and translated into visible frameworks? In plain Romanian, it seems to be about reconciling both the goat and the cabbage, that is, a camel-ostrich [i.e., an unnatural hybrid], something truly authentic. [Written in sarcasm – trans.]

The ecumenist union on the topic of papal primacy

In order to form a somewhat clearer picture of what the Pope wants to convey, it is useful to bring into discussion an official document from one year ago of the papal administration about primacy and synodality in the perspective of a future ecclesial union. Although a rather bulky material, rendered into a brochure of about 150 pages, a few statements and ideas can be extracted in order to summarize the general message.

By taking over and assuming the idea from a joint document of Pope John Paul II and [Pope] Shenouda III (Coptic), we learn that “in a reconciled Christianity, such a communion presupposes the fact that the relationship of the Bishop of Rome with the Eastern Churches and their bishops […] will have to be substantially different from the relationship now accepted within the Latin Church and that the Churches will continue to have the right and the power to govern themselves according to their own traditions and customs” (p. 111), that is, the Orthodox will relate to the Pope as they do today, without changing anything (p. 86).

The reconciliation between the present primacy and synodal administration will somehow be defined as follows: “The Bishop of Rome acts simultaneously as bishop of a local diocese, as primate of the Western or Latin Church, and as servant of unity at the universal level” (p. 97). That is, what for Catholics will be a primacy will for the rest be something general and vague.

In concrete terms, Catholics are willing to leave papal primacy as it was defined at the First Vatican Council (where infallibility was introduced in 1870), but they will take into account that it must be understood and explained in context. That is, it will be given another meaning. Taking into account the fact that at the time of the convocation of the First Vatican Council, there were certain pressures that determined the accentuation of a centralizing perspective, now it must and can be revised, reinterpreted by them, because now the climate is different.

In summary, in the future Church united through ecumenist efforts, the current confessions and beliefs will be viewed as compatible traditions and brought together into one great Church, called “of Christ.” There will be ecclesiastical communion, but each in his own language and in perfect harmony with one another.

Union in dogmatic chaos without betrayals of faith

From what has been set forth very succinctly above, it follows that the unity that will be reached will not be attained through the power of the Holy Spirit of truth, but in a spirit of pietistic and senseless love, in which each will remain faithful to his own traditions, but will simultaneously be in communion and will accept/embrace heterodox beliefs. Such a situation I cannot imagine except through the renunciation of dogmatic akrivia, or rather even through the abandonment of ordinary sound thinking. More important will be merry union than rigorous truth. The Church will be viewed as an earthly institution meant to lead to the fulfillment of Christ’s commandments, but without seriousness, in cruel delusion similar to the charismatic movement and cut off from its purpose in eternity. Those lacking uprightness will fit into it without difficulty, but those accustomed to the true faith will not be able to accept it.

As we already see now, there are [supposedly] no betrayals of faith, even though they are clear. Ignorance will be stronger than vigilance.

Practically, we will not be able to find what to reproach to the future ecumenist union at the formal level, because the (Orthodox) faith will not be betrayed, but there will be such an amalgam that it will be hard to understand anything even logically. In other words, it will be a fair of dogmas in which even the Filioque will be preserved and rejected at the same time.

I further specify that this perspective offered by Pope Leo is in perfect consensus with the agreements signed so far by the Orthodox and the Catholics at Ravenna (2007), Chieti (2016), and Alexandria (2023). Therefore, it concerns us directly not only because the Pope will meet with the Ecumenical Patriarch in the coming days, but because this is the course of things. For this reason, an analysis in the future of the bilateral discussions mentioned above will be necessary for the benefit of those who are interested.

As an additional note, it is interesting that the portal Basilica informs us that the Orthodox–Lutheran dialogue is continuing and is focused precisely on synodality–primacy, a subject common with the Catholics. This indicates a joint effort to bring everyone to a common denominator simultaneously, even if the themes are not specific to the confessions in question.

Of course, the tempering of the ecumenist momentum after the pressures exerted following the Council of Crete was only temporary, and we are witnessing a revival of the efforts toward union even on the part of the Romanian hierarchy, without embarrassment.

 

Romanian source: https://theodosie.ro/2025/11/28/perspectiva-unirii-ecumeniste-reafirmata-in-scrisoarea-papei-leon-inainte-de-celebrarea-sinodului-i-ecumenic-alaturi-de-patriarhul-ecumenic/