COMMUNION WITH THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] 'SIR,—The remarkable service which was held on Monday, 'June 29th, in Westminster Abbey possesses a significance ;greater even than appears at first sight. It was not only ;commemorative of the Council at Nicaea after the long period of sixteen intervening centuries ; but it was symbolical, or at least prophetical, of the intercommunion, for which Christians in the East and in the West are eagerly looking, between the Holy Orthodox Church of the East and the Church of England. For the Churches of the East, as being both episcopal and national, are by their character no less than by their history allied to the Church of England ; and their recent tragic experiences have tended to draw them towards communion with her. There are indeed two roads .which lead or may be held to lead to unity. One, which is the only road acceptable to the Church of Rome, lies through ;submission to the authority of the Papal See. But now, ;nearly 900 years after the severance between the Eastern and the Western Churches of Christendom, and more than ;four centuries after the Reformation, it is so improbable as ,to be practically impossible that Christians in all parts of the }world should come to an agreement upon questions of eccics- iastical order. It is by the other road that intercommunion if not now, yet in the end may be accomplished, when the several Churches shall come to recognise that Christians, if they think at all, will not and cannot all think alike, but that differences of opinion among Christians are not sufficient to justify isolation in worship, whether private or public. There is at least some hope that the Church of England and the :Churches in communion with her all over the world, the orthodox Churches of the East, and not only the Reformed :Episcopal Churches but the Reformed Non-Episcopal Churches ;both in Great Britain and on the Continent of Europe will eventually be united in a federation which may visibly attest ;before the eyes of the world the essential unity of Christians In allegiance to Jesus Christ. The Bishops of the Church of England and of the orthodox Churches, by uniting in the celebration of the Council of Nicaea and indeed in the recitation )of the Nicene Creed " in the Greek language according to the orthodox use " have set their seal to the most hopeful effort rwhich has been made in the cause of Christian Reunion since the year 1054. It must be the fervent prayer of all members
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