Toronto Declaration

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The Toronto Declaration, entitled "The Church, the Churches, and the World Council of Churches," is an ecumenical document.

prehistory

The WCC assembly Amsterdam in 1948 had not yet been adequately explained how to World Council of Churches in ecclesiological terms understood. Essential preparatory work for the Toronto text took place in 1949 at a confidential meeting in the Dominican study center Istina, at which theologians from the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church met. On the Catholic side, among others, Yves Congar and Jean Daniélou took part.

content

The WCC central committee, at its annual meeting in Toronto in 1950, adopted the following declaration:

Negations

  1. The WCC is not a "super-church" ( Super-Church ), neither a church nor the world in the creeds Una Sancta mentioned.
  2. The WCC does not intend to promote union negotiations between churches. It is a forum for dialogue.
  3. The WCC does not advocate any particular ecclesiology because that would make it an instrument of a denomination or a theological school.
  4. Each member church continues to represent its own understanding of church unity.

Positive determinations

  1. Members agree that dialogue takes place on the premise that Jesus Christ is Head of the Church.
  2. The Bible testifies to the unity of the Church of Christ. The members are convinced that it is their duty to make this unity visible.
  3. "Member churches recognize that membership in the Church of Christ is broader than membership in their own church."
  4. Member churches need not recognize each other as "churches in the true and full sense of the word" .
  5. Member churches recognize that " elements of the true church " are to be found in other churches .
  6. The dialogue among the member churches serves the credible Christian witness in the world.
  7. Membership definitely includes an “open exchange of opinions” ( extremely frank speaking ), but also a solidarity that excludes negative behavior of the churches towards one another.
  8. The member churches have a spiritual relationship with one another, ie they learn from other churches and help one another.

reception

The Toronto Declaration is very important to the Orthodox member churches of the WCC. It enables them to work in the WCC. This brought z. B. Georgi Florowski for the Russian Orthodox Church clearly expressed. In contrast, the Toronto Declaration is seen by some Protestant and evangelical members as inadequate: the WCC is more than a forum for discussion, the spiritual dimension of the gathering is not adequately captured in the declaration.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Odair Pedroso Mateus: # WCC70 Amsterdam 1948 (2): Alliance for Action: What on Earth is the World Council of Churches? In: World Council of Churches. Retrieved June 7, 2019 .