Gary Vachicouras

This article by Gary Vachicouras offers a historical and theological synthesis of the official dialogue between the Orthodox Church and Judaism, from its beginnings to the five international academic consultations jointly organized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, between 1977 and 2003. The author adopts a descriptive and analytical approach, tracing the major stages of these encounters and the themes debated: the Law, Tradition, memory, liturgy, and the shared commitment to peace. He shows that the Orthodox Church has historically distinguished between theological critique of biblical Judaism and civil respect for Jewish communities, avoiding the persecutions characteristic of the medieval West. The main contribution of the article is to document the gradual building of interreligious trust, while identifying persistent points of tension, notably the question of liturgical hymns with polemical connotations and the political issues related to the State of Israel.