Divided at the councils, one in confessing Christ.

Summary

Six Churches form the Oriental Orthodox family in dialogue with Rome: the Coptic Orthodox, the Syrian Orthodox, the Armenian Apostolic, the Malankara Orthodox Syrian, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo⁠.¹ They share with the Catholic Church the faith of “the first three Ecumenical Councils (Nicaea 325 - Constantinople 381 - Ephesus 431) and the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed”⁠,² and their separation came over the reception of the Council of Chalcedon in 451⁠.^3,4 The Assyrian Church of the East is a separate family whose question was “the Christological consequences of the Council of Ephesus”⁠.⁵

The take: common declarations with most of these Churches have found that the old dispute over how to confess Christ was largely a matter of terms. Pope John Paul II and the Syriac patriarch wrote in 1984 that the schisms “arose only because of differences in terminology and culture”⁠,⁶ and in 2001 the Holy See said of the Assyrian Church that “the main dogmatic problem between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church has been resolved”⁠.⁷ Sacramental sharing already exists in defined cases. What remains is ecclesial communion itself, and since 2024 the dialogue with the Oriental Orthodox has been strained by a moral question, not a Christological one⁠.^8,9

The Churches and their agreements with Rome

Confessing Christ together

The declarations restore in words what the councils divided. Paul VI and Shenouda III confessed Christ “perfect God with respect to His divinity, perfect man with respect to His humanity” and Mary “ever Virgin, the God-bearer”⁠.³ John Paul II and Karekin I confessed that Christ’s “divinity is united to His humanity in the Person of the Only-begotten Son of God, in a union which is real, perfect, without confusion, without alteration, without division”⁠.¹¹ They added: “Linguistic, cultural and political factors have immensely contributed towards the theological divergences”⁠.¹¹

With the Assyrian Church the question was the title of Mary. The Assyrian tradition calls her “Mother of Christ our God and Saviour” and the Catholic tradition “Mother of God,” and in 1994 the two Churches declared: “We both recognize the legitimacy and rightness of these expressions of the same faith”⁠.¹⁵ The divisions, they wrote, “were due in large part to misunderstandings”⁠.¹⁵

What the Catholic Church recognizes

The Second Vatican Council’s teaching on the Churches of the East applies to these Churches: they “possess true sacraments, above all by apostolic succession, the priesthood and the Eucharist”⁠.¹⁶ The Holy See applied it in so many words in 2001: “the Catholic Church recognises the Assyrian Church of the East as a true particular Church, built upon orthodox faith and apostolic succession”⁠.⁷ The joint commission records that “The Catholic Church recognizes the validity of Chrismation conferred by the Oriental Orthodox Churches”⁠.¹⁷

Sacraments already shared

The 1984 declaration with the Syriac patriarch states that “the Holy Eucharist cannot yet be concelebrated by us”⁠.⁶ But where the faithful cannot reach their own priest, “we authorize them in such cases to ask for the Sacraments of Penance, Eucharist and Anointing of the Sick from lawful priests of either of our two sister Churches, when they need them”⁠.⁶

The most striking provision concerns the Assyrian Church and the Chaldean Catholic Church, which share one ancient liturgy. The Anaphora of Addai and Mari “has been used without a recitation of the Institution Narrative”⁠.⁷ In 2001 the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith “concluded that this Anaphora can be considered valid. H.H. Pope John Paul II has approved this decision”⁠.⁷ The words of institution are present “in a dispersed euchological way”⁠.⁷ When necessity requires, “Assyrian faithful are permitted to participate and to receive Holy Communion in a Chaldean celebration of the Holy Eucharist,” and the provision is “intended exclusively” for these two Churches⁠.⁷

In 2022 the joint commission asked both sides to “examine the possibility of adopting, at least in certain well-defined circumstances, the principles of the pastoral agreement signed by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Zakka I Iwas,” and to work toward “mutual recognition of the sacrament of Baptism between the Catholic Church and all Oriental Orthodox Churches”⁠.¹⁷

The 21 martyrs of Libya

On May 11, 2023, receiving Pope Tawadros II on the 50th anniversary of the 1973 meeting, Pope Francis announced that the Coptic martyrs killed in Libya “will be included in the Roman Martyrology as a sign of the spiritual communion uniting our two Churches”⁠.¹⁸ They were killed on Feb. 15, 2015⁠;¹⁸ “20 were Egyptian and 1 hailed from Ghana”⁠.¹⁹

Where the dialogue stands

The joint international commission has published three documents, on the nature of the Church (2009), on communion in the early Church (2015) and on the sacraments (2022)⁠.^2,4,17 After Fiducia Supplicans, “published on 18 December 2023 by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith,” the Oriental Orthodox members asked Rome for clarification, and at the commission’s January 2024 meeting “the Oriental Orthodox members found it insufficient and asked further clarification”⁠.⁸

On March 7, 2024, the Coptic Orthodox Church announced that it would “suspend the theological dialogue with the Catholic Church”⁠,²⁰ and its synod called for “new standards and mechanisms for the dialogue to proceed in the future”⁠.⁹ In May 2026 Pope Leo XIV wrote to Pope Tawadros II that the commission’s coordinating committee was meeting in Rome and that he hoped the commission would “resume its work as soon as possible with all Churches of the Oriental Orthodox family”⁠.²¹ He called its “three landmark documents” a sign of “an increasing theological understanding”⁠.²¹

Meanwhile the dialogue of charity goes on. Pope Francis asked in 2024 that it be understood “not simply as a preparation for the” dialogue of truth, but as theology in action⁠.²²