Meeting of the Saint Irenaeus Joint Orthodox-Catholic Working Group in Balamand
The Saint Irenaeus Joint Orthodox-Catholic Working Group gathered for its nineteenth annual meeting from 21 to 25 June 2023 at the Orthodox Theological Faculty St John of Damascus in Balamand (Lebanon) to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Balamand Document.
The program of the meeting focused on the topic “In Search of Union: Re-reading the Document of Balamand 30 years after”. The Working Group considered the history of attempts to resolve the schism between Catholics and Orthodox leading up to the Balamand Document, the document itself, as well as its subsequent reception. The reflections were summarized by the participants in a communiqué.
Reverend Father Hyacinthe Destivelle, official of the DPCU and member of the Saint Irenaeus Group, participated in the meeting.
The Saint Irenaeus Joint Orthodox–Catholic Working Group, established in 2004 at Paderborn (Germany), is composed of 26 theologians, 13 Orthodox and 13 Catholics, from a number of European countries, the Middle East, and the Americas.
The Group’s previous meeting took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, in October 2022.