Abstract

In 1975, Archbishop Elias Zoghby from the Greek Catholic Church launched an ecumenical initiative whose goal was to permit inter-communion between his Church and the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch. He promoted the concept of the «double communion» and affirmed it by referring to the model of Unity that existed during the first millennium, which kept the Churches united despite many breaks in the communion, besides theological controversies, between the Roman Catholic Church and Orthodoxy. The author offers an ecumenical understanding of the concept of 'double communion' through the evolution of this initiative up to its official adoption by the Greek Catholic Synod in 1996. He also presents the reactions of the Greek Orthodox Church and the Roman Congregations to the statement of the Greek Catholic Synod and attempts to analyze their impact on Zoghby's project. Although it was not accepted by the Greek Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches, this ecumenical initiative still stimulates all the Churches involved to continue their journey together in the search for new, creative models of Unity in order to fulfill the will of the Lord.