Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church

The Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church was established by the Holy See and 14 autocephalous Orthodox churches.

For Catholics, the convocation of the Second Vatican Council at which Orthodox observers were present marked a new beginning. A positive evaluation of the eastern tradition is found in the Council documents, especially Unitatis redintegratio. Most importantly, it clearly states that the Orthodox are "churches" in the full sense of the word, and that they have valid sacraments. This laid the foundation for the development of an ecclesiology of communion and the notion that Catholics and Orthodox are "sister churches".

This coincided with the development of what became known as the "dialogue of charity", a process of learning to trust one another again, a necessary precursor of any fruitful theological dialogue. In January 1964, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch Athenagoras I of Constantinople met for the first time, in Jerusalem. On December 7, 1965, in Rome and Istanbul they issued the Catholic–Orthodox Joint Declaration of 1965, simultaneously proclaiming the lifting of the mutual excommunications of 1054 and declaring them "erased from the memory" of the church. These steps were the prelude to the establishment of the theological commission by Pope John Paul II and Patriarch Dimitrios I of Constantinople in 1979.

The commission's first ten years of work reflected the growing consensus between the two communions and saw the publication of three agreed statements on such issues as the relationship between the Trinity, the Church and Eucharist; the sacraments of initiation and the connection between common faith and sacramental communion; and the theology of the ordained ministry.

The commission has held the following plenary sessions:

The seventh plenary session took place from June 17 to 24th, 1993. The theme of this session was entirely focused on the theological and practical questions presented by the existence and pastoral activity of the Oriental Catholic Churches. The dissolution of the Soviet Union and the attendant collapse of the Warsaw Pact in Central and Eastern Europe brought about "profound changes... involving the rebirth of religious liberty and the resumption of open pastoral activity by the Oriental Catholic Churches". The session declared that these changes had "made these questions the touchstone of the quality of the relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox Churches." In particular, the question of Uniatism became the focus of attention. The document of the joint dialogue commission on the theme: "Uniatism: method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion" declared the following:

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