3 - 1998
Visions of Ecumenism
World-wide Learning Community
Traces of the ecumenical movement in eastern Germany
by Gerhard Thomas
If you trace back the ecumenical movement in eastern Germany, you will soon find an event "between the times": the Ecumenical Assembly for Justice, Peace and the integrity of Creation. Staged in East Germany in 1988/89, it was nevertheless one of the decisive events to herald the collapse of the Communist state. The papers it developed on the political, social, economic and ecological problems of the era were also a reform manifesto for the democratisation of East Germany’s society. The prayers for peace which attracted more and more people into the churches of East Berlin, Leipzig, Magdeburg and other cities in the late summer of 1989 and that finally triggered the peaceful candle revolution in October 1989, related more or less to the papers of the Ecumenical Assembly.
Speaking in one language
Since the reformation there has never again been such a broad-based, grassroots ecumenical working and living community as that of the Ecumenical Assembly. 19 churches and religious congregations sent delegates to the assembly, even the Catholic church contributed wholeheartedly despite some initial reluctance. The assembly received more than 10,000 letters from individuals and groups beforehand concerning the topics of the conciliar process. These letters document the strong grassroots ties of the process. And these ties remained even during the assembly. After its second session in October 1988 the assembly published draft papers in Magdeburg and received 1,400 comments that helped shape the final papers. A "Letter to the Congregations", which the Ecumenical Assembly finally passed on 30 April 1989, reads as follows: "The ecumenical dynamism of our assembly is irreversible; we have experienced it as promising for the further course of our churches. God’s spirit will lead us together as His people. We have talked in different tongues, but finally spoken in one language. We should never allow the old barriers and rifts to return."
Think global - act local
Of course, the Ecumenical Assembly has a long history within the international ecumenical movement and the co-operation of the East German churches in this movement. Correspondingly, the Ecumenical Assembly was not just a local event in East Germany, but must be seen in the context of world-wide ecumenism. It mirrors the ecumenical learning community and has put into effect the teaching that global thoughts must be translated into local actions. In 1983 ecumenical groups in East Germany therefore accepted the invitation expressed by the Vancouver General Assembly of the World Council of Churches to initiate a "conciliar process of mutual commitment to justice, peace and the integrity of creation" and took it seriously. The Ecumenical City Group of Dresden, which initiated the Ecumenical Assembly in East Germany, already admonished the churches in February 1986 to "practice at home what we expect from the World-wide Ecumenical Assembly".
Politically isolated, but ecumenically aware
This ecumenical awareness goes back far in the history of the East German churches. Three events exemplify how the churches in East Germany tried to contribute actively to the ecumenical movement despite their difficult situation of political isolation from the west: In January 1971 the Federation of Evangelical Churches in the GDR backed the anti-racism programme of the World Council of Churches, which was widely mooted especially in West Germany: "In the current international situation we see racism as one of the grave problems for the world population. Overcoming it is a case in point for the comprehensive realisation of basic human rights today." Back then especially West German church circles accused the East German churches of political opportunism, because the commitment against the South African apartheid system was only too convenient for East Germany’s foreign policy concept. The abundant study material which the Federation developed on the topic also discusses the anti-racism programme, albeit in the context of human rights, and mentions racist behaviour at home, for example against the GDR’s Polish neighbours.
Also the recognition that human rights are indivisible and that individual and social basic rights cannot be played off against each other, made the East German churches important discussion partners in the ecumenical movement and awkward critics at home. Two further stations can only be outlined here: In 1979 the Federation of Churches in the GDR invited supervising church officials to an ecumenical visit via the WCC. At the end of a visit of several weeks, the visitors sent a letter to the congregations in East Germany, observing a "remarkable openness" for problems of the churches all over the world: "The congregations in East Germany know that they need the prayers, experiences and even the critical questions of their brothers and sisters from other countries."
One year later members of the East German delegation tried to trigger a discussion on the topic of ecumenical sharing at the 1980 World Mission Conference in Melbourne. Self-critically they declared that the East German churches were among the rich and had to reassess routine subsidisation for example by the West German churches. Although the suggestions of the Melbourne delegates never achieved a majority vote in synods and church boards, they played a role as a critical grassroots movement, a kind of thorn in the side of the self-assured church institution. Ecumenical sharing in eastern Europe
The awareness of ecumenical sharing is mirrored effectively and visibly in the form of various partnerships with churches and parishes in eastern European countries. For example, with the backing of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the Church of Mecklenburg already established intensive contacts with Protestant German-speaking parishes in the Asian republics of what was then the Soviet-Union, especially in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, and Uzbekistan, which helped these parishes find a way out of their isolation. Partnerships with eastern Europe were supported and protected by the official churches.
For example, the Protestant church of the Upper Lusatia region, which forms a three-country triangle between Germany, Poland and Chechnya, focuses on building bridges between the neighbouring churches and countries and recently concluded an official partnership treaty with the Wroclaw diocese of the Lutheran church in Poland. But these partnerships owe their vitality not so much to the resolutions of church boards and more to the strong commitment of many parishes and groups. We could quote an abundance of aid projects that go far beyond church concerns here, for example health programmes in the Chernobyl region, social development projects in Romania, joint German-Czech holiday programmes for families, and village development projects in Slovakia.
The problems of plain sailing The ecumenical movement has also been through stormy seas and the problems of plain sailing. The churches in eastern Germany have to cope with these problems now. They are preoccupied with their own worries at present. Hopes for a revival of the people’s church after reunification did not materialise. On the contrary, the churches have sustained a considerable decline in members, finances and social significance. It remains to be seen whether they will embrace an intensive ecumenical learning community once again in their crisis. Their experience from GDR days should make them do so.
Until his retirement this June Gerhard Thomas was editor in chief of the eastern German journal Die Kirche.