Eastern Orthodox Branches Pledge to Work Toward Unity : Denominations: Together, they represent 6 million Orthodox Christians. United church intends to speak with one voice on matters of social and theological importance.

Eastern Orthodox denominations in North America, long divided by ethnicity and language, took a major step toward unity Thursday, pledging to work toward formation of a united church.

“We want the American public to know that the Orthodox have come of age, and we are going to act as one united church,” said Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church and the senior Orthodox leader in the United States.

Besides the Greek Orthodox, the churches joining in the unity agreement include the Orthodox Church in America, the nation’s second-largest Orthodox group with roots in Russia; the Antiochian Orthodox, with a large Syrian and Lebanese membership, and the Serbian, Romanian, Bulgarian and Carpatho-Russian Orthodox churches. Together, they represent 6 million Orthodox Christians.

Not included in the unity agreement are the so-called Oriental Orthodox churches--Armenian, Coptic and Syrian Orthodox--which continue to have theological differences with Eastern Orthodoxy over issues relating to the incarnation of God in Jesus Christ.

According to the agreement, the churches intend to speak with one voice on matters of social and theological importance. But other ramifications of unification--such as the appointment of priests and bishops and shared finances--remain uncertain.

The unity agreement, announced at a news conference arranged by the Standing Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops in the Americas, made public two major statements adopted at a meeting of Orthodox bishops in Ligonier, Pa., Nov. 30 to Dec. 2.

At that meeting, bishops representing the nation’s major Eastern Orthodox faith groups acknowledged a “North American reality” in which, they said, ethnic boundaries dissolve as immigrants are absorbed into the mainstream, making ethnically centered churches less responsive to the needs of American society.

“We believe our task in North America is not limited to serving the immigrant and ethnic communities, but has at its very heart the missionary task, the task of making disciples,” the bishops said in a statement on church mission and evangelism adopted in Ligonier.

The bishops also issued a joint plea to their mother churches overseas and the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in Istanbul, considered the “first among equals” among Orthodox the world over, asking that the issue of a unified Orthodox presence in North America be made a top priority.

The advent of Orthodoxy in the United States is usually tied to the establishment of a Russian Orthodox mission in Alaska in 1783.

As waves of immigrants crossed the Atlantic from Eastern Europe in the past century, they brought native customs, languages and worship traditions. Orthodox parishes have served not only as houses of worship, but as beacons of cultural identity. Some parishes with older memberships still conduct services in Russian, Greek and other Eastern European languages.

But fragmentation has hampered the collective influence of the Orthodox, church leaders believe, and the latest drive toward unity could serve as a corrective measure.

Metropolitan Philip, leader of the Antiochian Orthodox Church, described the unification effort as “unity with pastoral diversity.”

Many Orthodox parishes, he observed, are composed mainly of recent immigrants, and in those situations it is expected that native tongues will continue to be used in church services instead of English.

“We’re not against that at all,” said Philip. “These are pastoral situations which can very easily be solved.”