For a servant of Christ in His Church, speaking about the God’s care for people is a most natural thing and indeed Providence has always featured prominently in the teachings on the Christian faith. The visit of two pastors of the Danish Lutheran Church, in 1998, was an opportunity afforded by Providence for an encounter between two ecclesial traditions and cultures, markedly different yet with much in common that needed to be shared: pastoral issues, experience exchange, challenges to the Churches in Europe, training of future Church ministers, and openness and dialogue for the benefit of the faithful and the fulfilment of the calling to unity for which Christ prayed to the heavenly Father.

It was indeed a gift of Providence that Martin Boje Kristensen and Karin Vestergaard visited parish communities, schools and projects of the Metropolitanate of Moldavia and Bucovina, Romania to explore avenues for cooperation and mutual growth. Exchange programmes have continued ever since, enabling partnerships between communities in the two Churches, Lutheran and Orthodox. Activities have included visits of Romanian priests to Danish parishes, talks and lectures on spiritual life and pastoral practices, pilgrimages by Danish faithful in Romania, pastoral courses, sacred music concert tours and, in 2006, a high-level visit by Bishop Karsten Nyssen who headed a delegation of pastors, on the invitation of H.E. Metropolitan Daniel, now the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Thanks to the commitment and efforts of the Inter-Church Committee in Denmark led by Pastor Paul Erik Knudsen, every year Romanian students have been offered traineeships in social assistance at Diakon Highschool in Aarhus.

From the Romanian perspective, the experience and benefits of this exchange have been immeasurable. Perhaps one of the chief aspects of this cooperation refers to the deeper engagement of the laity in the Church at this end, for they are the Church indeed. Whereas often in the Orthodox milieus the Church is viewed as a ritualistic and traditional institution, the Danish experience has shown that she is called to be in the midst of society, among the people of God, through programmes and actions that help to cultivate virtues such as peace, cohesion, understanding, dialogue, education, hospitality, and healing, without losing any of its liturgical, dogmatic or canonical heritage. Here is the statement of one of the Romanian priests attending the programme: “I have often wondered: Why are Lutheran ministers interested in the pastoral activity in the Orthodox world? I found the answer immediately after coming into close contact with their pastoral-missionary and especially philanthropic activities. I realise that we, Orthodox priests, have a receptive audience, our voice is respected and the faithful have steadfast faith in God, although the priests are expected do more for the faithful … I have learnt from our Danish partners how we can develop activities for and with the faithful. We still have a lot to learn about how the Church must be engaged in social life. I have understood and become aware of the need to expand my English vocabulary with theological terms, to develop my knowledge and communication tools and now I appreciate the importance for any Romanian priest of speaking an international language.”

We have noticed and admired the Danish pastors’ knowledge of the Orthodox milieu, their interest in the theology of the icon, in developing the religious education system and in the effective and coherent engagement of the Church in social issues placing the human person at the forefront of their concerns.

The cooperation thus far, which we hope will expand on the long term, provides an opportunity to highlight several positive aspects of the two cultural and religious contexts. The continuation of the exchange and training programmes is more than necessary to provide opportunities for mutual knowledge, for Protestants to become familiar with Orthodox teaching and spirituality and for the Orthodox to be able to implement more community programmes based on the Danish experience for even in those who do not attend the church regularly there image of God is present. It is an opportunity for our Churches to express a common Christian statement, to bring light against the darkness of global secularisation, to proclaim and bring living witness before people that the Lord, through His Providence, brings us together so that together we may discover Him more profoundly, as the disciples Luke and Cleopas did on the road to Emmaus.