Professor Constantine Scouteris: theologian

From The London Times-

Professor Constantine Scouteris was one of Greece’s foremost theologians, specialising in ecclesiology, the mystery of the Church as a theanthropic institution, and in Christian anthropology, the nature and purpose of human existence.

Never swayed or distracted by the passing fashions in his approach to theology, Scouteris was attuned to the more serious concerns of the day, and always focused on the perennial, ultimate questions of life. He was deeply convinced that communion — personal communion — was the key to world unity and peace, and so the greatest question for him was how to enter into real communion with others and attain to true unity.

Professor Scouteris was a man of considerable culture and learning, who worked tirelessly, for nearly 40 years, as a responsible and faithful representative of the Orthodox Church in ecumenical dialogue at the highest level, and constantly strove to build bridges by which reconciliation could take place. But the answer to the question of unity was to be found, ultimately, in the person of Elder Porphyrios of Athens, Scouteris’ spiritual father and the personification of the Orthodox Patristic tradition, with whom he enjoyed a long and enduring friendship. For Scouteris, Porphyrios was nothing less than “an angel incarnate”, who in his life bore witness to the unconditional love of Jesus Christ.

Paraphrasing Porphyrios, Scouteris would say, “The goal of the Christian is not to receive gifts from God. It is love,” which is “an exodus from selfishness”. This “exodus from selfishness” and this love come as a direct result of communion with God.

“Communion,” he said, “is the greatest gift that God has bestowed on the human race” — communion with one another, the ability to enter into a personal relationship with one’s neighbour.

More here-

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article6982811.ece