Uniatism, method of union of the past, and the present search for full communion, also known as the Balamand declaration and the Balamand document, is a 1993 report written by the Joint International Commission for Theological Dialogue Between the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church during its 7th plenary session at University of Balamand's Balamand School of Theology in Lebanon. The report discusses ecclesiological principles and suggests practical rules for both the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches to implement about improving relations by reciprocally avoiding interfering in each other's Churches and not using history in a polemical manner. According to Cardinal Edward Cassidy, the report contains three principles: that individuals have the freedom to follow their conscience, that Eastern Catholic Churches have the right to exist, and that uniatism is not the current method of full communion; and two conclusions: that the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches are "Sister Churches" and that rebaptism should be avoided. The Eastern Catholics rejected the report "because it seemed to imply they should never have existed in the first place" while the Eastern Orthodox rejected it because it did not call for the abolition of the Eastern Catholic Churches.
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The suggested ecclesiological principles include that the Eastern Catholic Churches of the Catholic Church should be included the theological dialogue. Monks from Mount Athos monasteries protested against this principle.
The central issue is exclusivity of the doctrine that there is no salvation outside the Church. Missionaries converted other Christians "so as 'to bring them back' to one's own Church. In order to legitimize this tendency, a source of proselytism, the Catholic Church developed the theological vision according to which she presented herself as the only one to whom salvation was entrusted. As a reaction, the Orthodox Church, in turn, came to accept the same vision according to which only in her could salvation be found. To assure the salvation of 'the separated brethren' it even happened that Christians were rebaptized and that certain requirements of the religious freedom of persons and of their act of faith were forgotten." The principle that "the inviolable freedom of persons and their obligation to follow the requirements of their conscience," is foundational, according to Cassidy, "and justifies both the personal choice to adhere to the Catholic Church or to the Orthodox Church, and offers the possibility of returning to the Catholic Church for those communities which in 1945–49 had been forced to convert by Communist regimes to become part of the Orthodox Church," as happened in the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, the Socialist Republic of Romania and the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic.
The report notes that a solution to the problems depends upon "a will to pardon" and to "overcome reciprocal lack of understanding" with a goal of restoring "the full communion which existed for more than a thousand years between our Churches." While the Catholic Church "no longer aims at proselytizing among the Orthodox." The report acknowledges that historically relations between the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Eastern Catholic Churches were "marked by persecutions and sufferings" and that no one should "accuse or disparage the other Church." Churches need to respect all "who suffered, confessed their faith, witnessed their fidelity to the Church, and, in general, towards all Christians, without discrimination, who underwent persecutions." The report suggests that by relinquishing "everything that can foment division, contempt and hatred between the Churches" a resolution to "the extremely complex situation that has been created in Eastern Europe" can be implemented. According to the report, both Churches need to "scrupulously respect the religious liberty of the faithful" which "requires that, particularly in situations of conflict, the faithful are able to express their opinion and to decide without pressure from outside if they wish to be in communion either with the Orthodox Church or with the Catholic Church." A "necessary respect for christian freedom" requires the exclusion of "every form of pressure" and a "respect for consciences" should guide pastoral concerns in both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church. Open dialogue is necessary. "If agreement cannot be reached on the local level, the question should be brought to mixed commissions established by higher authorities."