Fifty million Christians, one of the largest ecclesial groupings in northern Europe, were drawn into formal relationship and visible unity with one another by an agreement, known as "The Porvoo Agreement", signed and inaugurated in 1996.
The agreement, named after the cathedral city in Finland where delegates had attended the Eucharist on the final Sunday of their meeting, was concluded following far-reaching theological conversations from 1989 to 1992.
The significance of the Porvoo Agreement has now been recognised among theologians and churches worldwide. However, until the agreement generates encounters at local level, its worth may not be fully appreciated.
A meeting in Dublin last weekend of the co-ordinating group of this new communion of churches, known as the Porvoo Communion, was a valuable opportunity not only to underscore the existence of this relationship, but also to ask whether the Porvoo process itself can catalyse local ecumenical efforts and the wider oikoumene.
Ten of the 12 churches which drafted the agreement endorsed it. Historically divided, they are now committed to sharing a common sacramental life and ministry. The Lutheran churches involved are: the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Iceland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Lithuania, the Church of Norway and the Church of Sweden.
The Anglican churches involved are the Church of England, the Church of Ireland, the Scottish Episcopal Church, and the Church in Wales. The Church of Denmark participates as an observer while the Church of Latvia has not yet completed its decision-making.
In accordance with the Porvoo Agreement the signatory churches regard baptised members of each other's churches as members of their own; they welcome overseas congregations into the life of the receiving church; they welcome those who are ordained as bishops, priests, and deacons in any of the 10 churches to minister in accordance with the receiving church's regulations; and consult on significant matters of faith and order, life and work.
There is an annual review of the progress of these undertakings. A consultation of church leaders was held in Turku, Finland, in March 1998. The primates of the churches will meet in 1999, and a conference of theologians is planned for later next year.
A powerful symbol of this newfound unity was the participation of Lutheran priests at the ordination of the Rev Lynda Peilow last Sunday in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin. They shared with Church of Ireland priests in the laying-on of hands and the Bishop of Porvoo, the Rt Rev Erik Vikstrom, was the preacher.
The rediscovery by these historic churches of many common roots, together with three major influences, energised a process of coming closer. The influences included a series of theological conversations which took place between Anglicans and Lutherans in the Nordic and Baltic region between 1909 and 1951, a series of Anglo-Scandinavian conferences begun in 1929 and pastoral conferences begun in 1978, and a new worldwide climate of theological debate (in particular the Niagara Report of 1988, which threw new light on old questions of faith and order).
In a time caricatured as "ecumenical winter", and marked by a gnawing pessimism in the wake of the ambivalent response of the Roman Catholic Church to the work of the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), the Porvoo Agreement is an encouragement to many pilgrims on the ecumenical journey.
The agreement's ability to surmount the obstacle of separate understandings of the episcopate, by focusing on episcope as a "sign" within a broad interpretation of the apostolicity of the church, has been invaluable.
If, however, agreements such as this are not to be discarded as ecclesiastical tourism, they must take effect at local level. In Ireland the diocese of Down and Connor has twinned with the diocese of Linkoping in Sweden.
People working in the Nordic and Baltic countries and Irish young people attending an annual youth event in Sweden, together with Scandinavian members of the Porvoo churches who can now marry in Church of Ireland churches as "Protestant Episcopalians" under the terms of the Marriages Acts, attest to the practical progress that has been achieved.
In addition, there is scope for ministry by the Church of Ireland to approximately 110,000 tourists annually and up to 2,000 residents in Ireland from Nordic and Baltic countries, some of whom are likely to be members of the churches of the Porvoo Communion.
In the light of even one ecumenical success, such as the Porvoo Agreement, the pace and progress of ecumenism in Ireland are brought into focus. There is little doubt that the Porvoo Communion itself has yet to achieve the task of making fully visible the unity which it has formally accomplished.
Notwithstanding the challenges it still faces, it can act as a paradigm and encouragement for others on the ecumenical journey. If one group of churches can overcome significant difficulties, can there not be similar renewed attention to overcoming remaining differences between Irish churches?
The Porvoo Agreement shows us it is possible to attain agreement on difficult issues. Could not this success inspire us to work more energetically to resolve even one painful challenge, say Eucharistic hospitality, so that Christians in Ireland celebrating the second millennium of Our Lord's birth might do so around one table?
Canon Paul Colton is a member of the Standing Committee of the General Synod of the Church of Ireland and represented the Church of Ireland at the Porvoo Conversations. He is also rector of Castleknock and Mulhuddart with Clonsilla.
The Porvoo Communion website is at http://www.svkyrkan.se/porvoo