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A Hungarian Theologian Abroad: The Reception of the Lima Document in the Works of Gellért Békés OSB (1915–1999)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Fülöp Kisnémet OSB Open the ORCID record for Fülöp Kisnémet OSB [Opens in a new window]
Fülöp Kisnémet OSB*
Affiliation:
Archabbey of Pannonhalma, Hungary
*
fulop@osb.hu
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Abstract

This article aims to provide an insight into the ecumenical work of a Hungarian Benedictine monk, Gellért Békés. First, I offer a short overview of Békés's life, who was forced into exile by the socialist regime and who spent almost half a century as Professor at the University of Saint Anselm in Rome. Next, I review Békés's publications and the main thrust of his thinking in the field of ecumenical theology. The central part of my article is devoted to the presentation of his Italian monograph (Eucaristia e chiesa, 1985), which can be considered to be his most important work and in which he gives a comprehensive account of his ecumenical theology of the Eucharist, especially in the light of the Lima Document of 1982. His major contribution lies in the fact that he took into account the interrelation between the various ecumenical documents and he integrated the newly retrieved dimensions of the Eucharist. He also commented on the idea of Real Presence developed by the Lima Document in the light of Catholic doctrine. Last but not least, this article wants to contribute to the reception of Békés's thought, which has hardly begun even in his own country.

Keywords

Gellért BékésEucharistecumenical dialoguereception of the Lima DocumentHungarian theology
Type
Original Article
Information
New Blackfriars , Volume 104 , Issue 1111 , May 2023 , pp. 339 - 351
Copyright
Copyright © 2023 Provincial Council of the English Province of the Order of Preachers

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References

1 I am very grateful to Professor Beáta Tóth (Sapientia College of Theology of Religious Orders, Budapest, Hungary) for her help in finalising the study.

2 For a comprehensive bibliography up to 1994, see: Somorjai, Ádám (ed.), Unum omnes in Christo. In unitatis servitio. Miscellanea Gerardo J. Békés O.S.B. Octogenario dedicata, vol. 1 (Pannonhalma: Bencés Kiadó, 1995), pp. 63-80Google Scholar.

3 Békés, Gerardo J., ‘La successione nella tradizione apostolica. Il problema del rapporto fra la successione del ministero e la paradosis apostolica nel documento’, in Farnedi, Giustino - Rouillard, Philippe, eds., Il ministero ordinato nel dialogo ecumenico. Riflessioni di teologi cattolici sul documento di Lima 1982. Atti del VII. Convegno di Teologia Sacramentaria 22-24 nov. 1984. Scritti in onore di Gerardo J. Békés (Roma: Pontificio Ateneo S. Anselmo, 1985), pp. 143-64Google Scholar.

4 Békés, Gerard J., Eucaristia e chiesa. Ricerca dell'unità nel dialogo ecumenico (Casale Monferrato: Edizione Piemme, 1985)Google Scholar.

5 Békés, Gerard J., Eucaristia e chiesa, pp. 31-57Google Scholar.

6 Békés, Gerard J., Eucaristia e chiesa, pp. 59-80Google Scholar. At the beginning of this reflection, it is important to note that the work of Max Thurian, the prominent Catholic theologian of the Lima Document, was surprisingly referred to only a few times in Békés's book.

7 Békés, Gerardo J. OSB, ‘The Eucharist Makes the Church. The Ecclesial Dimension of the Sacrament’, in Latourelle, René, ed., Vatican II. Assesment and Perspectives. Twenty-five Years After (1962-1987), vol. 2 (New York: Paulist Press, 1989), pp. 347-63Google Scholar.

8 Békés, Gerardo J., ‘Parola e sacramento. Il rapporto tra due fattori nella partecipazione alla salvezza’, Ecclesia orans 3 (1991), pp. 261-76Google Scholar. In this study, Békés engages with Karl Rahner's insights, and in another related paper he quotes Walter Kasper's reflections.

9 Békés, Gerard J., Eucaristia e chiesa, pp. 81-100Google Scholar.

10 See, Bilaniuk, Petro B. T., ‘Eucaristia e chiesa. Ricerca dell'unità nel dialogo ecumenico’, Journal of Ecumenical Studies 1 (1988), p. 123Google Scholar.

11 Békés, Gerard J., ‘The growing awareness of the Una Sancta: convergencies in ecumenical ecclesiology’, Journal of Ecumenical Studies 4 (1979), pp. 691-704Google Scholar.

12 See, for example, Wainwright, Geoffrey, ‘Any Advance on “BEM”? The Lima Text at Twenty-Five’, Studia Liturgica 1 (2007), pp. 1-29CrossRefGoogle Scholar, see: pp. 2-5.

13 McPartlan, Paul, ‘Eucharist’, in Wainwright, Geoffrey and McPartlan, Paul, eds., The Oxford Handbook of Ecumenical Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2021), pp. 257-74Google Scholar, see: pp. 261-64.

14 Kasper, Walter, ‘Einheit und Vielfalt der Aspekte der Eucharistie. Zur neuerlichen Diskussion um Grundgestalt und Grundsinn der Eucharistie’, Communio. Internationale katholische Zeitschrift 3 (1985), pp. 196-215Google Scholar. The article appeared in English in the 1989 edited volume Theology and church.

15 The following study has drawn my attention to these aspects: Link, Hans-Georg, ‘The Lima Process. After Thirty Years’, The Ecumenical Review 3 (2013), pp. 352-67CrossRefGoogle Scholar, see: pp. 362-63.

16 Bianchi, Luca, Eucaristia ed ecumenismo. Pasqua di tutti i cristiani (Bologna: Edizioni Dehoniane Bologna, 2007)Google Scholar.

17 Ferracci, Luca, Battesimo, eucaristia, ministero. Genesi e destino di un documento ecumenico (Bologna: Il Mulino, 2021)Google Scholar.