Ecumenism in Liturgy?

The Finnish Orthodox Church forms a small minority in a predominantly Lutheran country. Since the 1950s, some changes in liturgical texts have occurred because of this Lutheran presence. This paper discusses three of them: the addition “and all Christians” in the Great Entrance, the addition “through your intercessions” in the prayer formula “Most-holy Theotokos, save us”, and the commemoration of “our Bishop Irja” during the visits of the Lutheran bishop of Helsinki, Irja Askola, in the Uspensky Cathedral of Helsinki in 2015. The author proposes that the two first cases took place in order to reconcile the Orthodox population with their Lutheran surroundings by the commemoration of their non-Orthodox friends and relatives in the liturgy, on one hand, and to explain dogmatic thought that is foreign to Lutheran mentality, on the other. The additions, however, pose theological problems and should not be used as such.