Options are needed in the institutional re-ordering of the Eastern and Western
Church’s ecclesiastical government. There is doubt that the traditional
territorial schemata, that is, the status quo of the ecclesiastical understanding
of the East and West can continue as the philosophical understanding that
supports them evolves from a Hellenistic to a phenomenological perspective. In
the future, the “architectural” form of ecclesiastical government most likely
will be replaced by an “organic” form of ecclesial governance. The organic form
of governance cannot be derived from any pre-existing philosophical or
political principle. Organic governance, which is phenomenologically
constituted, is based on the natural inclination of the faithful to remain
together forming their ecclesial frameworks that are appropriate to the
cultural, traditional and economic contexts of public life. Faith communities,
will be constituted as living organisms that evolve. They will not be constructed
as juridical philosophical or political structures, based on territory, that are
meant to exist for all time. The organic church of the future will present the
possibility for a new governance model of the faithful to meet its needs as
constituted through a phenomenological philosophy, to meet just as the
current architectural government was constructed through a classical
(Hellenistic) philosophy to meet the needs of that time.