Balamand declaration

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;^{: nn3, 13, 15} and two conclusions: that the Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Churches are "Sister Churches" and that rebaptism should be avoided.^{: nn14, 19} 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.^{: 366–367}