Though Orientalium Ecclesiarum received less publicity than Lumen Gentium and Unitatis Redintegratio, all promulgated on 21.11.1964, disputes brought issues to the fore which make one wonder whether Orientalium Ecclesiarum's interpretative key does not lie in these disputes. We may not speak of two conflicting souls in Orientalium Ecclesiarum, but of two perspectives, a Catholic Eastern and an ecumenical. Together they spell out what is at stake in Eastern ecumenism; separated they distort the identity of Catholic Eastern Churches. Offering the hitherto (...) most specific image of the East in a conciliar document, Orientalium Ecclesiarum treats some Vatican II themes better than other documents. The overriding issue is how to keep both identity and communion; for Orientalium Ecclesiarum, it can only mean identity through communion. (shrink)