Joint Missions as means of Orthodox Unity

Met Boulos Yazigi & Met Yohanna Ibrahim
(Kidnapped doing humanitarian work in Syria on 22 April, 2013)

I wonder if cooperation in our missions and service can also be a way of actualizing the agreements between the Orthodox families that were worked out in the Orthodox Joint Commission? A similar suggestion was discussed in this post http://orthodoxyisorthodoxy.blogspot.ca/2012/12/practical-steps-to-implement-joint.html :

EPISCOPAL COLLABORATION in such areas as parish visitation, publishing, and social service programs. As soon as Chalcedonians see their bishops alongside non-Chalcedonian bishops, and vice versa, working for a common cause, bonds of fraternity will be quick to form. Bishops of the two communities could make plans for joint visitation of certain parishes, especially in cities where both Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian parishes are found (e.g., Boston, New York, Los Angeles). Publication projects, especially those relevant to the common roots and shared faith of the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian traditions, could be undertaken jointly. When responding to the human needs created by natural disasters and political strife, why could our churches not pool their resources, thereby manifesting a united Orthodox witness in the secular world? Why, for example, should the non-Chalcedonian churches not be asked to join with their Chalcedonian counterparts in the work of the International Orthodox Christian Charities (IOCC)? Such common effort produces common vision.

+ Fr Theodore Pulcini, "Eastern Orthodox-Oriental Orthodox Relations: Practical Steps Toward Unity." St. Nersess Theological Review 1. no.1 (New York: St. Nersess Armenian Seminary Press, 2006) 63-65.

Perhaps such unity can be worked out on a lay level even as they are being worked on on the level of our hierarchs. 

Rather than setting up competing jurisdictions in the mission field...

"... in every area there should exist one Orthodox Bishop, with his simple or rather combined flock, who as the true spiritual father and pastor will labour to meet the needs and sensitivities of his flock demonstrating reverence and understanding in regards to the language, particular customs and traditions, etc.

United Orthodoxy will progress and will triumph. The hope of the world today is Orthodoxy and all of us Orthodox need to understand this, putting aside every minor difference and to respond in unity to the will of the Lord, who “desires that all men should be saved and come to the knowledge of truth” (1 Tim 2:4)."

+ Metropolitan of New Zealand, Amfilochios, http://modeoflife.org/2013/01/30/the-greatness-of-pan-orthodoxy/