wfn.org | WCC - Church of Greece interested in closer collaboration

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

with the WCC

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-02-06
For Immediate Use
25 March 2002

Church of Greece interested in closer collaboration with the
WCC

cf. WCC Press Release, PR-02-13, of 20 March 2002

The work of the Special Commission on Orthodox participation in
the World Council of Churches (WCC) "will result in many positive
decisions that will benefit not only the Orthodox churches but
many other member churches of the WCC which have voiced similar
concerns".  

H.B. Christodoulos, Archbishop of Athens and All Greece, made
these remarks in an address to a delegation of WCC
representatives headed by its general secretary, Rev. Dr Konrad
Raiser. The archbishop's comments referred to problems that led
to the establishment of a Special Commission of the WCC to
examine concerns raised by some of its member churches.  

The 21-24 March WCC visit came nine years after a first visit in
1993. Dr Raiser was accompanied by the WCC's deputy general
secretary, Mr Georges Lemopoulos, and its executive secretary for
Church and Ecumenical Relations, Ms Teny Pirri-Simonian.  

During the audience and in the presence of several leading
hierarchs of the Church of Greece, H.B. Christodoulos recalled a
1920 Ecumenical Patriarchate encyclical, and affirmed that the
church cannot "close its eyes to the current every-day problems
faced by its faithful and the society in which they live". It was
these concerns, he said, that led the Orthodox Church of Greece
to become a founding member of the WCC and to participate
actively in its life. This had enabled it to benefit from
involvement in a forum "from which to speak out on matters of
common concern", he said.  

The president of a Synodal Committee on Inter-Orthodox and
Inter-Church Relations, H.E. Metropolitan Amvrosios of Kalavryta,
expressed similar interest in closer collaboration. He observed
that the Orthodox Church of Greece is 
facing new problems today in the context of rapid globalization.
"Many... problems and challenges can no longer be met and dealt
with individually and in isolation. Concerted and coordinated
efforts are needed since most of these challenges... affect all
the churches collectively." Inter-religious encounter and
dialogue in particular are a source of concern for many in the
Church of Greece and therefore need careful ecumenical
consideration, Metropolitan Amvrosios said.  

Welcoming the WCC group towards the end of its visit, H.E.
Dionysios, Metropolitan of Neapolis, affirmed that the Orthodox
Church "has always been and is open to our fellow human beings,
to the world, to the oikoumene; (she) prays and works for the
peace and progress of the whole creation". He concluded with a
prayer "that the Council's work be beneficial to the whole world,
contributing to the resolution of conflicts... and leading us out
of our egotistic self-sufficiency".  

The WCC visit programme included meetings with faculty members
and students of the School of Theology of the University of
Athens as well as of the Theological Faculty of Aristotle
University at Thessaloniki, and a visit to the Church of Greece's
Centre for Bio-Ethics. The delegation met with the leadership of
the Armenian Apostolic Church in Greece and of the Greek
Evangelical Church. In Thessaloniki, the delegation participated
in a meeting of clergy from local churches and communities
considering forms of closer ecumenical collaboration.   

On his return to Geneva, Raiser offered a positive assessment of
the visit. Noting a new spirit of openness for ecumenical
collaboration, he said: "The Church of Greece is conscious of its
tradition going back to the times of the Apostles and of the
witness of those who defended the faith in times of persecution
and oppression. However, it is also aware of the new context of
globalization and European unification that obliges the church to
seek ways of witnessing and acting together with other Christian
churches. While remaining critical of tendencies that could
weaken the principles and the ecclesiological identity of the
Church of Greece, her leading hierarchs have clearly affirmed
their will to continue her active participation in the WCC. This
opens new possibilities for ecumenical collaboration."   

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office, 
tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
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