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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 10, 2002

Contact: Nikki Stournaras
(617) 850-1213
  Office of the Dean
Holy Cross School of Theology

       INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE ORTHODOX CHURCHES AND PLURALISM
			   CONCLUDES AT HOLY CROSS

Brookline,  Mass.  ?  The  International  Conference entitled "The Orthodox
Churches  in  a Pluralistic World: An Ecumenical Conversation" concluded on
Saturday,  October  5  with  the  participants	adopting a statement of the
proceedings which is included below.

The  conference,  which was held on the campus of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox
School	of  Theology,  was  jointly  sponsored	by Holy Cross and the World
Council   of  Churches,  and  presented  in  cooperation  with	the  Boston
Theological  Institute	and  the Initiatives in Religion and Public Life of
Harvard  Divinity  School.   Funding  for  the	event  was  provided by the
Archbishop  Iakovos  Leadership  100 Endowment Fund, the Marcelle R. Varver
Foundation,  the  Dr.  Gregory	G. Floridis Endowment, the Dormition of the
Virgin	Mary Parish of Somerville, Mass., and the Martha Karathanasis Grant
for Conferences in Memory of David Kambourelis.

The   conference   provided   a  unique  forum	for  addressing  issues  of
globalization,	human rights, religious violence, and pluralism by bringing
together  many renowned theologians and scholars from throughout the world,
including  His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios, Primate of the Greek Orthodox
Church	in  America  and  Dr. Konrad Raiser, General Secretary of the World
Council of Churches.

At  the conclusion of the conference, the participants reviewed and adopted
a  general  statement  of  the	proceedings  which  highlights	the  issues
presented  and their interrelationship with the theology and mission of the
Orthodox  Church.   This  statement  is  also  available on-line along with
texts,	   audio,     and     additional    conference	  information	 at
http://www.goarch.org/en/special/hchc_conference/.

CONFERENCE STATEMENT

Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology
Brookline, Massachusetts

The Orthodox Churches in a Pluralistic World: An Ecumenical Conversation
October 3-5, 2002

I. Introduction

1.1  From October 3 - 5, 2002, hierarchs, clergy, scholars and theologians,
students and interested members of the community convened at Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts to discuss
the topic "The Orthodox Churches in a Pluralistic World." The conference
was subtitled "An Ecumenical Conversation" and the speakers represented the
diversity of Christian traditions. The conference was co-sponsored by the
World Council of Churches and was held in cooperation with the Boston
Theological Institute and the Initiatives in Religion and Public Life of
Harvard Divinity School. The conversation was enriching and edifying. We
thank Holy Cross and the conference sponsors for the opportunity to engage
in a conversation on these issues in an atmosphere of mutual respect.

1.2  The issue was placed before the conference plainly: It was stated,
"All religions have to come to terms with the reality of religious
plurality."  The keynote address defined the challenge posed to Orthodoxy
in positive terms: "The pluralistic world is not an obstacle to Orthodoxy;
it is rather an opportunity. In a pluralistic global society, the Orthodox
Church is challenged to match her incarnational Christology with an equally
incarnational ecclesiology." The pledge of St. Paul to the first-century
Corinthian Church was proposed as a paradigm for meeting the contemporary
challenges of globalization and pluralism, "I have become all things to all
people, that I might by all means save some" (1 Corinthians 9.22). The
challenge of pluralism is to come to terms with the challenge of
relatedness between and among communities and people of different religions
and cultural traditions.

1.3  The participants offered analyses and insights into the issues of
globalization and pluralism, including such areas as human rights and
violence, the rise of nationalism and ethnic conflict, social activism and
mission, and the need for reconciliation and forgiveness.

II. Globalization and Pluralism

2.1  Globalization is the transcendence of territorial boundaries and the
compression of time and space through the rise of information technologies,
transnational financial corporations, networks and markets, international
movements seeking universal human rights and a sustainable environment, and
the emergence of non-territorial, flexible organizations and networks. This
reality has challenged the assumptions of modernity about privatized
religion and secular public space.

2.2  Religious communities have entered the public sphere with both
positive and negative messages in response to this globalization. The
events of September 11 are a dramatic example of a negative response. On
the other hand, religion has unexpectedly emerged as the only significant
moral force against an unchecked global economism since the fall of
communism. The Church has to discern how to be a public actor, agent of
change, and conscience-keeper without becoming a political actor.

2.3  Pluralism is the reality in which all religions now find themselves.
No religious community can assume a religiously homogeneous society, but
must learn to function in a "religious marketplace." It was pointed out
that pluralism "is not just another word for diversity? or a mere tolerance
of the other (but) an engagement, not the abdication, of differences and
particularities." In fact, within Orthodox parishes in America, there is a
parish pluralism, with communities comprised of members from many ethnic
backgrounds and through inter-Christian marriage, various Christian
traditions.

2.4  It was stated that "particular, local cultures and communities are
challenged by the new globalizing cultural realities to re-define their
identities in light of the presence of ? multiple others.? All particular
cultures and identities in a globalized [and pluralistic] world are
involved in a highly complex and dialectical process of reconfiguring
themselves in conversation with ? multiple others, as ideas and cultural
forms invade their living space."

2.5  Theologically, the Orthodox Churches have been relatively silent on
these realities. At times, many Orthodox Churches have exhibited ambivalent
behavior in response to their new pluralistic environment due to their
socio-political history. However, the possibilities of constructive
engagement over static ambivalence is dependent upon "the willingness of
Orthodox churches to remain faithful to the Trinitarian concept of
pluralism at the center of the Orthodox theological imagination." The
translation of the Holy Scriptures into multiple languages and the
diversity of liturgical expressions are examples of the Church's concern
for "the particular and specific cultural elements of local" communities,
meeting the needs of socio-cultural and ethnic pluralism.

III. Human Rights and Violence

3.1  The concept of human rights is a modern Enlightenment concept rooted
in western cultural and religious traditions of the Middle Ages. The
ancient Greek concept of the city (polis) affirmed a contrary concept of
what we today call "human rights." The Orthodox concept of personhood
transformed the ancient Greek political event into the Eucharistic body of
the Christian Church.

3.2  The "Ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence" has caused us to reflect
on the links between "religion and violence." In the Judeo-Christian
tradition, violence is notably absent in the creation story, yet present in
the journey of the Hebrew people. Orthodoxy provides a non-violent
alternative to western Christianity's atonement theology based on Christ as
sacrificial scapegoat by an incarnational soteriology in which Christ
shares our mortal human nature, restoring it through His death on the Cross
and His resurrection. Violence is clearly a part of our sinful, fallen
condition. While disagreements may exist as to whether it is permissible,
much less necessary, to limit violence through violent means, such means
can never be viewed as a "good."  There is no just war theology in the
Orthodox Tradition.

3.3  While love of one's homeland is a positive value, nationalism or
ethnophyletism is destructive when it rejects pluralism, i.e.,"when it
fails to acknowledge, or deliberately ignores the distinctiveness of
others." Phyletism may be characterized as the idolization of national
loyalty, which is not authentic to Orthodox tradition, but rather reflects
the manipulation of the Church by the State. While the Orthodox Churches
condemned phyletism in 1872, "nationalism remains one of the central
problems of the Church," in the words of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.
Ethnic violence and ethnic cleansing caused by excessive nationalism must
be condemned by all people of faith. Violence against one nation in order
to "save" another nation sets us against Christ by applying the same logic
used to crucify Christ. The Church's rejection of ethnophyletism  is based
on Orthodox theological anthropology, which sees the image of God in all
persons, and on an incarnational soteriology, which proclaims that Christ
died for all.

IV. Reconciliation

4.1  Globalization and pluralism make forgiveness and reconciliation not a
private affair but a public statement of far-reaching political importance.
If forgiveness is real and the possibilities of reconciliation manifold,
how do people and communities of faith model this reality in a civil
society?

4.2  Orthodox theology requires an eschatological orientation. The Church
is not to be identified as the Kingdom of God, but prepares the way for the
Kingdom, which will culminate in the eschaton. "An eschatological vision of
reality and the world offers a way out of the impasse" of the negative
impact of globalization and pluralism. It offers a prophetic critique of
our present status and offers a vision of God's intent for humanity and the
cosmos. Our unrealized eschatology must be matched by a realized
eschatology, with implications for our presence and conduct in the public
arena. The dynamism of the "ecclesia" depends on its ability to hold
together its present "being" and its "vocation" in a creative tension.

4.3  Thus, theology does not absolve the Orthodox Churches from working as
an agent of reconciliation and forgiveness. Orthodoxia requires
orthopraxia. We pray, "Your kingdom come. Your will be done." The Standing
Conference of Canonical Orthodox Bishops affirmed (Sept. 20, 2002), "As we
pray, so we believe. As we pray, so we act." Evidence of Orthodox Churches
and Orthodox Christians acting as they pray and believe is growing on a
global scale in the area of missions and evangelism, service to the poor
and victims of violence, and working to challenge structures of injustice
and oppression. Nevertheless, we must strengthen our prophetic voice and
our ecclesial response in solidarity with the oppressed, victims, and
economically disadvantaged as a necessary consequence of our recognition of
all persons bearing the image of God.

The Conference speakers were: His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios
(Trakatellis), Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America; Metropolitan John
(Pelushi) of Korga (Albania); Richard Falk, Princeton University, USA; Rev.
Dr. Emmanuel Clapsis, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, USA;
Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Boston University, USA; Dr. David Little, Harvard
Divinity School, USA; Dr. Christos Yannaras, Panteion University of Athens,
Greece; Dr. Diana Eck, Harvard University, USA; Dr. Konrad Raiser, World
Council of Churches, Switzerland; Rev. Dr. Stanley Harakas, Holy Cross
Greek Orthodox School of Theology, USA; Dr. Petros Vassiliadis, Aristotle
University of Thessalonike, Greece; V. Rev. Dr. George Tsetsis,
Switzerland; Rev. Dr. Thomas FitzGerald, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School
of Theology, USA; Prof. Paschalis Kitromilides, University of Athens,
Greece; Rev. Kwame Labi, World Council of Churches, Switzerland, Rev. Dr.
John Chryssavgis, Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology, USA; Dr.
Christopher Duraisingh, Episcopal Divinity School, USA; Dr. Rodney
Petersen, Boston Theological Institute, USA.

Prepared by

Valerie Karras, Th.D., Ph.D.
St. Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

Deenabandhu Manchala
World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland

Anton C. Vrame, Ph.D.
Patriarch Athenagoras Orthodox Institute, Berkeley, California, USA
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