wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Christodoulos for dialogue and renewed mission

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World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
For immediate release - 10/05/2005

CHRISTODOULOS AFFIRMS ECUMENICAL DIALOGUE
AND RENEWED IDENTITY AND MISSION

Free photos available at
www.mission2005.org

The archbishop of Athens and all of Greece, His Beatitude Christodoulos,
affirmed the need for ecumenical encounter and dialogue, as well as for a
new articulation of Christian identity and mission in order to face
contemporary challenges.

Addressing some 700 participants at the opening session of the 9-16 May
Conference on World Mission and Evangelism, Christodoulos welcomed it as
an "important and timely" event, in face of the "many and difficult
challenges which confront all Christians today".

The head of the (Orthodox) Church of Greece emphasized the "determination
to join our forces with other Christians in dialogue and common witness"
in spite of the "past bitter experience from aggressive missionary
activities and hostile actions" suffered by his church.

"We Orthodox do not only benefit from the ecumenical encounter and
dialogue but also bring challenges coming from our history-long mission
experience and our mission theology with echoes from the time of the early
Christian communities," he said.

However, since the world today "is no longer the same as the world our
church lived in in the past and developed her mission theology and
praxis," Christodoulos acknowledged the "need for a new articulation both
of our Christian identity and of our mission, without of course compromising our faith."

Among the new realities challenging churches today, he mentioned the
growing effects of globalization, the increased movement of populations,
the fact that societies everywhere are becoming multireligious, as well as
the consequences of terrorism and the war on terror. All of them challenge
churches to rediscover their prophetic voice.

"When peoples are more and more impoverished while the rich are becoming
richer" while economic and political decisions are presented as "historically unavoidable," the church has to be "on the side of peace, the poor, the
marginalized, and the powerless," he affirmed.

Christodoulos also highlighted the achievements of the Special Commission
on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, and affirmed that "a new era in
WCC-Orthodox relations is about to be inaugurated".

The full text of the speech is available on the conference website at:
www.mission2005.org > Resources> Documents

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
media@wcc-coe.org

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The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 347, in
more than 120 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, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.