WCC NEWS: Orthodox response to Nature and Mission of the Church

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World Council of Churches - News

AN ORTHODOX RESPONSE TO THE NATURE AND MISSION OF THE CHURCH

For immediate release: 14 March 2011

“Without any doubt, ecclesiology remains in our times the crucial
issue for Christian theology in ecumenical perspective.” This was one of
the conclusions drawn by a week-long consultation in Cyprus at which forty
Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox representatives provided a common
response to The Nature and Mission of the Church, a 2005 ecumenical text
published by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of
Churches (WCC).

Ecclesiology, or the theological self-understanding of the church, sets out
to define the role of the church, its nature and mission, and in the
ecumenical setting to explain issues and difficulties that divide churches
from one another.

The inter-Orthodox consultation took place from 2 to 9 March and produced
an eleven-page report as well as a communiqué detailing highlights of the
discussion. It was held at the invitation of the WCC to facilitate the
Orthodox churches’ discussion of The Nature and Mission of the Church.

Orthodox participants were joined by several members of the Faith and Order
Commission and the WCC staff including general secretary Rev. Dr Olav
Fykse Tveit.

The consultation noted that the Faith and Order document draws on a variety
of ecclesial traditions and is organized in accordance with western
philosophical methods. This approach makes the text “difficult to
recognize as characteristically Orthodox” and in the end “it fails to
reach the level of a ‘convergence text’”, cautioned the final
report.

The communiqué from Cyprus recognizes the 2005 text as a step in the long
journey toward the visible unity of the One Church, adding, “We are
grateful for the efforts of the Faith and Order Commission and acknowledge
all those who worked under difficult circumstances to draft this
ecumenical document.”

The consultation stressed the urgency of overcoming separation among
churches, quoting St Basil the Great (330-379 A.D.): “I think then that
the one goal of all who are really and truly serving the Lord ought to be
to bring back to union the churches who have at different times and in
diverse manners divided from one another.”

The report of the consultation will be presented to the commission with a
compilation of suggestions for re-drafting the study document as the quest
continues for ecumenical consensus in matters of ecclesiology.

(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=7cf212fde471fe5a55e3
)
Communiqué of the inter-Orthodox consultation (pdf) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=ce9e41c1c15795c56d1b
)

Report  of the inter-Orthodox consultation (pdf) (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=cd6324843eea79d24cc7
)


More information on “The Nature and Mission of the Church” study
process (Link: http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=3c249957067596ba4620 )
Read also:

Press release: Inter-Orthodox consultation begins discussion on the nature
of the church (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=c3c3b7bea33d0d76630e
) (4 March 2011)

Feature article: Text and Context: The Nature and Mission of the Church
(Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=9ff01e6925460da29a74
) (13 October 2009)


The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness 
and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of 
churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, 
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 
from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.



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