wfn.org | Title: WCC general secretary to visit Russian Orthodox Church

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release 03-25
For Immediate Use
2 July 2003

WCC general secretary to visit Russian Orthodox Church

Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser will pay his last visit as World Council of Churches
(WCC) general secretary to the Russian Orthodox Church, 4-8 July. It will be
his third visit to the church - the first was in 1993 soon after he had began
serving as WCC general secretary, the second in 1998 before the WCC Assembly
in Harare. 

"Just as I had made inaugural visits to the leadership of the two most
prominent Orthodox churches at the beginning of my service as general
secretary, so I felt I should offer this visit in order to 'take my leave'",
Raiser explained. A visit to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople is
planned for November. Raiser retires at the end of 2003. 

Raiser expressed particular interest in discussing with the church leadership
the response to the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC
and how the Church is anticipating the Ninth Assembly of the WCC in 2006.  

Raiser will meet with the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church in Kiev,
Ukraine; Minsk, Belarus; and Moscow, Russia and visit parishes and projects
of the church.	

In Minsk, he will also make a presentation at a seminar organized by the St.
Kirill and Methodius Centre for Christian Education on "The Role of the World
Council of Churches in the Age of Globalization."  

In Moscow, in addition to meetings with the Patriarchate and Department for
External Church Relations, Raiser will meet with representatives of the
Russian parliament and government.  

The Russian Orthodox Church has been a member of the WCC since 1961. 

For information in Russian on the WCC, see www.wcc-coe.org  

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 /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
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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