wfn.org | WCC visit to the Russian Orthodox Church

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

World Council of Churches
Update up-03-32
For Immediate Use
11 July 2003

WCC is place for encounter and dialogue,
Russian Orthodox Church official affirms 

Cf. WCC press release, pr-03-25, 02 July 2003

The continued need to search for Christian unity and to dialogue about the
place of churches in modern culture were among the issues discussed by
Metropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kalingrand, chair of the Moscow
Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations (DECR), and Rev. Dr
Konrad Raiser, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).
Metropolitan Kirill affirmed the importance of the WCC as a place for the
churches to come together and dialogue about how to relate to a secularised
world and how to influence its centres of power. 

The meeting, held on July 7, was attended by other DECR staff and addressed
the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the ecumenical movement and the
state of relations between the Church and the WCC. The meeting took place
during the visit of the WCC general secretary to the Russian Orthodox Church,
4-8 July 2003.

Metropolitan Kirill also expressed his gratitude for the work done by the
Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, which was received
in September 2002 by the WCC Central Committee. Discussions also covered the
challenges posed by the process of globalisation, European integration, and
the tension between unilateralism and multilateralism in international
relations. 

Discussions about the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in the ecumenical
movement continued at a round table on 8 July, also held under the auspices
of the DECR. It was attended by representatives of the clergy of the Russian
Orthodox Church and of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, academics,
journalists from the secular media, and staff of the synodical institutions
of the Russian Orthodox Church. 

Addressing the relationship of the Russian Orthodox Church and the WCC,
Raiser stated that over the past three years the WCC has taken participation
of the Orthodox Churches in the ecumenical movement more seriously than ever
before. Through the work of the Special Commission, he said, "we are creating
a situation where we are more attentive to other voices".  

../2

In turn, the Moscow Patriarchate DECR vice-chairman, Archpriest Vsevolod
Chaplin, noted that there is a lack of understanding between the WCC and
people involved in discussions of religious and societal problems in Russia.
"I don't know why that is. Perhaps it is simply the lack of a large number of
translations between Russian and English, too little or too much
information". As a result, the WCC image is distorted by several stereotypes,
he added. 

Sergei Chapnin, the chief editor of the official newspaper of the Russian
Orthodox Church, Tsekovni Vestnik (The Church Herald), emphasised that the
attitude to ecumenism in the Russian Church made communicating the WCC's work
difficult. "Believers' lack of interest in church life beyond Russia's
borders - be they clergy, laity, or theologians - makes it very difficult to
talk seriously about the ecumenical movement in the secular or church media."

Round table discussions also focused on the WCC's participation in peace
building in many regions of the world and the promotion of justice and human
dignity. Participants expressed the need to identify the influence of the
churches in the areas of political and economic rights and international law.
Raiser noted that in addition to its work on social and political issues, the
WCC never moves away from its task of engaging in theological dialogue with
the aim of the visible unity of the churches. 

Raiser also met Vladimir Zorin, the Russian government minister of Ethnic and
Religious issues. They discussed the issue of religious education in public
schools, now possible in Russia, facing the Russian Orthodox Church with the
need to train teachers of religion.   

Kiev and Minsk
Raiser also visited the Russian Orthodox Church in Kiev, Ukraine, and in
Minsk, Belarus, where he met with church leaders and representatives and
students of ecclesiastical institutions.

On 4 July, Raiser met with Metropolitan Vladimir of Kiev and all Ukraine, and
among other issues, discussed religious life in Ukraine and the relationships
between the religious communities in the country. He also met with the
chairman of the State Committee on Religious Affairs, Victor Bondarenko.     
   
									     

Metropolitan Filaret of Minsk and Slutsk was Raiser's host on July 5 in Minsk
 where he toured reconstruction projects and the rehabilitation centre Dom
Miloserdiya (House of Mercy). This centre, which the WCC supports, works in
rehabilitating children affected by radiation from the Chernobyl accident.

"Five years after my last visit to the Russian Orthodox Church, I noticed
this time very positive changes in the atmosphere in Russia - politically,
socially and economically - which also are reflected in the church and which
I find now different and encouraging", Raiser said. This visit was his third
and last as WCC general secretary, as he retires at the end of 2003. He was
accompanied by Teny Pirri-Simonian, WCC programme executive for church and
ecumenical relations. 

For further information, please contact 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.

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