wfn.org | WCC TRIBUTE TO POPE PETROS VII

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

World Council of Churches - Press Release
For immediate release: 13 September 2004

WCC TRIBUTE TO POPE PETROS VII, PATRIARCH OF ALEXANDRIA AND ALL AFRICA

It was with "deep sadness" that the World Council of Churches (WCC) received
news of the "tragic accident in which Pope Petros VII, Greek Orthodox
patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa and other members of the Patriarchate,
including bishops, priests and lay staff, lost their lives". 

In a letter sent today to the Patriarchate's authorities, WCC acting general
secretary Georges Lemopoulos laments the loss of "a tireless witness of the
gospel, a true servant of the people committed into his care by God, an
advocate of fraternity and peace among peoples, an enthusiastic animator and
renovator, a builder of the ecumenical movement in the Middle East, in
Africa, and the world". 

His Beatitude Pope Petros VII, Greek Orthodox patriarch of Alexandria and All
Africa, was killed last Saturday in a helicopter crash over the Aegean Sea
while he was travelling to the Mount Athos monastery in northern Greece.
Along with him, 17 other people were killed in the accident. 

The full text of the letter is available at
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/ecumenical/petros.html

A statement from the Middle East Council of Churches is available at:
http://www.mecchurches.org/posandpress/news.asp?id=180

Biographical information on H.B. Petros VII is available at:
http://www.greece.org/gopatalex/SA/English/Obituaries/PetrosVII.html 

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 342, 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.