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ACNS 3988     |     ACO     |	  16 JUNE 2005

Communiqué from The International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox
Theological Dialogue

Phtotograph for this article is available here:
http://www.anglicancommunion.org/acns/articles/39/75/acns3988.cfm

The Kykkos Monastery, Cyprus, June 2005

The International Commission of the Anglican-Orthodox Theological Dialogue
met in the Holy Royal and Stavropegic Monastery of Kykkos, in Cyprus, from
Thursday, June 2nd - Wednesday, June 8th, 2005, as guests of the Church of
Cyprus and of the Most Revd Bishop Nikiforos of Kykkos, the Abbot of the
monastery.

The Commission wish to record their gratitude to His Eminence the Abbot,
the brothers and staff of Kykkos Monastery for the warmth of their welcome,
and to Bishop Vasilios of Trimithus who has organised and co-ordinated the
many aspects of this meeting, together with the staff of the Ecumenical
Relations Office of the Church of Cyprus.

The Commission consists of representatives of the Orthodox Churches and of
the Anglican Communion. The Dialogue began its work by exploring
theological and doctrinal issues of concern for dialogue between the
Anglican and Orthodox Churches in 1973. Agreements reached in its first two
stages were set out in the Moscow Agreed Statement of 1976 and the Dublin
Agreed Statement of 1984. In its present third phase, which began in 1989,
the Commission has been examining our understanding of the Church in the
light of our faith in the Holy Trinity, the Person of Christ and the Holy
Spirit. From 1989, the Commission has met on an annual or biannual basis,
completing Statements on Trinity and the Church, Christ, the Spirit and the
Church, Christ, Humanity and the Church (all 1998), Episcope, Episcopos,
and the Church (2001), Christ, the Priesthood and the Church (2002).

In 2003, at Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, the Commission began its current round
of study on the subject of the ministries of women and men in the Church,
of questions of Heresy and Schism, and of Reception.

In Kykkos, the Commission completed the work on these Agreed Statements,
and will meet next year to finalise the text of the complete cycle of
Statements agreed in the current phase from 1989 to date in preparation for
publication.

Metropolitan John of Pergamon Bishop Mark Dyer
Orthodox Co-Chairman Anglican Co-Chairman

Kykkos, Monday, 6th June, 2005

Commission Members present in Cyprus were:

Orthodox Representatives
Ecumenical Patriarchate Metropolitan John of Pergamon (Co-chair),
Patriarchate of Alexandria Metropolitan Petros of Aksum,
Patriarchate of Antioch Fr Alexander Haig,
Patriarchate of Moscow Bishop Basil of Sergievo,
Patriarchate of Romania Archbishop Nifon of Targoviste,
Patriarchate of Georgia Bishop Gerasim of Zugdid and Tsaishi,
Patriarchate of Georgia Fr Giorgi Zviadadze,
Church of Cyprus Bishop Vasilios of Trimithus (host),
Church of Greece Professor Constantine Scouteris,
Church of Poland Fr Andrzej Minko,
Church of Albania Bishop Ilia of Philomelion,
Church of Czech Lands and Slovakia Fr Vaclav Jezek,
Church of Finland Metropolitan Ambrosius of Helsinki,
Church of Estonia Fr Matthias Palli,
Fr Christos B Christakis (co-secretary).

Representatives of the Anglican Communion

Bishop Mark Dyer Episcopal Church of the USA (Co-chair),
Bishop John Baycroft Anglican Church of Canada,
The Revd Dr Timothy Bradshaw Church of England,
The Revd Canon John Gibaut Anglican Church of Canada,
The Revd Canon William B Green Episcopal Church (USA),
Bishop William Gregg Episcopal Church (USA),
The Revd Canon Livingstone Ngewu Church of the Province of Southern Africa,
The Revd Dr Duncan Reid Anglican Church of Australia,
The Revd Professor John Riches Scottish Episcopal Church,
Bishop Max Thomas Anglican Church of Australia,
The Revd Canon Hugh Wybrew Church of England,
The Revd Canon Gregory K Cameron Church in Wales (co-secretary).

For more information please contact:

Canon Gregory K Cameron,
Deputy Secretary General and Director of Ecumenical Affairs and Studies,
Anglican Communion Office
St Andrew's House
16 Tavistock Crescent
London W11 1AP

Tel: +44 (0)20 7313 3900
Fax: +44 (0)20 7313 3999
Email: gregory.cameron@aco.org
The Revd Dr Christos B Christakis
Sts.Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church,
2500 Grand Avenue,
Middletown, OH 45044
USA

Tel: +1 513 422 2312
Fax: +1 513 423 1141
Email: FrChristos@yahoo.com

The Address of Welcome by the Bishop of Kykkos, Nikiforos:

Dear brothers in Christ
Dear members of the conference

Today is a day of remembrance of our saintly father Nikiforos the
Confessor, Patriarch of Constantinople, whose holy name I humbly bear.

On the occasion of your conference, hosted by our historic monastery, the
monastery of my penitence, I considered it my pleasant duty to come and
officiate in the holy liturgy and to pray to God to grant to all of you,
conference participants his enlightenment from above, so that this dialogue
may bear fruit and so that one day, through the power of the Holy Ghost, we
may communicate in the common chalice of the Bread of Life.

The common ground is there. It consists of the first centuries of
Christianity, before the one, catholic and apostolic Church of Christ was
fragmented.

It is the duty of all Christians to remember always the anxious prayer of
Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane "Holy Father, keep them in your name,
those you have given me, so as to be one, like us."

In order to achieve the reunion of the Christian world what is needed is
incessant prayer, an intense dialogue in love, and good will.

I wish all of you a pleasant stay here, and may you come again.

I thank you all

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