Meeting of the Coordinating Committeefor Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of England

MEETING OF THE COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR COOPERATION BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
AND THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Coordinating Committee for Cooperation between the Russian Orthodox Church and the Church of England met on July 8-9, 1998, in London, Great Britain. Participating in the meeting were members of the Coordinating Committee from the Russian Orthodox Church: Archbishop Sergiy of Solnechnogorsk, chancellor of the Moscow Patriarchate and head of the Department for Charity and Social Service, hegumen Ioann (Ekonomtsev), head of the Department for Religious Education and Catechism, and hieromonk Hilarion (Alfeyev), Department for External Church Relations’ secretary for inter-Christian relations. The Church of England was represented by Bishop Richard Chartres of London, Canon Richard Marsh, Archbishop of Canterbury’s ecumenical adviser, Sir Stephen Edgerton, director of the St. Andrew Foundation, and Canon Malcolm Rogers, adviser for relations with the Russian Orthodox Church.

Various aspects of church-state relations were discussed. An agreement was reached to conduct in 1999-2000 a symposium on Theological Aspects of Church-State Relations.

Among items discussed was the situation in the ecumenical movement. Concern was expressed over the present structure of the World Council of Churches which was believed inadequate in taking into account peculiarities of particular Churches. The need was emphasized to undertake a complete structural reorganization of the WCC to enable churches to be adequately represented in this organization.

The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church expressed gratitude to the leaders of the St. Andrew Foundation for giving assistance to students studying at various theological departments of British universities.

Both delegations visited the British Parliament and met there with Mr. Stewart Bell, deputy chairman of the commission for church affairs.

The two delegations were received by the Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey at the Lambeth Palace.