Inter-Christian forum in Bossey

INTER-CHRISTIAN FORUM IN BOSSEY

The Evangelical Church in Westphalia, Germany, held an inter-Christian forum from August 30 to September 4, 1998, at Bossey near Geneva, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the World Council of Churches to be marked this year.

The forum was attended by representatives of the Evangelical land churches in Germany and the Church of England. Participating in it from the Russian Orthodox Church were Valery Chukalov, assistant to the chairman of Department for External Church Relations, Yelena Speranskaya of the DECR secretariat for inter-Christian relations and DECR interpreter Galina Titskaya. Present at the forum were also V. Chernyshev, secretary of the All-Church Orthodox Youth Movement, and Orthodox representatives from Pyatigorsk, diocese of Stavropol, a sister city of Schwerte in Westphalia.

Presentations were made on inter-Christian cooperation, problems encountered by the ecumenical movement today, cooperation of European churches, participation of women in the life of the Church and the Church’s work with the youth. Representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church spoke about their Church’s attitude to contemporary ecumenism in the light of the pan-Orthodox meeting in Thessaloniki last May, the role of the Russian Orthodox Church in Russian society, the religious situation in Russia and the destructive consequences of proselytism.

The participants had a talk with the WCC General Secretary Dr. Konrad Raiser and met with other representatives of the WCC and the CEC. They visited the Orthodox Center of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in Chambesy and the Palace of the United Nations in Geneva.