The first meeting of the Special Commission for the Orthodox participation in the WCC

THE FIRST MEETING OF THE SPECIAL COMMISSION FOR THE ORTHODOX PARTICIPATION IN THE WCC

The Special Commission for the Orthodox participation in the World Council of Churches met for its first session on December 6-8, 1999, in Morge, Switzerland. It was attended by some 60 representatives of the WCC member churches, as well as observers from the Georgian and the Bulgarian Orthodox Churches.

The Russian Orthodox Church was represented by hieromonk Hilarion (Alfeyev), secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations for inter-Christian relations, and Rev. Mikhail Gundyaev, secretary of the Moscow Patriarchate representation at the World Council of Churches.

The decision to establish the Special Commission was made at the 8th WCC General Assembly in Harare (December 1998) in response to the demand of the Orthodox Churches that the WCC should be radically restructured.

On the first day of the meeting, introductory reports were made by the WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser and the WCC Central Committee Moderator Catholicos Aram I of Cilicia.

The Orthodox side offered to the attention of participants from Protestant churches a number of remarks, questions and proposals worked out by the intra-Orthodox consultative meeting in Chambesy (December 2-4). Observers from the Georgian Church made a statement which said in particular, “the Georgian Orthodox Church is ready for dialogue with other Christian Churches, for it was a common practice for centuries”.

Hieromonk Hilarion presented the position of the Russian Orthodox Church on possible ways of introducing a radical reform in the WCC structure.

As a result of the discussion, the Commission set up four sub-committees to study the themes: the World Council of Churches as an organization; the style and ethos of the WCC; theological differences between Orthodoxy and other traditions; and concrete proposals for a radical restructuring of the WCC.

The sub-committees will present their conclusions to the full Special Commission planned for October 2000.