Honorary doctorate for WCC vice-moderator Gennadios of Sassima

The World Council of Churches Central Committee vice-moderator Metropolitan Prof. Dr Gennadios of Sassima has been awarded a doctor honoris causa degree by the Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts, USA.

"We are very pleased and share in the joy of Metropolitan Gennadios as this distinction acknowledges His Eminence's outstanding theological contributions not only to his church, the Ecumenical Patriarchate, but also to WCC and the ecumenical movement as a whole", commented the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit upon receiving the news.

In addition to being vice-moderator of the WCC Central Committee, Metropolitan Gennadios is a member of the Presidium and of the Central Committee of the Conference of European Churches, and has been entrusted with leading responsibilities in a number of bi-lateral theological dialogues.

"This prize and the diploma belong in fact to the church, to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, which I had the honour of serving for more than 35 years,” Gennadios said as he accepted the degree, on 15 May.

Gennadios is a professor of Orthodox theology and canon law in various universities. He was a vice-moderator of the WCC Faith and Order Commission from 1998-2006. He has been a member of the WCC Executive and Central Committees since 2002. From 1983-93, he was a staff member of the WCC Faith and Order secretariat in Geneva.