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Cf. WCC Press Release PR-03-35 of 25 November 2003
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The Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I has re-affirmed his commitment to ecumenical dialogue and to the work of the World Council of Churches (WCC), and has appealed to Christians of all confessions to avoid actions which "stabilize" and "legitimize" disunity among the churches.
The comments were made during the official visit of WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser to the Ecumenical Patriarchate, based in Istanbul, Turkey, 29 November to 3 December 2003.
"We support the efforts of the World Council of Churches and of all other inter-church and inter-Christian organizations. We consider these organizations not as a kind of unity (…) but as an opportunity of dialogue and witness to our hope (…) in the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God," the patriarch stated.
However, the patriarch added that "our Church is opposed (…) to every action which tends to stabilize the existing division and to promote methods of unity that deviate from the apostolic ideal (…) without returning to the one faith, one baptism, and the one icon of Christ."
The position of the Patriarchate was confirmed during talks with the Synodical Commission on Inter-Church Affairs, the highest decision-making body of the Patriarchate on ecumenical relations. Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima, a member of the Commission, confirmed the active participation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in the ecumenical movement and in the WCC, although he noted that this had been a "costly commitment".
The moderator of the Commission, Metropolitan Athanasios of Heliopolis, expressed the deep appreciation of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the service of Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, who had been a "theologian of ecumenical space", and had responded to the concerns of the Orthodox churches with particular sensitivity. In recent years, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has given strong support to the work of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, established in 1998 following mounting criticism of the WCC from several Orthodox member churches.
The recent terrorist violence in Turkey was also discussed with the church leadership. The WCC general secretary said that he fully shared the patriarch’s sentiments of profound compassion and sympathy for the victims - Muslim, Jewish and Christian - of the recent attacks. He underlined that the visit of the WCC delegation should be understood as "an expression of our commitment to peace and reconciliation, which is at the centre of our common Christian faith".
The tragic events, the general secretary stated, "could only strengthen our efforts to overcome religious extremism, and to proclaim that at the heart of the traditions of all the Abrahamic religions is the divine promise of peace and well-being of all humanity and creation".
The Ecumenical Patriarchate was one of the founding members of the WCC in 1948, and enjoys a "primacy of honour" among the Orthodox churches, related to the ancient status of Constantinople as capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. The visit of the WCC general secretary took place during the feast of Saint Andrew, patron saint of the Church of Constantinople, and coincided with the traditional visit to the Patriarchate of a delegation of the Roman Catholic Church led by Cardinal Walter Kasper.
In addition to private audiences with the ecumenical patriarch and attendance at the liturgy in the patriarchal Cathedral of Saint George, the WCC delegation’s four-day programme included a meeting with the Armenian Patriarch Mesrop II, and visits to Christian sites in Istanbul, Ephesus and Izmir.
The WCC general secretary was accompanied by his wife Dr Elisabeth Raiser, by WCC deputy general secretary Mr Georges Lemopoulos, and by Rev. Sabine Udodesku, executive secretary. Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser will retire at the end of 2003. It was thus his last official visit to a member church before he leaves the WCC.
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