Preamble
- By the grace of God,
we have gathered here from the 10th to the 17th of
January 2005 on the apostolic island of Rhodes to prepare ourselves for the
journey to the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches, meeting under
the theme, "God, in your grace, transform the world". We have felt extraordinarily blessed
in our encounter with one another.
- The purpose of this
meeting has been to reflect on the assembly theme, to consider the work and
recommendations of the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the
WCC, and to seek ways in which our churches can strengthen their engagement in
the movement for the unity of divided
Christians.
- The gathering was
graciously hosted by Metropolitan Kyrillos of Rhodes on behalf of the
Ecumenical Patriarch, His All Holiness Bartholemew I, to whom we express our
profound thanks. During the days
of our stay we experienced the true philoxenia (hospitality) of the Church
and its monasteries, the civil authorities, and the people of Rhodes, who
welcomed us into their communities. We witnessed the traces - ancient and
modern - of the extraordinary encounter of cultures, faiths, and histories in
this place.
- Our meeting brought
together more than fifty Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox participants,
theologians, hierarchs, priests, laypersons, young theologians and two
representatives from other member churches. Leadership was provided by His
Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate), and His
Eminence Metropolitan Bishoy of Damiette (Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of
Alexandria). (See appended list
of participants.)
- We met in the context
of daily prayer and fellowship.
Our deliberations took the form of meditations on the scriptural
passages chosen for the assembly, of papers prepared especially for this
meeting (see appended list of papers), and of plenary and group
discussions. During our time
together we elaborated our theological and spiritual understanding of the
assembly theme, we explored the implications of the forthcoming changes to the
life and work of the WCC, and we reviewed the practical preparations for the
ninth assembly.
I. Living in a changing
world
- We met at a time when
the world was in deep pain about the tsunami disaster that struck down more
than 160,000 of our brothers and sisters in Asia and elsewhere, orphaned tens
of thousands of children and rendered millions homeless. Keeping in our hearts and our prayers
all those who suffer in this tragedy, mindful also of the pain of the people
in all our contexts, and in particular the continued conflict in the Middle
East, we together pray to the compassionate Father and Creator of all: God, in your grace, transform the
world. It was in this context
that we began our reflection on the main theme of the assembly. Our reflections focused on the
transforming grace of God, operating at the various levels of persons,
churches, societies, and creation at large. The spirit of prayer undergirding the
theme prompted us to reflect along liturgical lines, drawing inspiration from
such aspects of the liturgy as offering, invocation of the Holy Spirit, and
commissioning - the sending out into the
world.
- Our intercessory
offering of the world in praise and thanksgiving helps us to present before
the Creator God the misery and conflict, injustice and violence experienced by
the vast majority of our brothers and sisters in today's world. This leads many to pose the perplexing
and painful question of human suffering: what does it mean to believe in a
loving and compassionate God when millions of people perish or suffer in
natural calamities? Although we
cannot comprehend the inscrutable God, we know that God will ultimately
sustain His creation in His infinite compassion. We also felt that human violence and
war and other man-made disasters of various sorts, were infinitely more brutal
and pervasive than natural disasters.
We are convinced that in offering the world to God in a liturgical
sense involves our deep desire and determination to transform the world,
liberating it from all grief and violence.
- In the midst of
terrible violence imposed on the Latin American people, on the peoples of the
so-called Third World in general, strength is given to mobilize, to gather
together in solidarity. In the
context of tremendous social and economic hardship, these people have been
strengthened by God in their witness to His transforming
power.
- In calling upon the
Holy Spirit of God to indwell and transfigure our lives, our churches, and our
earth, we trust in the Spirit, "who perfects everything that is and that is to
be" (Anaphora, Liturgy of St James).
In this work of the Holy Spirit, in continuing to bring to completion
all that is created, we are called to join synergetically as fellow-workers (1
Cor 3,9). Thus, our prayer to the
Holy Spirit expresses our commitment to exercise our freedom in cooperating
with the grace of God for the transfiguration of the
world.
- Our service to
humanity and the wider creation is a direct expression of our service to
God. Our churches recognize the
increasingly multicultural, religiously pluralistic, and secularized contexts
in which our faithful live. This
recognition of the new situation requires appropriate pastoral and theological
response. While we know that
transformation is a continuous process, our responsibility to discern the will
of God in the ambiguity of history is also an ongoing task. Our repentance as believers, and as
churches, is essential for this discernment. Our sense of being sent out to the
world to announce the good news of salvation and to heal its wounds provides
the motivation and orientation for our gathering, prayers, and reflections on
the theme: God, in your grace,
transform the world.
II. The Assembly
Theme
- The assembly theme
provided the inspiration for reflection on many levels. We took note of the importance of each
key word in the theme: God, grace, transformation, and world, and sought to give orientation
so that these words might be properly understood in the context of the
theme.
a. Transformation in
Scripture
- Our reflection drew
its first inspiration from the Bible.
The scriptural account of Christ's transfiguration has a significance
that is both existential and eschatological (cf. Rev 1,14). That which is promised to the
righteous in the age to come (1 Cor <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /?>15,5 f.) happened to Jesus already in
this world. Jesus is the one who
brings the new creation. Before
the eyes of his most intimate disciples, the human appearance of Jesus was for
a moment changed into that of a heavenly being in the transfigured world. This is the anticipation and the hope
of the final salvation for all human beings.
- In this sense the
transformation of the world means first of all our own transfiguration. St Paul speaks about Christian people
as the "new creation". For his
understanding of transformation (metaschematizo), or transfiguration,
(metamorphosis) (2 Cor 3,18; Rom
12,2) refers to a process, which begins to take place already during the life
of this age. Scripture
consistently shows how the transformation of the world is a process by which
the transcendent eschatological reality of salvation works in the earthly
lives of Christians. The signs we
are shown of the new creation, which is the grace of Christ's Spirit, leads to
the imperative of our response, and points to the world's
transfiguration.
b. Grace
- Grace, like
everything referring to God, is Trinitarian. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit - all is
grace. By Grace we are justified,
by grace we are healed. Yet grace
is not only the power of justification.
Grace is revealed in all the operations, the energies (energeia) of God, His actions that are
of His own free will, i.e., out of love.
- Grace refers to God's
free-will, God creates the world
out of nothing, as an act of grace rather than necessity, and he also
recreates it - he transforms it through His Son Jesus Christ - by His grace,
rather than out of necessity. We
do not exist without God's grace, His love, and His constant sustaining of the
world by His Holy Spirit "by which we live and move and have our being" (cf.
Acts 17,28).
- Furthermore it is by
grace that God gives us the Church, in which we are called to live in unity in
Christ. Unity in the Church is
unity-in-plurality, as modelled by the Holy Trinity. Our partaking of that unity here and
now is a foretaste of our partaking of the divine nature - our calling to
holiness, and deification (theosis).
c.
The transformation of our lives
- We believe in God who
sent His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, and through him reconciled the world
to himself, and by the Holy Spirit offers new and eternal life to all. Our Christian life is sustained by the
power of the Holy Spirit in the vivifying and sanctifying fountain of grace.
The ultimate vocation and supreme goal of all human person is theosis (2 Pet
1,4). As St Athanasius the Great
has said, "God became human in order that we may become divine".
- God's divine
unconditional graceful love draws us to him (Rom 5,15), because humans are not
only created by God but they are created for God. In God we entirely find the purpose of
our lives restored and transformed by His gracious presence (2 Pet 1,3). In this respect it is our universal
priestly vocation to bring the whole world to God - through ethical choices in
a community bound together in faith and worship (Jn 4,23). We act in a fellowship of sharing and
service as our response to the emerging political and social challenges. The genuine Christian faith is a
practised faith in words and deeds as witness and mission.
d. Transformation in the
churches
- Jesus Christ, who is
"the same, yesterday, today, and forever," (Heb 13,8), is the head of the
Church, which is his Body, sustained by the Holy Spirit, and in this sense the
Church cannot sin. Therefore we
do not ask for the "transformation of the Church". However if we are referring to "the
churches" specifically in the sense of communities of believers in history, we
know full well that believers sometimes fail to actualize the true being of
the Church. It is we sinners,
personally and in community, who require transformation. The transformation in the churches is
a transformation that we must live out in our lives personally and as
communities.
- The word koinonia, which has seen
ever-increasing use in ecumenical circles, is another concept that admits
several meanings. In its fullest
sense it describes a communion which has its centre in the Holy Trinity, and
sacramentally in the Holy Eucharist.
In this case one cannot describe the fellowship of the churches within
the WCC as koinonia. On the other
hand the fellowship of the churches in the WCC confessing together Jesus
Christ as Lord and Saviour in the love of the Father and the fellowship of the
Holy Spirit, does have a spiritual quality, a deep Christian content, in ways
which still need to be explored and spelled
out.
e. The transformation of our
societies
- Again and again in
our reflections on transformation we returned to the transfiguration of
Christ, which has clear implications for the transfiguration of humanity and
of the whole creation. The
transfiguration of Christ, which shows God's ultimate intention for the world,
has been used as a paradigm for a call to a renewed and transforming
missionary ethos and commitment in the Orthodox churches. As members of Christ's Body, the
Church, filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is a witnessing Spirit
(Mk 13,11; Jn 16,13), we are called by an inner compulsion (Acts 4,20) to be
His witnesses to the end of the world, to be the "little leaven which leavens
the whole loaf" (Gal 5,9), and His co-workers (I Cor 3,9) until Christ gathers
all things in Him, and the whole of creation is being transformed into a new
heaven and a new earth.
- Transfiguration has
also become a key reference point in the Orthodox tradition for
theological-ethical reflection: ours is a transfigurative ethic. Our ethics entail rediscovering our
true humanity created in God's image, particularly in the face of contemporary
attempts to manipulate and cheapen human nature. The injustice, violence, and
immorality that reign in our world disfigure the true form of God's
world. The process of the
transfiguration of our socio-economic order and human relations involves our
personal and communal repentance, and our commitment to struggle against the
global vicious circle of evil in our world and replace it by the chain of
good. Healing, hospitality,
"holistic localness" and communion are some of the key elements in
transfigurative ethics. This
requires a renewed attention and practical follow-up on the part of Orthodox
churches.
f. The transformation of the whole
creation
- Orthodox theology of
creation is clear about the responsibility of humankind towards the creation
of God, where the human persons are called to become its guardians, as sons
and daughters of God. In the
Orthodox Church we constantly pray for God's creation - for seasonable
weather, for the abundance of the fruits of the earth. Furthermore we experience the
sanctifying character of our sacramental acts, such as the blessing of the
waters, and the blessing of bread, of oil, of the physical elements of
creation. This is because we
recognize that with us and through us, creation has fallen away from its
glory, and "groans in travail" awaiting transformation. In one of our vesperal hymns (Tone 7,
Monday) we sing:
I have become an object polluting
the earth, air and water,
for I have stained my body, soul
and mind with deceptionsÂ….
Since we human beings are created
as a "microcosm," encompassing both the physical and the spiritual, what we do
and how we act has a profound bearing on the whole of creation. Both the fall and the transformation of
creation takes place in us and through us.
- We are therefore all
the more challenged to respond to the ecological and environmental problems of
our world today, in the light of our theology and liturgical life, with
concrete and practical actions. It is in this spirit, and with this sense of
our own personal and communal responsibility, that we ask God, in His grace,
to transform the whole creation.
- Our reflection on the
theme consistently relies on our understanding of our own personal and
communal responsibility for the fall of creation, and expresses the personal
and ethical dimension of the transformation that we beg of God. Our prayer to God that he transform
the world is not a plea that he would change things to be better, that we
might wake up one day to find ourselves in a renewed world. It is a plea that he would work in us
and through us, call us to receive, realize, and enact that transformation
which he has already wrought in His Son, Our Lord, God, and Saviour Jesus
Christ.
III.
The Special Commission
a. Looking towards the
future
- We reflected on the
work, the ethos, and the report of the Special Commission on Orthodox
Participation in the WCC. We wish
to begin here by expressing our profound gratitude to all the churches in the
WCC, and most especially to those who participated in the Commission, to those
who have engaged with it. The
creation and work of the Commission was justified - indeed it was long
overdue. Yet we deeply appreciate
the patience and care with which our partners listened to us.
- The Special
Commission was created by the eighth assembly at Harare in December,
1998. This was a response to the
crisis in Orthodox relations with the WCC in the 1990's. Regrettably, two Orthodox churches had
left the Council, and in other Orthodox churches there was a growing sense of
alienation. Although the crisis
in Orthodox participation had become acute and inescapable during the last
decade of the 20th century, there had been difficulties and
tensions from the beginning of the WCC's
journey.
- The theological
presuppositions, organizational structure, and ethos of the WCC issued largely
from the experience of Western Christianity. It was this Western perspective which
became the "ecumenical norm". The
Orthodox convictions and perspectives were inevitably heard as critiques
coming from a minority, usually respected or at least tolerated, but not
affecting or changing the normative approach of the
majority.
- The response of the
WCC came at the Harare assembly in the form of the creation of the Special
Commission, whose mandate was to assess and discuss the WCC's "structure,
style, and ethos," with a view towards making proposals for overcoming the
crisis.
- The Special
Commission was begun with great enthusiasm and expectations. One might say that the outcome of the
Commission was more "ecumenical" than "Orthodox," and this has required the
adjustment of our expectations.
But we realize that this will mean a more lasting and a more genuine
solution for the Council as a whole.
Indeed, we affirm without reservation the work and recommendations of
the Special Commission, its report in all its
aspects.
- At our meeting we
gave particular space to two aspects of the report: matters of ecclesiology
and the change in process of the conduct of meetings to consensus. However we also took careful note of
the report's other major sections.
Regarding social and ethical issues as addressed by the Commission, we
are hopeful that shift to consensus discernment will offer to the Council a
highly promising way to grapple with such issues. Regarding common prayer, we are
pleased that the Council has already been implementing the proposed framework,
and commit to continue to work together towards a common prayer life that is
reflective of ecumenical realities.
Recommendations for adjustments to the current policies for membership
were heard with appreciation, particularly the introduction of theological
criteria for new applicants for membership and the addition of a new mode of
relating to the Council.
- Although the Special
commission no longer meets, its recommendations, adopted by the Central
Committee (August 2002), have only just begun to be put into practice, and
will truly begin at the ninth assembly.
We have every confidence that these recommendations bear great promise
for the whole fellowship, as long as they are given a real chance to
work. We appreciate that
attention to these issues will continue in the life of the WCC through the Permanent Committee on Consensus and
Collaboration, so that the Orthodox churches will no longer experience the
kinds of frustrations that led to the formation of the Special
Commission.
- Naturally, we have a
lot at stake in the results of the Special Commission. We hope that our insistence on its
recommendations is understood properly: it reflects a concern for the
ecumenical movement and for the WCC that is its privileged instrument. As former WCC general secretary Konrad
Raiser has put it, "The action adopted by the Central Committee is by no means
a matter of either Orthodox or Protestant churches gaining an upper hand". It
reflects serious frustrations and dissatisfactions, yes, but it also arises
from a commitment to the fellowship, and therefore the desire to find better
ways to work together. We hope to
continue to make credible expressions of that commitment in the character of
our participation at every level, including, where possible, our increased
financial contribution.
b.
Ecclesiology
- We were pleased by
the Special Commission's attention to matters of ecclesiology. The report is justified in seeing
ecclesiology as central to the different understandings of Christian division
and Christian unity, and therefore the key to our different approaches to the
WCC.
- We took notice of the
particular question posed to the Orthodox in the Special Commission report:
"Is there space for other churches in Orthodox ecclesiology? How would that space and its limits be
described?" This question follows
naturally from our self-understanding - specifically in our
self-identification with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic
Church.
- Orthodox theologians
have begun to confront this question systematically mainly since the beginning
of the twentieth century, influenced by the ecumenical movement - the new
forms of bilateral dialogues, as well as the unprecedented multilateral
encounter with other churches.
Since then, many have reflected and written on the subject, but have
yet to find coherence in their conclusions. Here in Rhodes we began a fruitful
discussion on the question, and expressed the clear desire to pursue it
carefully and systematically together.
The means of this study process is not yet clear. While it could find a home in the
ecclesiology work of the Faith and Order commission, as the Special Commission
report suggests, we believe the process would best begin among ourselves. We are convinced that such a study is
necessary and timely, both in response to the respectful challenge posed us by
the Special Commission, and also in order to achieve a greater clarity and
consistency regarding this question among our own churches. This is all the more vital, given the
increasingly pluralistic context in which our churches live
today.
c.
Consensus
- We recognize that the
shift in the process of making decisions from a parliamentary voting system
that is based on "majority rule" to a system designed to discern consensus
will be among the most visible results of the Special Commission. This shift is designed to remedy the
perennial problem of the Orthodox churches as a minority in the World Council
of Churches, which is not reflective of church realities. However the implications of the shift
are far greater than redressing this historical imbalance. Scripture itself illumines the way
towards this model. St Paul
encouraged the Corinthians "Now, I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement, and that there
be no divisions among you, that you be united in the same mind and the same
purpose" (I Cor 1:10).
- The premise of the
composition of the Special Commission was that of parity or equal footing (50%
Orthodox and 50% from the other churches of the fellowship) and some
anticipated that this model would be recommended for all meetings and
governing bodies. In fact, the
parity model has proven extremely helpful for the Special Commission itself,
as well as for other committees and meetings, such as the meeting on Social
and Ethical Issues (Morges, October 2003), and other meetings, and has been
affirmed in the composition of the Permanent Committee on Consensus and
Collaboration.
- Introduction of
consensus as the primary method within the life and work of the WCC offers the
Council a way to reflect the centrality of Holy Scripture in its life, and
engage the work of the Council in an atmosphere of openness, trust, and
humility, where the views of all churches will be encouraged and listened to
with respect. We trust that the
change to consensus will enhance the potential for the Council to find its
true prophetic voice, and may offer a model that invites to the Council
churches of that vast Christian constituency not yet members of the Council
(including the Roman Catholic Church).
- We emphasize our
realization that undertaking the work of the Council through consensus
discernment and decision-making will challenge all of us; it will require our
learning new ways of being together.
It will entail a deep spiritual commitment that will challenge all
member churches of the Council.
All participants will have to commit to being attentive and respectful
listeners to the voices and positions of all churches, as this method
privileges no one. The consensus
method is not an end in itself, but has emerged as the best way forward for
discerning the direction of the Council and deepening the fellowship of the
churches. Understanding that
return to the status quo is no longer tolerable, we welcome this new method of
conducting the life of the Council with hope.
d. The fellowship of churches and the
ecumenical movement in the 21st
century
- We were informed
about new efforts to look at the ecumenical movement in the 21st
century. We are aware both of the
structural and financial challenges the ecumenical movement is facing
today. However the ecumenical
movement is reconfigured, the world will continue to need a council of
churches, i.e., a council which brings together Christian bodies who
understand themselves as churches.
The world needs an instrument to serve the churches by bringing them into a
space for dialogue, for shared work, for the mutual exchange of gifts and
insights from our traditions, for prayer together, and to express our
commitment to unity.
- We believe further
that such a council, precisely as a fellowship of churches, will properly
operate along exactly the kinds of recommendations made by the Special
Commission report: it will account for the ecclesiological issue and respect
ecclesiological neutrality, it will foster prayer that reflects the real
situations and convictions of the churches, and will be theologically serious
in every way, including the way in which it considers churches applying for
membership, it will operate on consensus at every
level.
IV. A meditation
O merciful
God,
by Your eternal Son and by Your
Holy Spirit,
You have created the world out of
nothing.
You have brought all things from
non-existence into being,
not out of necessity, but in Your
free will,
out of Your own loving-kindness,
in Your grace.
You have created the world in
which You were well pleased.
As the crown and fulfilment of
creation, You made us, human beings,
whom You endowed with Your own
image, after Your own likeness,
to delight in the world and in
Your glory.
But we abused our freedom,
we have distorted Your image, and
became alienated from Your living presence.
Through us and with us, the whole
of creation is also fallen.
Yet You have not turned away from
the world which You love.
In Your own free will, in Your
mercy and loving-kindness,
You have sent Your Son to redeem
the world,
to transform the world,
to recreate the
world.
In Your Son, our Lord and God and
Saviour Jesus Christ, You have renewed us.
Yet we continue to deny this
gift.
We fall away, and need to be
called back in repentance.
We have distanced ourselves from
You:
do not remember our sinfulness!
Call us again, so that we might be
return to You,
until You have brought us into
Your kingdom which is to come,
until You have made us to be
partakers of Your nature.
In Your grace, You have redeemed
us by Your Son in the Holy Spirit:
O God, in Your grace, transform our
lives!
In Your Son and by Your Holy
Spirit,
You have granted us the Church -
the Body of Christ,
which You have made to be one,
holy, catholic, and apostolic.
In Your Church we experience Your
kingdom which is to come.
In Your Church we experience the
redemption, transformation, recreation of the world.
In Your Church we are healed and
reconciled.
By Your Holy Spirit, keep us
faithful to the unity, holiness, catholicity, and apostolicity of Your
Church.
Call us to repentance, to
transformation, that we may truly be Your Church.
In Your grace, You have given us
the holy Church:
O God, in Your grace, transform us for the sake
of Your Church!
In Your Son, who was transfigured
in front of his disciples,
You showed us the divine
brightness of the uncreated grace,
You showed us that the one who
would be crucified is life and light.
In Your Son, who emptied himself,
taking the form of a servant,
and went to his voluntary
life-giving death,
You have taught us that the way to
transfiguration is to love one another - even our enemies - as
ourselves,
to take up our cross
daily,
to be servants of one
another.
In our pettiness, our pride, and
our lust for power,
we demean each other's
dignity,
we lose sight of Your image in
each other,
we wound and break each other with
violence.
Call us to repentance, to witness
to the world, to transformation.
In Your grace, You have given us
all that we require to live in together in harmony and
justice,
O God, in Your grace, transform
us, for the sake of the world!
You have given us a world to
delight in,
the manifestation of Your own
uncreated glory,
and gave us the charge to till it
and keep it,
to exercise a responsible
stewardship over all living things and the whole
creation.
You have given us the examples of
Your saints,
whose relationship to the animals
and to nature prefigures the new life, when the lion shall lie down with the
lamb.
But in our callousness, we have
mistreated animals, and brought many to extinction.
In our greed and our
short-sightedness,
we have squandered the resources
of the world,
we have razed
forests,
we have poisoned the air and the
waters.
We threaten ourselves, each other,
and future generations,
and we offend Your
glory.
Because of our sin, the whole of
creation groans in travail, awaiting
transformation.
In Your grace, You have given us a
glorious world - in us it has fallen, in us let it be raised
again:
O God, in Your grace, transform the whole
creation!