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Diplomacy conference in Greece, Photo: Nikolaos Milonas

Diplomacy conference in Greece, Photo: Nikolaos Milonas

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent a greeting to a conference about religious and ecclesiastical diplomacy held in Greece on 28 February - 3 March. WCC deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Fr Ioan Sauca represented the WCC at the conference.

The greeting offered words of encouragement to conference participants who were gathered to frame the diplomatic and relational ties indispensable to protecting human life, ensuring health, and fostering well-being for so many people.

“Greece, especially in its struggle to deal with its economic and refugee challenges during these last ten years, has become an emblem and example for the rest of the world of resilience and persistence, of course, but also of compassion for the neighbour, openness to partnerships and collaboration, and willingness not just to ask for but also to render help,” Tveit said. “No country, no nation, no people can go it alone.”

The conference, organized by the Hellenic Republic Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was entitled “Laying down policy principles and proposals for drafting Strategies on the implementation of Religious and Ecclesiastical Diplomacy.”

We all need to nurture and draw on the relationships that real diplomacy painstakingly builds, Tveit urged. “This is as true for churches as it is for governments,” he said. “I commend especially the churches of Greece and their work with the people of Greece, as well as with the government and international aid agencies to address the life-threatening dangers you have faced.”

The prime minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, and Hieronymos II, archbishop of Athens and All Greece, joined Tveit in offering opening remarks.

Tveit named the refugee crisis, healthcare delivery, social services, economic recovery and growth, and mitigating the effects of climate change as some of the challenges confronting churches and governments.

“The responses need to be comprehensive in scope and scale, internationally resourced, yet also locally rooted,” he said. “So I applaud your focus on policies and strategies to guide this work.”

Churches are an enormous resource in this work, Tveit continued. “Achieving unity in diversity is what ecumenical Christianity, spearheaded 100 years ago by the Orthodox churches, has promoted and in good measure realized for one hundred years.”

Message of Greeting to the Ecclesiastical Diplomacy Conference, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, 28 February 2019

Church of Greece

Greek Evangelical Church