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New moderator of the Faith and Order Standing Commission Bishop Vasilios of Trimithus (Karayiannis)

New moderator of the Faith and Order Standing Commission Bishop Vasilios of Trimithus (Karayiannis)

At its first meeting, the WCC's newly-appointed Standing Commission on Faith and Order named six officers to oversee its work until the next WCC Assembly in 2013. Following an address by WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia, the Standing Commission also outlined major areas of study for the period.

The 30-member Standing Commission oversees Faith and Order studies and activities, which aim to help overcome theological, cultural and social sources of division among the churches.

The list of Faith and Order officers, to be presented to the WCC Central Committee in September 2006 for appointment, is headed by Bishop Vasilios of Trimithus (Karayiannis), (Orthodox, Cyprus), who was named moderator of the Commission. The ecumenical officer of the Church of Cyprus, and a member of the WCC's executive committee, Bishop Karyiannis has served on the Standing Commission since the WCC's Harare Assembly in 1998.

Five vice-moderators were named to help guide the Commission's work during this period: Rev. Frans Bouwen (Roman Catholic Church, Jerusalem), Bishop John Hind ([Anglican] Church of England, United Kingdom), Mrs Sarah Kaulule (United Church of Zambia, Zambia), Rev. Dr Hermen Shastri (Methodist Church of Malaysia, Malaysia), and Dr Valburga Schmiedt Streck (Evangelical Lutheran Church, Brazil).

In an immediate response to the elections, Metropolitan Gennadios of Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate), currently a vice-president of the WCC and former staff member and officer of Faith and Order, noted that "this composition of the top officers of the Commission reflects a good balance among confessions, genders and the diverse regions of the world".

In a related development, the Commission considered a slate of 90 additional persons to be presented to WCC central committee in September, 2006 for appointment to the Faith and Order Plenary Commission. Sometimes called "the most broadly representative, church-based theological reflection group in the world", the Plenary Commission serves as an official resource and sounding-board for Faith and Order's work.

Major areas of study identified for the next period include ecclesiology, baptism and worship, ethical decision-making and questions of authority. The Commission also called for continued work with the united and uniting churches and Christian World Communions, and for co-operation with reflection on Christian self-understanding in a religiously pluralist world.

Also foreseen are major celebrations of two important milestones: the 25th anniversary in 2007 of Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry, one of the most famous and influential of all ecumenical texts; and the 100th anniversary in 2008 of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, one of the most widely-observed annual ecumenical events.

In its planning the Standing Commission was mindful of the WCC's new, more integrated and interactive working style. Links to other WCC programmes are foreseen especially in relation to the mission of the church, and in suggesting theological resources for wider WCC work on faith, science and technology and a proposed global platform for theological reflection and analysis.

More information on the work of Faith and Order is available on the WCC website at:

wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/faith/index-e.html