News
At the conclusion of its fourth and final plenary meeting, the Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the World Council of Churches (WCC), meeting at Järvenpää, Finland, 27 May - 2 June, released the following communiqué:
The Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the World Council of Churches (WCC) fulfilled its mandate at its fourth plenary meeting, 27 May - 2 June 2002, at Järvenpää, diocese of Helsinki, Finland, at the gracious invitation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and of the Orthodox Church of Finland. Results and recommendations of the Commission's three-year-work are summarized in a final document, the so-called "Helsinki report". The Commission will present its findings to the WCC Central Committee, which meets this year 26 August - 3 September in Geneva, Switzerland, and which will act on the recommendations.
The Commission is composed of an equal number of representatives appointed by the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox churches and representatives from other member churches of the WCC appointed by the WCC Central Committee. Its co-moderators were H.E. Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus (Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople) and Bishop Rolf Koppe (Evangelical Church in Germany, EKD).
According to its mandate the Commission made "proposals concerning the necessary changes in structure, style and ethos of the Council", focusing on:
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ecclesiological issues;
Attached to the "Helsinki report" are three appendices that provide further information and recommendations on the issue of decision-making by consensus, on the issue of common prayer at WCC gatherings, as well as on the work of the Membership Study Group which was appointed by the WCC Executive Committee.
"Ecclesiological issues embrace all the matters under the consideration of the Special Commission: social and ethical issues, common prayer at WCC gatherings, matters of membership and representation, as well as how decisions are made together," the Commission members emphasize in their final report.
In order to keep these concerns prominently before the governing bodies of the WCC, the Commission recommends the establishment of a Standing Committee on Orthodox Participation in the WCC, consisting of 14 members, of whom half would be Orthodox.
It is proposed that the Standing Committee will have responsibility for:
1) continuing the authority, mandate, concerns and dynamic of the Special Commission;
2) giving advice in order to reach consensus on items proposed for the agenda of the WCC;
3) giving attention to matters of ecclesiology.
The "Helsinki report" recommends that the current Steering Committee of the Special Commission should fulfil that role until the next WCC Assembly.
The Commission proposes consensus decision-making in order to "enhance the participation of all members in the various meetings," to "preserve the rights of all churches, especially those which hold a minority opinion," and to "provide a more collaborative and harmonious context for the making of decisions".
The Commission further hopes that "the use of consensus decision-making, with an increase in mutual trust, will make it easier for all to participate fully in the discussion of any burning ethical and social issue". While the Commission affirmed the function of the WCC as a "necessary and helpful instrument in facing social and ethical issues," it reminded the WCC of the need to "constantly monitor procedures for dealing with social and ethical issues proposed for common deliberation".
During its three-year work, the Commission has consistently underlined the need for careful theological and practical guidance for common prayer at WCC gatherings in order to raise "awareness about the ways in which we might unintentionally offend each other", and to make planners of common prayer more cognizant of potential areas of concern. In an appendix to its final report, the Special Commission now offers a framework for common prayer at WCC gatherings that makes a distinction between "confessional" and "interconfessional" common prayer.
The Special Commission recommends that the Central Committee provide two possibilities to churches wanting to relate to the WCC in the future:
1) member churches belonging to the fellowship of the WCC;
2) churches in association with the WCC.
The members of the Commission attended Vespers in the Lutheran Cathedral in Helsinki on Thursday, 30 May, and Divine Liturgy at the Orthodox Cathedral in Helsinki on Sunday, 2 June. These member churches repeatedly emphasized the strength of their growing ecumenical fellowship. The Lutheran Archbishop Jukka Paarma welcomed the Commission members at a reception. H.E. Metropolitan Chrysostomos of Ephesus expressed his warmest gratitude for the generous hospitality of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland. He especially thanked Bishop Voitto Huotari and Metropolitan Ambrosius of Helsinki for the invitation to Finland and for the excellent preparatory work and coordination.
The "Helsinki report" will be released to the public at the WCC Central Committee meeting in August this year.
Photos from the Special Commission meeting are now available on the WCC web site at: www.photooikoumene.org/events/events.html.