MP Delegation To wcc

[Kollyvas]

(PICS SHOW ORTHODOX CLERGY ON SUNDAY praying in the churches of heretics!!! THIS IS HOW THEY WITNESS ORTHODOXY?! ANAXIOS! ANAXIOS! ANAXIOS! --R)

http://www.wcc-assembly.info/en/news-me ... es-of.html

Visiting the churches of Porto Alegre

WCC 9th Assembly participants fanned out across Porto Alegre for worship with local congregations Sunday morning.
Participants in the 9th Assembly scattered across Porto Alegre for worship with local congregations Sunday morning. More than two dozen congregations in the city welcomed the WCC participants into their midst.

The diverse congregations included ones from the Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist, Orthodox, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian traditions. WCC visitors brought greetings at some of the churches.

Some of the congregations hosted the visitors for lunch before delegates and others reassembled on the Pontificia Universidade Catolica campus for a plenary session in late afternoon.

[Kollyvas]

http://www.wcc-assembly.info/en/home-2/ ... -life.html

"God, in your grace, transform our churches" is the sub-theme for today's morning and evening worship. The selected scripture passages, Mark 10:32-45 and Philippians 2:1-11, are about Jesus in solidarity with the excluded, and about the birth of a new community in Christ. Today's symbol, the chalice, brings to mind Christ's promise: "The cup that I drink you will drink" (Mark 10:38-9).

[Kollyvas]

http://www.wcc-assembly.info/en/news-me ... sions.html

Artistic expressions

A dance group demonstrates a glimpse of its region's culture.
The mutirão at the 9th Assembly is a space opened to the expression and sharing of churches, Christian organizations, and groups worldwide. Part of that experience has brought vibrant activities of artistic expression to the university's halls and to the walkways - dubbed "Ecumenical Avenue" - that connect the major sites on the campus.

Dance and theater groups daily give demonstrations of the cultures of their towns and regions, along with presentations of the mission and witness of the churches and organizations from which they come. Groups have included a dance troupe from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bolivia, Dalit drums from India, musical performances by street children from Botswana, street theatre from Sri Lanka, drummers and dancers from the Cook Islands, and a long list of others.

The activities, occurring at various times through the day, have been strongly supported by Assembly participants.

[Kollyvas]

(WHY AREN'T THE ORTHODOX SAYING THEY ARE THAT ONE CHURCH?! This is witness?! --R)

http://www.wcc-assembly.info/en/theme-i ... ology.html

Called to be the one church

An invitation to the churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen their dialogue

pdf version

WCC assemblies have adopted texts offering a vision, or identifying the qualities, of “the unity we seek”. This assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil, is invited to consider and adopt the present invitation to the churches.1

The purpose of this invitation to the churches is twofold: (1) to reflect what the churches, at this point on their ecumenical journey, can say together about some important aspects of the church; and (2) to invite the churches into a renewed conversation - mutually supportive, yet open and searching – about the quality and degree of their fellowship and communion, and about the issues which still divide them.2

I

1. We, the delegates to the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches, give thanks to the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, who has brought our churches into living contact and dialogue. By God’s grace we have been enabled to remain together, even when this has not been easy. Considerable efforts have been made to overcome divisions. We are “a fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour according to the scriptures, and therefore seek to fulfil their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” (basis of the WCC). Yet our continuing divisions are real wounds to the body of Christ. Thus we are committed to one another on the way towards visible unity. This commitment is a gift from our gracious Lord.

2. Unity is both a divine gift and calling. Our churches have affirmed that the unity for which we pray, hope, and work is “a koinonia given and expressed in the common confession of the apostolic faith; a common sacramental life entered by the one baptism and celebrated together in one eucharistic fellowship; a common life in which members and ministries are mutually recognized and reconciled; and a common mission witnessing to the gospel of God’s grace to all people and serving the whole of creation” (Canberra unity statement, 2.1). Such koinonia is to be expressed in each place, and through a conciliar relationship of churches in different places. We have much work ahead of us as together we seek to understand the meaning of unity and catholicity, and the significance of baptism.

II

1. We confess one, holy, catholic and apostolic church as expressed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). The church’s oneness is an image of the unity of the triune God in the communion of the divine Persons. Holy scripture describes the Christian community as the body of Christ whose inter-related diversity is essential to its wholeness: “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Cor. 12:4-7). Thus, as the people of God, the body of Christ, and the temple of the Holy Spirit, the church is called to manifest its oneness in diversity.

2. The church as communion of believers is created by the word of God, for it is through hearing the proclamation of the gospel that faith, by the action of his Holy Spirit, is awakened (Rom. 10:17). Since the good news proclaimed to awaken faith is the good news handed down by the apostles, the church created by it is apostolic.

3. We affirm that the apostolic faith of the church is one, as the body of Christ is one. Yet there may legitimately be different formulations of the faith of the church. The life of the church as new life in Christ is one. Yet it is built up through different charismata and ministries. The hope of the church is one. Yet it is expressed in different human expectations. We acknowledge that there are different ecclesiological starting points, and a range of views on the relation of the church to the churches. Some differences express God’s grace and goodness; they must be discerned in God’s grace through the Holy Spirit. Other differences divide the church; these must be overcome through the Spirit’s gifts of faith, hope, and love so that separation and exclusion do not have the last word. God’s “plan for the fullness of time [is] to gather up all things in him” (Eph. 1:10), reconciling human divisions. God calls his people in love to discernment and renewal on the way to the fullness of koinonia.

4. The catholicity of the church expresses the fullness, integrity, and totality of its life in Christ through the Holy Spirit in all times and places. This mystery is expressed in each community of baptized believers in which the apostolic faith is confessed and lived, the gospel is proclaimed, and the sacraments are celebrated. Each church is the Church catholic and not simply a part of it. Each church is the church catholic, but not the whole of it. Each church fulfills its catholicity when it is in communion with the other churches.

5. The relationship among churches is dynamically interactive. Each church is called to mutual giving and receiving gifts and to mutual accountability. Each church must become aware of all that is provisional in its life and have the courage to acknowledge this to other churches. We affirm that the catholicity of the church is expressed in sharing holy communion. Yet even today, when eucharistic sharing is not always possible, divided churches express aspects of catholicity when they pray for one another, share resources, assist one another in times of need, make decisions together, work together for justice, reconciliation and peace, hold one another accountable to the discipleship inherent in baptism, and maintain dialogue in the face of differences, refusing to say “I have no need of you” (1 Cor. 12:21). Apart from one another we are impoverished.

III

1. All who have been baptized into Christ are united with Christ in his body: “Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). In baptism, the Spirit confers Christ’s holiness upon Christ’s members. Baptism into union with Christ calls churches to be open and honest with one another, even when doing so is difficult: “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ” (Eph. 4:15). Baptism bestows upon the churches both the freedom and the responsibility to journey towards common proclamation of the word, confession of the one faith, celebration of one eucharist, and full sharing in one ministry.

2. Our common belonging to Christ through baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit enables and calls churches to walk together, even when they are in disagreement. We affirm that there is one baptism, just as there is one body and one Spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one faith, one God and Father of us all (cf. Eph. 4:4-6). In God’s grace, baptism manifests the reality that we belong to one another, even though some churches are not yet able to recognize others as church in the full sense of the word. We recall the words of the Toronto statement, in which the member churches of the WCC affirm that “the membership of the church of Christ is more inclusive than the membership of their own church body. They seek, therefore, to enter into living contact with those outside their own ranks who confess the Lordship of Christ” (IV.3).

IV

1. The church as the creature of God’s Word and Spirit is a mystery, sign, and instrument of what God intends for the salvation of the world. The grace of God is expressed in the victory over sin given by Christ, and in the healing and wholeness of the human being. The kingdom of God can be perceived in a reconciled and reconciling community that overcomes divisions, including the discriminations of race, gender, age, culture, colour and class that are expressed in sinful social structures. The church participates in the reconciling ministry of Christ, who emptied himself, when it lives out its mission, affirming and renewing the image of God in all humanity and working alongside all those whose human dignity has been denied by economic, political and social marginalization.

2. The churches find themselves living alongside people of other living faiths and ideologies. As an instrument of God, who is sovereign over the whole creation, the church is called to engage in dialogue and collaboration with them so that its mission brings about the good of all creatures and the well-being of the earth. All churches are called to struggle against sin in all its manifestations, within and around them, and to work with others to combat injustice, alleviate human suffering, overcome violence, and ensure fullness of life for all people.

V

1. Throughout its history the World Council of Churches has been a privileged instrument by which churches have been able to listen to one another and speak to one another, engaging issues that challenge the churches and imperil humankind. Churches in the ecumenical movement have also explored divisive questions through multilateral and bilateral dialogues. And yet churches have not always acknowledged their mutual responsibility to one another, and have not always recognized the need to give account to one another of their faith, life, and witness, as well as to articulate the factors that keep them apart.

2. Therefore, the ninth assembly calls upon the World Council of Churches to continue to facilitate deep conversations among various churches. We also invite all of our churches to engage in the hard task of giving a candid account of the relation of their own faith and order to the faith and order of other churches. Each church is asked to articulate the judgments that shape, and even qualify, its relationship to the others. The honest sharing of commonalities, divergences, and differences will help all churches to pursue the things that make for peace and build up the common life. It is time now to take concrete steps.

3. Towards this goal churches are called to address recurrent matters in fresh, more pointed ways. Among the questions to be addressed continually by the churches are these:

a) To what extent does each discern expression of the apostolic faith in the life, worship and witness of the others?
b) Where does each perceive fidelity to Christ in the faith and life of the others?
c) Does each acknowledge the one baptism in the others?
d) For what reasons is it essential, permissible, or not possible to share the Lord’s sSupper with others beyond each church?
e) In what ways is each able to recognize the ordered ministries of the others?
f) How closely can each church embrace the spirituality of the others?
g) How will each stand with the others to contend with problems such as social and political hegemonies, persecution, oppression, poverty and violence?
h) To what extent will each participate in the apostolic mission of the others?
i) How fully can each participate in common prayer and in the worship of others?

VI

1. Our churches journey together in conversation and common action, confident that the risen Christ has disclosed himself as he did in the breaking of bread at Emmaus, and that he will unveil the deeper meaning of fellowship and communion. Noting the progress made in the ecumenical movement, we encourage our churches to continue on this arduous yet joyous path, trusting in God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, whose grace transforms our struggles for unity into the fruits of communion.

Let us listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches!

---

1 The present Invitation to the churches was produced at the request of the central committee of the WCC (2002), in a process organized by the WCC’s Faith and Order commission. A first draft was written at a meeting in Nicosia, Cyprus, in March 2004; this was revised (on the basis of extensive comments received from WCC governing bodies, the Faith and Order commission, and the steering committee of the Special Commission) at a second meeting in Nicosia in May, 2005. Faith and Order extends on behalf of the WCC its appreciation to the Church of Cyprus, which graciously hosted these preparatory meetings. A final revision took place at the Faith and Order standing commission meeting in Aghios Nikolaos, Crete, in June 2005.

2 To assist this process, Faith and Order has produced and sent to the churches a new study document, The Nature and Mission of the Church: A Stage on the Way to a Common Statement, Faith and Order Paper no. 198, 2005.

---

[Kollyvas]

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7108

WCC Assembly looks at the ecumenical future
World Council of Churches (WCC)

Leading theologians have addressed the World Council of Churches 9th Assembly on the theme of church unity. Scholars from the Protestant, Oriental Orthodox and Catholic traditions offered reflective comments on the document "Called To Be the One Church" in a session entitled "Church Unity – Claiming a Common Future".

Fr Jorge A. Scampini OP, of Argentina, a leading Roman Catholic Dominican theologian, urged the WCC to continue and strengthen its role as the "privileged instrument" of the ecumenical movement in the search for visible Christian unity. He was one of three speakers commenting in a plenary session on 20 February 2006.

The document, prepared by the Faith and Order commission, is "An invitation to the Churches to Renew Their Commitment to the Search for Unity and to deepen their Dialogue". It recapitulates previous work and statements on unity as a divine gift and calling, based on the common faith confessed in the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed and on common baptism. It concludes by addressing nine questions to the churches on their relationships with each other and their mutual recognition.

While emphasizing that, from a Roman Catholic perspective, some of the divergences mentioned in the document are real obstacles to visible unity, Fr Scampini welcomed the questions being addressed to the churches. He stated that the churches "should enter into a renewed conversation about the quality and degree of their fellowship and communion, and about the issues which still divide them".

The WCC, he continued, "must continue to have the role of 'privileged instrument'" in the cause of unity by continuing Faith and Order work on the divisive issues and "by adopting as an Assembly the text before you as your own word addressed to the churches".

Other speakers welcoming and commenting on the document were Fr Dr Jacob Kurien Malankara Orthodox Church, India who critcized the "ecumenical stagnation" of the present time, and Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri, a Malawian Presbyterian theologian living in South Africa . She urged that unity must embrace people’s grassroots concerns, such as ecumenical marriages, gender-based violence and difficulties faced by ordained women in carrying out their ministry.

The document "Called To Be the One Church" will be considered later in the Assembly in the light of comments received.

In the next stage of the plenary, a Latin American Pentecostal theologian, Dr J. Norberto Saracco, said that in recent years evangelical and Pentecostal churches had "worked hardest in the quest for visible unity".

Acknowledging the work done elsewhere on theological and institutional questions, Sarraco suggested "That way of doing ecumenism has gone as far as it can . . . the ecumenical agenda must disentangle itself from the past and become open to the future."

In a joint presentation, two youth participants, Lei Garcia (United Church of Christ, Philippines) and John Njige Njoroge (Orthodox, Kenya) used drama to convey their vision of unity as dynamic relationships, sharing the struggles of the people and in sharing in worship "without pointing at each other as liturgically 'right' or 'wrong' but rather listening to and spiritually benefitting from each other’s liturgical practices".

Speaking to journalists on the theme with the Orthodox Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania and the Lutheran Bishop Margot Kässman, Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, "God has a dream. He longs desperately for the time when all his children know they belong in one family. In this quest, the WCC is crucial, as God's instrument for engaging us to realize God's dream."

He spoke of the breadth of ecumenical relations, saying, "We don't take seriously enough the fact that God is God of all. We are too prone to excommunicate, because we can't stand the fact that God welcomes all. I'm glad that God is God."

Archbishop Anastasios of Tirana and All Albania said that church unity was "a duty and a necessity", particularly in an age of globalization. "If there is not this direction, it is a new scandal to the world," he said. He stressed the nature of the WCC as "a forum for people" rather than as an institution. "Without the WCC, which has been so important for me, it would have been impossible for me to know and to love Archbishop Tutu and Bishop Kässman. The WCC, he said, was "a forum of love and hope".

Rev. Dr Margot Kässman of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Germany spoke of the "impatience" with ecumenism she perceived, saying, "If we cannot recognize each other as churches in the full sense of the word, it is very difficult for us to call the peoples of the world to more unity."

She called for the Roman Catholic Church to allow ecumenical worship together, and for a revision of guidelines on inter-confessional marriages to allow couples to partake of the eucharist together. Such marriages "should not be seen as dividing but as uniting," she said.

[Kollyvas]

(The fruits of sergianism. Recall this embarassment now!--R)

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7109

Orthodox Ties to Catholics Seen as Vital
REUTERS

PORTO ALEGRE, Brazil, Feb. 20 (Reuters) — Changes in church practices that are seen as liberal, such as allowing women to serve in the clergy and permitting same-sex marriages, are creating a widening gulf within world Christianity, a leading Russian Orthodox bishop said Monday.

That growing divide may prompt Orthodox churches to consider a tactical alliance with Roman Catholicism to defend traditional Christian values, Bishop Hilarion Alfeyev said in an interview on the sidelines of the global assembly here of the mostly Protestant World Council of Churches.

While Orthodox churches, with about 220 million members, are members of the council, Bishop Alfeyev, the bishop of Vienna and the chief Russian Orthodox delegate, said they have less in common with some fellow members than they once had.

"The gap between the traditional wing, represented mainly by Orthodox churches and the Roman Catholic Church, and the liberal wing, represented by many Protestant churches, is only growing day by day," he said. "We," referring to the Orthodox and Roman Catholics, "are on the same side of the divide."

He added: "Traditional Christianity's very survival is in jeopardy. We have no right to delay this strategic alliance, because in 20 to 40 years it will be too late."

Bishop Alfeyev, who is in charge of Russian Orthodox Church relations with the European Union, said, though, that an alliance with Roman Catholics should not be a matter of dogma and should precede the resolution of many centuries-old differences between the two oldest branches of Christianity, some differences dating back to the Great Schism of 1054.

Pope Benedict XVI has said closer ties with Orthodox churches are a top priority of his papacy. The Roman Catholic Church is not a member of the World Council of Churches.

Bishop Alfeyev said the two sides were working to prepare a historic meeting between the pope and the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, Aleksy II. The meeting had not yet taken place "not because of our denial, but because we want it to actually change things and not be just a protocol event," the bishop said.

[Kollyvas]

(Embarassing. WHAT DOES THIS HAVE TO DO WITH WITNESSING ORTHODOXY?!--R)

http://directionstoorthodoxy.org/mod/ne ... le_id=7112

Address by Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, Moscow Patriarchate, to the WCC Assembly

POST-SOVIET COUNTRIES: THE NEED FOR NEW MORALS IN ECONOMY

After the demise of the totalitarian Communist system the economic and social life in the countries of the former Soviet Union found itself in the hands of radical neo-liberal reformers and their Western advisers. The initial public support to these people’s policies was almost unanimous: the USSR population knew very well all the disadvantages of the state-controlled, absolutely centralized and heavily militarized totalitarian economy which suppressed any independent initiative. The idea of free market’s “omnipotence” in solving not only economic, but also political and social problems, occupied the public space in the beginning of 1990s.

Unfortunately, the results of unwise policies of radical neo-liberals proved very soon to be dramatic. Dozens of millions of people, including young and energetic ones, started to live below the poverty level. Their savings turned into nothing, many of them lost jobs or were paid only symbolic salaries. The Soviet social system which guaranteed for many people a predictable future started to gradually disappear. Alcoholism, drug abuse and suicide became widespread. Social marginalization (e.g., the number of street children) reached levels unknown since the Civil War of 1917-1923.

At the same time many economic players started to “preach” unlimited wealth and moral cynicism in the context of absolute poverty of millions. Several families who started to “own” post-Soviet countries as a result of questionable privatization of state properties, pretended to hold the political power as well. One of their representatives said on TV: “Population doesn’t matter”; another one – “I can elect even a monkey president here”. In the eyes of many simple people the very word “economy” became sort of synonym to crime, injustice, manipulation and oppression. Schoolchildren, when asked about their plans for the future, were naming “prostitute” and “gangster” among the most prestigious professions. The very idea of economic ethics was declared outdated and linked to Communist past. Still, at the turn of the new century many economic actors started to realize that economy without ethics is not only immoral, but also counterproductive.

The Russian Orthodox Church uniting many dozen million Christians in different post-Soviet countries and other regions of the world has raised its voice many times against economic injustice in 1990s and 2000s. Its leadership spoke to the state power, the businessmen and the common people, criticizing late payments of salaries, unemployment, inadequate monetization of social benefits and many other phenomena which brought suffering to our compatriots.

In February 2004, at the initiative of my Church, the World Russian People’s Sobor (Assembly) adopted The Code of Moral Principles and Rules in Economy, which was offered to the state, entrepreneurs and workers. Although it doesn’t speak direct Christian language (the document was later supported by Jews, Moslems and Buddhists), the Code is based on the Ten Commandments of the Bible. Allow me to quote just several paragraphs from this document.

“Historically the Russian spiritual and moral tradition has been inclined predominantly to give priority to the spiritual over the material, the ideal of personal selflessness for the sake of the good of the people. However, the extremes of this option would lead to terrible tragedies. Remembering this, we should establish such an economic order as to help realize in a harmonious way both spiritual aspirations and the material interests of both the individual and society”.

“The greater one's property is the more powerful one is over others. Therefore, the use of property in economy should not be of narrow egoistic nature and should not contradict the common interest… Poverty just as richness is a test. A poor person is obliged to behave in a dignified way, to seek to make his work effective, to raise his professional skills so that he may come out of his misery”.

“Political power and economic power should be separated. The participation of business in politics and its impact on public opinion should be open and transparent. The entire financial support given by business to political parties, public organizations and the mass media should be made public and verifiable. Any secret support is to be condemned publicly as immoral”.

“Individuals and structures guilty of grievous crimes, especially those involved in corruption, should be unacceptable as business partners or participants in the business community… Those who fail to pay salaries, who delay them systematically and allow them to stay below the subsistence wage are to be censured by society”.

Now the Russian Orthodox Church is working to promote and implement this Code. It was well received by several economy-related state institutions, leaders of nation-wide trade unions. Several big companies (for example, financial corporation Sistema, Itera oil company and Ingosstrakh insurance company), have indicated that they will follow in their activities the rules and principles mentioned in our document. The Code was widely discussed by researchers, journalists as well as broader public. Some criticized the Church for “interfering in non-religious area”. But I am deeply convinced that it is the task of the Church to call and work for moral renewal, truth and justice in economy.