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Φως Φαναρίου
WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES
INTER-ORTHODOX CONSULTATION
“THE CHURCH TOWARDS A COMMON VISION”
Faith and Order Paper No. 214
Paralimni, Cyprus, 6-13 October 2016
1. The consultation met from 6 to 13 October 2016, with the goal
of responding to “The Church: Towardsa Common Vision”(TCTCV), Faith and
Order Paper No. 214, WCC, Geneva, 2013,in the Holy Metropolitanate of
Constantia-Ammochostos in Paralimni, Cyprus, upon the invitation of the
World Council of Churches (WCC), and thanks to the gracious hospitality
of H. B. Archbishop Chrysostomos of Cyprus and of H. E. Vasilios,
Metropolitan of Constantia-Ammochostos. H.E. Metropolitan Gennadios of
Sassima (Ecumenical Patriarchate) and H.E. Metropolitan Bishoy of
Damietta (Coptic Church) co-moderated the encounter. H.E. Metropolitan
Vasilios, former moderator and presently member of the WCC Faith and
Order Commission, received and hosted the participants in his diocese.
Thirty hierarchs, priests, deacons, university professors, lay (male and
female) and youth, coming from Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental
Orthodox Churches, as well as representatives of the WCC Faith and Order
Commission, were present. Some of the participants in this meeting are
also members of the WCC Faith and Order Commission. The consultation
heard and discussed positions of several Orthodox Churches and
theologians as well as papers, addressing the TCTCV Text. A similar
consultation held 2-9March 2011 in Agia Napa/Paralimni and hosted by
Metropolitan Vasilios, featured several concrete and precise proposals
for redrafting the Text “The Nature and Mission of the Church.”The Text
of TCTCV incorporated many of the suggestions made at the Agia
Napa/Paralimni consultation.
2. The WCC Central Committee in 2012 received the Faith and Order
Text no. 214, entitled “The Church: Towards a Common Vision”, and sent
it to the churches “to encourage further reflection on the Church and
seek their formal responses to the text”(TCTCV, Foreword, p. vi) until
the end of this year. The Text seeks to express common convictions about
the role of the Church, its nature and mission, and to identify issues
and ecclesiological difficulties which continue to divide the churches
today. This Text has already been sent officially to the WCC member
churches, inviting them to study and evaluate the document as well as to
offer their reactions and responses. The purpose of this consultation
is to formulate a common Orthodox response to TCTCV Text.
3. Convening such an Inter-Orthodox consultation is not new:
several similar consultations have been planned and organized by the WCC
in the past, facilitating the process of a common Orthodox response
–but also contribution –to major WCC studies.Members from almost all the
Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodox Churches participated at
this consultation. Present from the Eastern Orthodox Church were: the
Ecumenical Patriarchate, Patriarchate of Alexandria, Patriarchate of
Antioch, Patriarchate of Jerusalem, Patriarchate of Moscow, Patriarchate
of Serbia, Patriarchate of Romania, Church of Cyprus, Church of Greece,
Church of Albania, Orthodox Church of Finland, and the Orthodox Church
in America. Present from the Oriental Orthodox Churches were: the
Armenian Apostolic Church, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, Armenian
Apostolic Church, Holy See of Cilicia, Coptic Orthodox Church, and the
Syrian Orthodox Church of Malankara. In addition, local organizers,
guests and WCC staff participated.
4. Along with discussion on a series of various topics, the
program included daily prayers and several visits to local parishes and
monasteries. On 6 October, an opening morning prayer was celebrated in
the chapel of Agia Anna in Paralimni. At the opening session, H.E.
Metropolitan Prof. Dr. Gennadios of Sassima, after greeting all
participants, conveyed the prayers and the best wishes of H.A.H.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, and expressed gratitude and warm
thanks to Metropolitan Vasilios and his staff for his generous
hospitality, extended regularly to inter-Orthodox and ecumenical
gatherings, and he also highlighted his contribution to finalizing the
Text. Rev. Dr Odair Pedroso Mateus, director of the Faith and Order
Secretariat, read a message from Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general
secretary of the WCC. In his message, the general secretary greeted the
participants and expressed his gratitude to the host and to the
co-moderators. He also expressed his confidence that the response
“formulated on behalf of the Orthodox member churches shall constitute a
valuable document in the process of reception of ‘The Church: Towards a
Common Vision’ in the life of our WCC fellowship.”
5. On Sunday, 9 October all the members attended the Divine
Liturgy which was concelebrated at Saint George’s Cathedral in
Paralimni, by Metropolitans Vasilios, Gennadios, Seraphim of Zimbabwe
and Angola, Archbishop Theophanes of Gerasa and many clergy. After the
Liturgy, the members of the consultation travelled to Nicosia where they
visited the Cathedral of Saint John the Theologian at the Archbishopric
of Cyprus, and were welcomed by Archbishop Chrysostomos II who offered
an official lunch. Metropolitan Gennadios thanked him, on behalf of the
participants, for the great hospitality expressed in many ways and
several times. A pilgrimage visit to St. Thekla women`s monastery
followed. Unfortunately an attempt to conduct a visit to the occupied
area of Cyprus was prevented by the occupying authorities, who refused
at the border to admit the group.
6. On Tuesday, 11 October the participants visited the church of
the Mother of God the Theotokos (Panaghia Angeloktisti), the tomb of
Saint Lazarus and the monastery of Saint Raphael and Saint Marina.
7. Participants expressed warm thanks and gratitude to the WCC
general secretary, and to the director and staff of WCC Faith and Order
Commission for preparing and organizing this consultation.
8. After intensive discussion and thorough consideration of TCTCV
Text, the consultation issued a common response which will be submitted
to WCC Faith and Order Commission.
Paralimni, 12th October 2016.
