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World Council of Churches
Elias Crisóstomo Abramides of Argentina, deeply mourned and fondly remembered
Mr Elias Abramides
speaks at the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston,
Jamaica, in 2011. Photo: Peter Williams/WCC
The global ecumenical family is deeply saddened by the death of Elias Crisóstomo
Abramides, on 21 October 2019. He was a pioneer and a vital stalwart in
the faith community's ongoing struggle to stop climate change. Elias
was a founding member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Working
Group on Climate Change which emerged from WCC participation in the 1992
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro that gave rise to the UN Framework
Convention on Climate Change. He continued to be a dedicated and active
member of the WCC Working Group on Climate Change, and the ecumenical
work on climate change, until his death.
Abramides, from Buenos Aires, Argentina, was born into
an Orthodox family of Greek origin. His first personal contact with the
WCC was a letter he received from His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch
Dimitrios in March 1990, a letter that included his name as a member of
the Ecumenical Patriarchate delegation to the WCC 7th Assembly to meet
in Canberra in February 1991.
Abramides was invited to participate in the pre-Canberra
meeting for the Latin America region in Salvador, State of Bahia,
Brazil, in the mid-1990s.
His university degree in chemical sciences, and his work
and expertise in environmental studies, were his starting point of
respect for the marvels of nature and the environment. His service at
the WCC opened for him the gate to meeting and loving the very good
creation of God: love, respect and admiration for the life of his
neighbours and for all creation.
He was invited to participate in the last four WCC
assemblies: Canberra 1991, Harare 1998, Porto Alegre 2006 and Busan
2013. And in the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston,
Jamaica, in 2011.
After his return to Argentina, Abramides was designated
to participate in the local ecumenical movement, representing the
Ecumenical Patriarchate and the WCC at the Ecumenical Commission of
Christian Churches in Argentina.
WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said
Abramides will be deeply mourned by the global fellowship, and
particularly those who have worked with Abramides for many years on
issues related to ecology, Economy of Life, climate change, and care for
creation.
“As we say farewell, our hearts are with the many
friends and family of Elias Crisóstomo Abramides, who was special and
dear to us all,” said Tveit. “We extend our sincere condolences, our
assurance of our prayers, and, not least, our vow to continue his
faithful work in protecting and caring for creation, and for life on
planet Earth, which he regarded as our fragile and bountiful home.”
WCC programme executive for ecumenical continuing
formation Rev. Dr Martin Robra said he will remain forever grateful for
the leadership of Abramides in the work on the climate emergency. “He
has contributed much to the fact that this work could develop and grow
into a large network of churches and ecumenical partners,” said Robra.
“It was always a joy working with Elias. He truly represented the
Orthodox tradition among the friends of the Climate Change Working Group
of the WCC and kept close contact with the Ecumenical Patriarch
Bartholomew I.”
Georges ‘Yorgo’ Lemopoulos, who served as deputy to five
WCC general secretaries in his own ecumenical journey, described
Abramides as “an ever smiling, gentle, discreet, knowledgeable and
highly appreciated ‘ambassador’ - of his church, the Ecumenical
Patriarchate: he was included in several delegations to WCC Assemblies
and other important meetings.”
He was also an ‘ambassador’ of the WCC, added
Lemopoulos. “He help build and strengthen relationships with UN-related
and other international organizations as well as with Roman Catholic
partners and has been a faithful friend and precious colleague to many
staff of the WCC, being closely associated with programmatic activities
of the council.”
Last but not least, Lemopoulos said, Abramides was an
‘ambassador’ of churches in Argentina and Latin America, trusted and
respected by his many friends in the country and the region, always
surprising his many ecumenical friends as the “exotic” Greek Orthodox
who spoke perfect Spanish and represented Latin America with passion.
Joy Kennedy, a member of WCC Working Group on Climate
Change, said that the sudden news deeply saddens her heart. “I am
grateful to God for having known such a true friend and colleague over
many years. We stood together hand-in-hand in the work for climate
justice, a proud Latin American in solidarity with all, even this North
American counterpart.”
His Orthodox vision and witness to truth and justice was
second to none, added Kennedy, and exemplified a genuine spirituality
for the long haul.
“Elias faithfully served the WCC ecology and economy
team with dedication and meticulous care, always gracious and
gentlemanly, yet firm in conviction,” she said. “He was our
institutional memory. Now he joins the eternal cloud of witnesses in
heaven. Presente, dear Elias Abramides.”
Dr. Manoj Kurian, coordinator of the WCC Ecumenical
Advocacy Alliance and Food for Life Campaign, said: “We have lost a
gentle ecumenical giant, a great champion of the earth and a tireless
campaigner against climate change.”
Rev. Henrik Grape, WCC’s senior advisor for care and
creation, sustainability and climate justice, said: “Elias was our
memory and loving caretaker of the working group. It is a sad day for
many of us. Coming from a scientific background, he contributed with a
firm ground to understand the basics of climate change end ecological
sustainability but he also embraced a spiritual and theological
understanding of being a part of the creation that was well rooted in
his Orthodox tradition.”
WCC programme executive for economic and ecological
justice Athena Peralta said it was no exaggeration to say that Abramides
carried with him the entire history of ecumenical engagement in climate
justice.
“Until recently Elias served as the co-moderator of the
WCC Working Group on Climate Change - a group that he co-founded in
1992. Elias was a man of science, having studied chemistry, but also a
man of deep faith. From the very beginning he was of the conviction that
climate change is a profoundly ethical, moral and spiritual issue.”
Peralta added that the WCC will sorely miss the archival
wisdom, vast experience as well as warm and genteel touch Abramides
brought to the ecumenical work for climate justice. “While it is
difficult to imagine his absence from the climate conferences, we know
that he would wish for us to persevere in our efforts, to sharpen our
engagement and to continually bridge science and religion particularly
where there is denial of global warming and its destructive impacts,”
she said.
Archbishop Job of Telmessos, who serves as permanent
representative of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the WCC, became
acquainted with Abramides for the first time at the WCC Assembly in
Porte Alegre in 2006. “We have been friends since then,” said Archbishop
Job. “I remember him as an active delegate of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate to the WCC. His deep knowledge of science was valuable to
the environmental issues. I remember with great emotion his last visit
in Geneva last year, as well as corresponding with him last August
concerning his last contribution to our newsletter. May his memory be
eternal.”
“One of the great gifts that Elias tirelessly offered to
the WCC and the ecumenical movement was his beautiful and unique way to
combine a high level technical knowledge of the climate change agenda
in the system of the United Nations and Orthodox theology”, said Dr
Marcelo Schneider, WCC communication officer responsible for coverage of
several UN climate summits. “Elias was always ready to remind us that
ecumenical advocacy on climate must be rooted in the Gospel imperative
of care for God’s creation and that the consequences of such link are
at the heart of the One Church since its early years”, added Schneider.
