Orthodox see hope for reform in World Council of Churches

by Clive Leviev‑Sawyer
Ecumenical News International

SOFIA, Bulgaria — A meeting of leaders of Orthodox churches that are members of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has taken a positive view of proposals to reform WCC worship and decision‑making procedures to accommodate concerns of Orthodox churches.

      The proposals were drawn up by a special commission set up by the council in the late 1990s to deal with Orthodox concerns that the Geneva‑based WCC was too dominated by Protestant theology and decision‑making styles.

   “We affirm without reservation the work and recommendations of the Special Commission, its report in all its aspects,” said a statement issued on Monday after aJan. 10‑17 meeting on the Greek island of Rhodes. It was attended by more than 50 Orthodox church leaders and theologians, as well as participants from other WCC member churches.

      The WCC’s churches include all mainstream traditions, Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox, with the exception of the Roman Catholic Church, which cooperates with the council by serving on some of its committees. Orthodox churches have said, however, their views are diminished by the WCC’s mainly‑Protestant majority. Matters came to a head in 1998 when the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church left the WCC.

      The special commission recommended the introduction of a consensus procedure for decision‑making, and proposed changing terms used in connection with inter‑church services to take account of Orthodox concerns.

      “We have every confidence that these recommendations bear great promise for the whole fellowship, as long as they are given a real chance to work,” the Rhodes meeting said, noting they might help the Roman Catholic Church to join the WCC.

      There are 22 Eastern Orthodox and Oriental Orthodox churches among the WCC’s 342 members. Still, the Orthodox churches together have almost as many members as all the other WCC churches combined.

      The statement represents a key response ahead of the WCC’s ninth seven‑yearly assembly, to be held in Brazil in February 2006. The assembly is the WCC’s highest decision‑making body and a gathering of Orthodox churches is traditionally held prior to each assembly.

   The introduction of consensus decision‑making would offer the WCC a way to create an atmosphere of openness, trust, and humility, "where the views of all churches will be encouraged and listened to with respect,” participants at the Orthodox meeting in Greece said.

      “We trust that the change to consensus will enhance the potential of the Council to find its true prophetic voice, and may offer a model that invites to the Council churches of that vast Christian constituency not yet members of the Council (including the Roman Catholic Church),” they noted.