09609
July 16, 2009

Offer hope to crisis-hit world, European churches’ leaders urge

By Stephen Brown
Ecumenical News International

LYON, France — A gathering of European churches has opened in the French city of Lyon with an account of how a church rebuilt itself after religion was banned, and with a call for Christians to be at the forefront of resisting all forms of violence and racism.

“As Christians, we dare to hope, even in an age when millions of people all over the planet are in despair, under pressure from the global economic crisis, and are overwhelmed by uncertainty,” said the head of the Albanian Orthodox Church, Archbishop Anastasios, when he addressed delegates at the 15 July opening worship service of the once-every-six-years assembly of the Conference of European Churches.

About 750 delegates from the grouping’s 120 member churches - principally Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant - and associated organizations are attending the 15-21 July assembly. It is taking place under the theme, “Called to One Hope in Christ”, inspired by a passage from St. Paul’s letter to the Ephesians (4:4).

“There is hope when we resist all forms of violence and racism, when we defend the dignity of every human person,” said Archbishop Anastasios, who came from Greece to Albania in 1992 to rebuild the life of the Orthodox church there following 46 years of communist rule.

“There is hope when we insist on the obligation for unselfish solidarity between people and peoples, when we fight for unfeigned respect for the creation,” said the cleric from Albania, who added that Christians must be at the forefront of defending the dignity of all human beings.

Still, said Anastasios, Christians would be unable to make their announcement of hope persuasive, “if we remain divided, or if we maintain relations that are formal, conventional and distant”.

“Churches, monasteries and ecclesial structures all lay in ruins after 23 years of total atheist persecution. Spiritually, it was like a desert landscape: (and) disheartening,” Anastasios recalled what he had found on his arrival in Albania 17 years ago. “The only thing that supported the efforts to reconstitute the church was a phrase that epitomised all our certainty: In Christ there is hope! We dare to hope.”

The Lyon assembly marks the 50th anniversary of the European church grouping, founded at the height of the Cold War in 1959 as a bridge between churches in Western Europe and the Communist-ruled East.

This year’s assembly delegates will review the work of CEC, which has offices in Geneva, Brussels and Strasbourg. The meeting will also set priorities for the next six years, and seek to articulate a vision for the ecumenical movement in Europe for the coming two decades.

Victoria Kamondji, who is a vice-president of the Protestant Federation of France, and originally from Sierra Leone, also spoke at the opening worship. She noted how Europe was becoming increasingly diverse, and said this was reflected within churches.

“There are increasing contacts, on the one hand, between the traditional churches, and, on the other hand, in a meaningful way, between the traditional churches and the migrants’ churches,” founded by Christian immigrants to Europe, said Kamondji. “While the boundaries separating those churches are becoming increasingly ‘porous’, we are also seeing a multiplicity of efforts, on all sides, aimed at growing together and unity, while respecting diversity, differences and distinctiveness.”

The Roman Catholic archbishop of Lyon, Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, urged delegates to find ways of promoting Christian unity against the background of the economic, cultural, political and inter-religious challenges in Europe.