World Council of Churches

General: The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide fellowship of Christian churches. It is the broadest and most inclusive institutional expression of the ecumenical movement, bringing together more than 340 churches, denominations and church fellowships in over 100 countries and territories throughout the world, representing some 400 million Christians and including most of the world's Orthodox churches, among them the Patriarchate of Antioch, and scores of denominations from such historic traditions of the Protestant Reformation as Anglican, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist and Reformed, as well as many united and independent churches. The world’s largest Christian body, the Roman Catholic Church, is not a member of the WCC, but has worked closely with the Council for more than three decades and sends representatives to all major WCC conferences as well as to its Central Committee meetings and the assemblies.

WCC homepage: www.wcc-coe.org

The Special Commission:

Since the foundation of the modern ecumenical movement, the main families of churches participating have been those from the so-called "Protestant" traditions (including Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Reformed, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) and the Orthodox churches. While the relationship has been marked by  periods of greater and lesser cooperation, there has always been dissonance in the basic self-understanding of Orthodox and Protestant churches and the way in which they relate to the One
church of
Jesus Christ. This contrast has influenced an often heated debate about the nature of the fellowship that is experienced in the WCC. In addition there have been chronic protests about the ways in which ecumenical institutions such as the WCC have gone about the task of inter-Christian encounter and activity. Questions are consistently raised as to how churches are represented, how decisions are taken and how these get spelled out in the priorities, programs and "ethos" of the WCC.

In response to the critical nature of these developments, and specifically to a recommendation from an Eastern Orthodox meeting held at Thessaloniki in May 1998, a “Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC” was created at the WCC's eighth assembly in
Harare, in December 1998. In 2002 the Central Committee of the World Council of Churches accepted the final report of the Special Commission, including recommendations regarding (1) decision-making (under most circumstances will occur through a process of consensus rather than by majority vote), (2) membership, (3) modes of relating to the WCC,  (4) ecclesiology, (5) social and ethical issues, (6 ) prayer at WCC events, and (7) establishment of a standing committee on Orthodox issues.

Special Commission homepage: www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/who/special-01-e.html 

While the report of the Special Commission is not a list of Orthodox “desiderata”, it does represent significant, even historic, changes in the life of the World Council of Churches that will redress some of the perennial structural issues that have shadowed Orthodox involvement in the WCC and will provide a constructive basis for improving the style and ethos of work in the World Council and for deepening the fellowship among the member churches. Those Orthodox Churches committed to maintaining ecumenical dialogue and witness recognize that the WCC has been critically important for the Orthodox Churches in becoming known by the western traditions of the Christian world, as well as known to the secular world. Those representatives of the Orthodox churches engaged in this process have undertaken their work with a deep sense of responsibility for the integrity of the Orthodox faith and Tradition, as well as understanding that the Orthodox Church cannot be true to the Gospel message and remain cloistered, willing to communicate only with other Orthodox Christians.  The Orthodox Churches must remain at the ecumenical table in order to provide witness in a wounded, fractured world to the truth, depth and traditions of the apostolic faith.

The Decade to Overcome Violence

The Decade to Overcome Violence: Churches Seeking Reconciliation and Peace (DOV) 2001 -- 2010 is an initiative of the World Council of Churches, first conceived of and approved by the 1998 Harare Assembly that calls churches, ecumenical organizations, and all people of goodwill:

• To work together for peace, justice, and reconciliation at all levels – local, regional, and global.
  

• To embrace creative approaches to peace building which are consonant with the spirit of the gospel.
  

• To interact and collaborate with local communities, secular movements, and people of other living faiths towards cultivating a culture of peace.
  

• To walk with people who are systematically oppressed by violence, and to act in solidarity with all struggling for justice, peace, and the integrity of creation.
  

• To repent together for our complicity in violence, and to engage in theological reflection to overcome the spirit, logic, and practice of violence.
  

Decade to Overcome Violence homepage: www.overcomingviolence.org

In 2004, the focus of the DOV is on the
United States, where a full calendar of programs and activities is scheduled, including the annual SCOBA/SCOOCH UN Orthodox prayer service with the United Nations community. See calendar of events www.SCOBA.us  and at www.overcomingviolence.org  “US focus in 2004”.  Information about the work Antiochian Orthodox Prison Ministry is among that linked to the US DOV web site.

Ecumenical Accompaniement Programme in Palestine and
Israel (EAPPI)

The EAPPI is an initiative of the World Council of Churches under the Ecumenical Campaign to End the Illegal Occupation of Palestine: Support a Just Peace in the Middle East. Its mission is to accompany Palestinians and Israelis in their non-violent actions and concerted advocacy efforts to end the occupation. Participants of the programme are monitoring and reporting violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, supporting acts of non-violent resistance alongside local Christian and Muslim Palestinians and Israeli peace activists, offering protection through non-violent presence, engaging in public policy advocacy and, in general, standing in solidarity with the churches and all those struggling against the occupation. EAPPI Homepage: www.eappi.org  

Anne Glynn Mackoul, a parishioner at Saint Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church, Souderton, PA, represents the Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East on the central committee of the World Council of Churches and served on the WCC Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC.  She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Saint Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary, of the International Orthodox Christian Charities and of the US Conference of the World Council of Churches