Στη
Ρουμανία και στο Caraiman Μονή πραγματοποιήθηκε από 17-24
Ιουνίου 2015 , συνάντηση των μελών της Επιτροπής Πίστις και
Τάξις του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Εκκλησιών (ΠΣΕ), με σκοπό να καθοριστούν οι
κύριοι άξονες και η κοινή δράση για το διάστημα 2015-2020.
Το
Δελτίο Τύπου της συνέλευσης του Παγκοσμίου Συμβουλίου Εκκλησιών
(ΠΣΕ) (στην Αγγλική γλώσσα)
Meeting
from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has begun to define its principal trajectories
for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly
in 2020.
Gathered
at Caraiman Monastery in Romania, the 49-member commission determined to focus
its upcoming work in the areas of examining theological foundations of the WCC
programme emphasis “the pilgrimage of justice and peace”, continuing work on
dialogue and the discovery of common ground among churches regarding the
Christian doctrine of the Church, and coordinate consultations and seminars on
how churches engage in processes of “moral discernment” when deciding policies
leading to action on such topics as climate change, slavery, apartheid, human
sexuality and matters of life and death.
The
commission will also encourage such long-term activities as collaboration with
the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity of the Roman Catholic Church
facilitating, for example, the annual preparation of resources for the Week of
Prayer for Christian Unity, and joining other offices in the WCC and partner
agencies in activities related to inter-religious dialogue and cooperation. It
works, too, with the Ecumenical Disabilities Network and the Ecumenical Network
of Indigenous Peoples.
The
commission’s moderator is the British theologian Rev. Dr Susan Durber of the
United Reformed Church in the United Kingdom. In remarks in the closing session
of their meeting, she told the commissioners that “I feel that a new wind is
blowing.”
She
reminded commissioners and staff, “The Church is God’s creation, not ours”,
arguing that anxiety for religious institutions is wasted: “Overcoming poverty –
this is where the real crisis is!”
Referring
to the economic and cultural globalization of the early 21st century, Durber
posed the question: “What does Christian unity bring to a world that tries to
impose another kind of unity?” And she offered this word of assurance: “We are
those who can afford not to be anxious, because Christ has already done what we
need to be done.”
Pilgrimage
in a pluralistic world
A
major task at the meeting was the establishment of working groups to oversee the
commission’s chosen projects. While precise details will be designed by these
groups in later meetings, a broad picture emerged of Faith and Order’s concerns
in the latter half of this decade.
The
working group that focuses on issues surrounding “the pilgrimage of justice and
peace” hopes to sponsor discourse on the theological foundations of pilgrimage.
It will ask how the concept and practice of pilgrimage may be lived out in a
multi-religious, multi-cultural and secular age, not least among minority and
oppressed churches. Another theme to be engaged was described as “Christian
responsibility and hope in a broken world”. The environmental crisis may be
addressed under this rubric, alongside justice and peace.
The
Church
In
Christian theology, study of the doctrine of the Church is termed
“ecclesiology”. A series of Faith and Order documents have addressed aspects of
ecclesiology and ecumenical dialogue, including the publications Baptism,
Eucharist and Ministry; The Nature and Purpose of the Church; Nature and Mission
of the Church; and The Church: Towards a Common Vision. Responses continue to be
received in regard to questions posed by the latter document, and these will be
analyzed along with the history of challenges and accords arising from earlier
publications. Continuing dialogue among widely diverse churches also will
continue.
Moral
discernment and the sources of Christian social ethics
Consultations
will be organized on how particular churches arrive at moral decisions,
reviewing historical instances of change in positions on moral issues. Examples
suggested include churches’ policies on slavery, apartheid, abortion, suicide,
euthanasia and the ordination of women to offices of ministry.
Within
the coming week, Faith and Order staff in Geneva will submit budget proposals
for the 2016 fiscal year. Recommended projects will proceed based on resources
available from the WCC and interested partners.
An
ecumenical heritage
The
Faith and Order movement among Christian churches built during the early years
of the 20th century and was organized on a global scale through its first
international conference at Lausanne, Switzerland in 1927. There, delegates from
various Christian churches proclaimed that “God wills unity”, and “however we
may justify the beginnings of disunion, we lament its continuance.”
The
World Council of Churches came into being following the Second World War largely
through a merger between the theologically oriented Faith and Order movement and
the Life and Work movement which showed primary concern for practical means by
which churches could act together on social issues and oppose
injustice.
Initially
made up of Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches, Faith and Order has
continued its work as a commission of the WCC and now includes churches from
outside the formal membership of the World Council of Churches. The Roman
Catholic Church became a full participant following the Second Vatican Council
of the 1960s, and the Assemblies of God is a commission member.
ΠΗΓΗ ''ΑΚΤΙΝΕΣ''
