Ecumenical News

Representatives from several Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches are participating in a week-long gathering in Cyprus to offer their insights on the doctrine of the Church, or “ecclesiology.”

Some 40 ministers are participating in the gathering, which is being hosted by Orthodox Church in Cyprus.

During their meeting, the ministers will be studying a document produced by the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order entitled “The Nature and Mission of the Church.”

Archbishop Chrysostomos II of Cyprus noted the importance of the theme, saying that, “Orthodox theology is primarily ecclesiological. Christianity cannot be understood except as the church.”

The bishop added that Orthodoxy, rather than defending a “confessional” interpretation of ecclesiology, shares the existential experience of the church.

On hand to greet the group was WCC General Secretary the Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit, who expressed his thanks to the Orthodox Church for their contribution to the Faith and Order Commission and urged them to keep a focus on justice and peace – a theme that will be explored in the upcoming peace convocation in Kingston, Jamaica in May.

“Our task will be to affirm that we aim at being one, so that the world may believe that a just peace is possible,” Tveit said. “We know that in this island there is a struggle for justice and peace. It is as part of our journey towards unity and common witness that we participate in this struggle.”

The Inter-Orthodox gathering will conclude on March 8.