Coptic Church & Ecumenical Movement - Saint Mina Coptic ...

dialogue among churches, and to assisting all members in making efforts to overcome
disunity. As Orthodox, we appreciate the assistance given over decades in the process
of dialogue leading toward the full communion of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox
Churches.
We also recognise the contributions of the WCC in the work it has done in its
Commissions on Faith and Order and on Mission and Evangelism (CWME), its
contribution to the Renewal of Congregational Life (RCL), its relief work through the
Inter Church Aid, Refugees and World Service (CICARWS), and in the Justice, Peace
and the Integrity of Creation Programme (JPIC).
Yet, our experience at this Assembly has heightened a number of concerns that have
been developing among the Orthodox since the last Assembly. We want to share
these with the Canberra Assembly and to tell where these are now leading us.
The Orthodox concern about these issues should not be understood as implying a
reluctance to continue dialogue. The present statement is motivated not by disinterest
or indifference toward our sisters and brothers in other churches and Christian
communities, but by our sincere concern about the future of the ecumenical
movement, and about the fate of its goals and ideals, as they were formulated by its
founders.
Orthodox Concerns
1. The Orthodox Churches want to emphasise that for them, the main aim of the
WCC must be the restoration of the unity of the Church. This aim does not
exclude relating church unity with the wider unity of humanity and creation. On
the contrary, the unity of Christians will contribute more effectively to the unity of
humanity and the world. Yet the latter must not happen at the expense of solving
issues of faith and order, which divide Christians. Visible unity, in both the faith
and the structure of the Church, constitutes a specific goal and must not be taken
for granted.
2. The Orthodox note that there has been an increasing departure from the basis of
the WCC. The latter has provided the framework for Orthodox participation in
the World Council of Churches. Its text is: “The World Council of Churches is a
fellowship of churches which confess the Lord Jesus Christ as God and Saviour
according to the Scriptures and therefore seek to fulfil together their common
calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.” (Const.) Should
the WCC not direct its future work along these lines, it would be in danger of
ceasing to be an instrument aiming at the restoration of Christian unity and in that
case it would tend to become a forum for an exchange of opinions without any
specific Christian theological basis. In such a forum, common prayer will be
increasingly difficult, and eventually will become impossible, since even a basic
common theological vision will be lacking.
3. The tendency to marginalise the Basis in WCC work has created some dangerous
trends in the WCC. We miss from many WCC documents the affirmation that
Jesus Christ is the world's Saviour. We perceive a growing departure from
biblically based Christian understanding of
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