In May, the leadership, staff, and commissioners of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on Faith and Order continued their program in Bucharest following the international symposium held in Sibiu. The delegation was received H.E. Metropolitan Nifon, who welcomed the participants.
Nifon underlined the importance of organizing Faith and Order consultations and theological encounters dedicated to contemporary challenges facing the churches. He stressed the need for moral and theological discernment in an age marked by rapid technological development, digitalization, and the growing influence of artificial intelligence.
Dialogue Brings Voices Together
During the meeting, members of the Faith and Order delegation shared reflections on the consultation held in Sibiu and highlighted the Orthodox contribution to the current work of Faith and Order.
Vice moderator H.E. Metropolitan Job for World Council of Churches closed the symposium emphasizing that this was an Orthodox consultation that also included non-Orthodox participants. Faith and Order is about “we,” not about “them,” and that this “we” must include younger theologians and emerging scholars alongside experienced academics and church leaders.
The work of Faith and Order, he stressed, is not elitist or confined to specialists; rather, it exists for the church as a whole, and therefore the whole church must be involved in its life and mission.
“In this regard, the consultation represented a unique and meaningful event within the context of a faculty of Orthodox theology, where reception and contribution, professors and students, clergy and laity, as well as Orthodox and non-Orthodox voices, were able to engage together in a genuine spirit of dialogue and theological reflection,” said Metropolitan Job. “Such encounters demonstrate that theological work is not merely an academic exercise, but a living ecclesial process nourished by listening, participation, and mutual exchange.”
The Goal of Visible Christian unity
Rev. Fr Prof. Emeritus Dr Vasile Mihoc, of Transylvania, reflected on the prophetic vision that has shaped the work of the WCC since its beginnings. Recalling the contribution of Visser 't Hooft, he emphasized that the WCC was founded by people of vision who understood that the search for Christian unity must be rooted in faithfulness to the apostolic tradition and in a common witness to the Gospel. Visser ’t Hooft’s vision of restoring and manifesting the apostolic faith in the life of the churches remains, he noted, a defining inspiration for the ecumenical movement today.
“The goal of visible Christian unity has not changed, even if the historical and ecclesial circumstances of the contemporary world have become increasingly complex,” he said, recalling that the church itself, even in apostolic times, was never without tensions, differences, and challenges.
Referring the Acts of the Apostles, he noted that diversity and disagreement have accompanied the life of the church from the beginning. “Yet these differences were confronted through dialogue, discernment, and fidelity to the work of the Holy Spirit,” he said. “In this context, he underlined that theological discussion must continue to play a central role in the life of the ecumenical movement.”
Authentic dialogue is not secondary to the search for unity, but one of its essential expressions, added Mihoc. The churches, he affirmed, are spiritually and theologically rich, and this richness should become an opportunity for deeper mutual understanding and communion.
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