France, Orthodox Church, Iraq, Geneva

France: message for EasterThe Council of Christian Churches of France has asked for a particular thought for the Christian minorities in the Middle East and for all Christians in the world who are “threatened, sometimes persecuted, and forced into exile, in intolerable living conditions”. Orthodox Metropolitan Emmanuel, Cardinal André Vingt-Trois and Protestant pastor Claude Baty – members of the Council – dedicate their traditional Easter message this year to all those who “suffer on account of their faith”. “We pray that freedom of conscience and worship may be really respected in all countries”. Orthodox Church: Metropolitan Kirill at the UNOMetropolitan Kirill of Smolensk and Kaliningrad, head of the department of foreign affairs of the Patriarchate of Moscow, addressed a Conference in Geneva on 18 March on “intercultural dialogue on human rights” in the framework of the 7th Assembly of the UN Council of Human Rights (3-28 March). In his speech, Metropolitan Kirill presented the view of human rights according to the viewpoint of the Orthodox tradition and underlined the danger of erosion that some universal values are experiencing in some circumstances. “The secular approach – said the Russian Orthodox Metropolitan – puts pressure on man to renounce the public expression of his faith”. Kirill then expressed the conviction that the notion of “human rights must not enter into contradiction with the ethical norms that the majority of human beings recognize as true”. In this regard, Kirill announced that the Russian Orthodox Church is preparing a document on the Orthodox view of human rights and dignity, which will be examined at the next Council of the Bishops of the Patriarchate of Moscow, due to meet in the summer this year.Iraq: Churches against the military interventionThe war in Iraq was a disastrous error and that’s why an end must be put to it: a message that has been repeatedly expressed over the last five years, but that governments have systematically ignored, said Pastor Michael Kinnamon, general secretary of the National Council of the Christian Churches in the USSA (NCCCUSA), to mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq which began on 19 March 2003. Speaking on behalf of the 35 Anglican, Orthodox and Protestant churches that compose the National Council, Kinnamon pointed out that the war, justified by the need to make the USA more secure, has had just the opposite effect: it has produced a new generation of terrorists and thus made America a far less safe place than before. “The only real security – he said – is the security we can build together with others”. The fifth anniversary of the outbreak of the war in Iraq was also commemorated by the Methodist Church of Great Britain. “The Iraqi conflict has had a far higher cost than could be imagined in terms of human lives”, said Anthea Cox, coordinator of the Church’s Department for Public Life and Social Justice. She also expressed her solidarity with and concern for Christians in Iraq, also in relation to the recent case of Archbishop Rahho of Mosul: “His kidnapping and tragic death illustrate the great danger to which both Christians and the other minority communities in Iraq are exposed today”.Geneva: death of the theologian VischerThe ecumenical world is in mourning: the Reformed theologian Lukas Vischer died in Geneva at the age of 81 on 11 March. Many messages of condolence, many testimonies of esteem, have been expressed by the ecumenical world, which remembers him as director of the Faith and Constitution Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC), pioneer of the Leuenberg Concord, promoter of the document “Baptism, Eucharist and Ministry” (BEM) and founder of the European Christian Network for the Environment (ECEN). Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I recalled Vischer’s sensibility for the Orthodox tradition, and Monsignor John Radano of the Pontifical Council for Christian unity, revealed his role as WCC Observer at the Second Vatican Council. Colin Williams, general secretary of the Conference of European Churches (CEC/KEK), pointed out the important contribution made by Vischer in the ECEN, “within which he offered his wise counsel and strong support”. Samuel Kobia, WCC general secretary, described him as “a man endowed with vision and great passion for the future of life on earth and for a church visibly united in fidelity to Christ’s call”.