“New perspectives have been opened for renewal of the ecumenical movement as well as for Orthodox participation in the World Council of Churches (Wcc) by the Council’s 9th Assembly celebrated in Porto Alegre last February”. According to Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens and all Greece who visited Wcc (29-31 May) in Geneva, the Assembly was “historic” not only because it satisfied many long-standing Orthodox demands, but especially because “it strengthened the perspectives of renewal of the ecumenical movement’s mission in the new reality of the world”. Christodoulos recognized that the “journey towards unity is long and difficult, because it demands that the church’s historic memory be cleansed of burdens and traumatic experiences that have shackled it for centuries”. However, he affirmed that the final goal of the ecumenical movement is “the ecclesial communion around the Lord’s table,” and asked for all to persevere, trusting that “the divine gift of communion will come in its own good time”. In welcoming Christodoulos, the Wcc general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia affirmed that “without pretending that all problems have been solved or minimizing the difficulties ahead of us we express our authentic desire to open a new page of collaboration with the Church of Greece”.
