Address of Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia
General secretary of the WCC
during his official visit to
H.B. Archbishop Christodoulos
and the Church of Greece
Athens, 12 May 2005

Your Beatitude,
Your Eminences,
Reverend Fathers,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Christ is Risen!

In this joyful liturgical Easter season for all our Orthodox sisters and brothers around the world, I have the pleasure of visiting Greece, the country where St Paul proclaimed that "Christ has indeed been raised from the dead"” (1 Cor 15: 20-23), and even the very city where St Paul taught the "Men of Athens!" (Acts 17:22).

The festive, joyful, and radiant atmosphere of the season constitutes an excellent framework, encouraging me to joyfully express my appreciation to you, Your Beatitude, and to the Church of Greece, for – at least – three important facts.

First, I would like to express my deep gratitude for the kind invitation extended a few years ago to the Commission on World Mission and Evangelism. Today, this invitation has been materialized through the generous hospitality offered by the Church of Greece to some 700 participants in the World Conference on Mission and Evangelism, now being held in the premises of Aghios Andreas.

This is an important event in the history of the ecumenical movement. It is a gathering of Christians who seek new ways of witnessing together to the joyful message of Christ’s resurrection. It is an encounter of Christians who seek ways of proclaiming together the good news of life, light, liberation, and reconciliation within a world tragically tormented by the forces of death, darkness, oppression, and conflicts.

Confessing and proclaiming toghether the risen Lord as "God and Savior according to the scriptures", and therefore seeking "to fulfill together their common calling to the glory of the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (cf. Constitution of the WCC) constitutes for divided Christian churches their most tangible step towards the unity for which the Lord himself has prayed to his Father (cf Jn 17:21).

Second, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the active participation of the Church of Greece in the whole process of the "Special Commission on Orthodox Participation in the WCC". This Commission was created at the WCC's eighth assembly in Harare, in December 1998, and mandated to "study and analyze the whole spectrum of issues related to Orthodox participation in the WCC, recognizing that many of these concerns are of importance to other member churches as well".

The Church of Greece has offered a precious contribution to this quite difficult and sensitive process, not only through her members on the Commission, but also through professors of theology invited as experts; theologians who interpreted and communicated (and even criticized) the whole process; the department of theology of the Aristoteleion University that organized a seminar on the matter; the diocese of Neapolis that hosted one of the many meetings in the course of this long journey. In doing so, the Church of Greece has faithfully continued in the line of her Orthodox sister churches.

Indeed, from the very beginning of the contemporary ecumenical movement, Orthodox churches opted for an active participation in the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical organizations and initiatives, a participation which allowed them to be both "constructive" and "critical" within the movement.

Their "critical" attitude had been valued, appreciated, and carefully listened to. For this was considered as a contribution "from within" the fellowship, an expression of sincere concerns voiced by Orthodox churches that had opted to be active protagonists and not mere spectators. Above all, this was a theological and ecclesiological contribution generously and courageously offered by the Orthodox Church which maintains her position of being "the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church", but -- at the same time -- underlines the need for churches to "respond together to their common calling" on the way to Christian unity, to witness together to the world, to express their common concern in the service of human needs, the breaking of barriers between people, and the promotion of one human family in justice and peace.

The Special Commission offered recommendations that will soon be put into practice, starting with the ninth assembly of the World Council of Churches, to be held in Porto Alegre, Brazil, in February 2006. The first comments about the harvest of the work of the Special Commission are very positive and hopeful. They anticipate radical changes in the life, culture and direction of the World Council of Churches, allowing this unique fellowship of Christian churches to face the challenges of the 21st century.

Third, I would kindly ask you to allow me to add here a more personalized expression of gratitude. Visiting Greece just one year after the Olympic Games, our thoughts and prayers go to a person who has been for many of us a friend, an ecumenical companion, a pioneer of the ecumenical movement, a teacher of a whole generation of younger theologians, a permanent source of inspiration through his writings, and – at the same time – a great visionary of the Olympic ideal. He was a well-known Greek theologian and philosopher who marked by his personal contribution both the contemporary ecumenical and olympic movements.

As you may have already understood, I would like to give thanks to our common Lord for the life and ministry of the late Professor Nikos Nissiotis. His legacy to the ecumenical movement is one of the most precious. I hope that the same is valid for his country and his church.
As we look at the future today, Nikos Nissiotis’ contagious enthusiasm and his theologically and ecclesiologically well-grounded optimism can constitute excellent examples to all of us.

Your Beatitude,
Your Eminences,
Reverend Fathers,
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
I consider my visit to the Church of Greece only as the beginning of a long common journey, marked by a careful mutual listening and a constructive cooperation.

I am aware that the Greek society is facing today the many challenges of modernity and post-modernity within a rapidly evolving European Union, the radical socio-economic changes within a globalized world, the deep spiritual and existential questions particularly raised by the younger generation.

I am also aware, however, that the Church of Greece has a tremendous potential in terms of theological, spiritual, human and material resources.

I hope, therefore, that my working session with the Synodical Commission on Inter-Orthodox and Inter-Christian Relations this afternoon, and increased contacts between representatives of the Church of Greece and my staff colleagues in Geneva, will allow us to establish mutually beneficial ways of cooperation.

Christ is Risen!