The discussion was one of 10 padares offered on a wide variety of issues Friday between morning and afternoon plenary sessions of the WCC Central Committee. "Padare," a Shona word for meeting place, is a model for discussion and education used at the WCC's Eighth Assembly last December in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The padare was moderated by Bishop Rolf Koppe (Evangelical Church in Germany) and Dr. Gabriel Habib (Christian Orthodox Church of Antioch).

H.G. Archbishop Mor Cyril Aphrem Karim (Syrian Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East) cautioned participants about raising too high their hopes for the dialogue. "Some suggest we will end up as one church united and I do not think this is very realistic," he said. "But the difficulty on agreeing on theological and dogmatic points should not stop us from exploring other points."

"On the Orthodox side, we have to accept that we are in a dialogue to learn, not only to teach," Karim said. "We have a tendency to tell others the meaning of this and that rather than to listen. Others have valid points and ways of understanding the issues we are talking about."

Minutes of the Padare on "Towards a Protestant-Orthodox Dialogue within the WCC"