Orthodox study proposes leaving WCC and NCC
By John H. Adams, The Layman Online, June 23, 2005
The Orthodox Church in America (OCA) will consider a proposal to withdraw its membership from the World Council of Churches and the National Council of Churches. The proposal will be presented at its 14th All-American Council in Toronto, Ontario, July 17-22.
PCUSA maintains its strong
support for WCC and NCC
The Layman Online
The Presbyterian Church (USA) has been one of the primary backers of the WCC and NCC, contributing nearly $1 million annually in membership dues to the two organizations.
On a per-capita basis, the PCUSA’s contributions have been the largest of any of the church bodies associated with the two ecumenical bodies. In addition, the PCUSA is a major contributor of in-kind services, payroll support for WCC and NCC staff members and grants for WCC and NCC programs.
Stated Clerk Clifton Kirkpatrick, who has served on the governing boards of both groups, has been one of their staunchest advocates.
The 2004 General Assembly voted 395-95 to sustain its basic level of support for the NCC and WCC, “both in finances and human resources, while urging other member communions to seek every possible way of increasing their support.” Proposals criticizing the two bodies and recommending withdrawal were rejected. “[O]ur participation and the participation of other Orthodox Churches lend credibility and legitimacy to ecumenical organizations which, in the public perception, are espousing beliefs often antithetical to the Orthodox convictions,” the proposal says.
Instead of the WCC and NCC, the report says, “Ecumenical Christian relations should be sought with conservative Christian bodies.”
It also asked other Orthodox communions to come aboard but called for respect for those that choose to remain in the WCC and NCC. “The ecumenical organizations in which we participate, in their theological and social views, are oriented towards policies which are not in harmony with Orthodox views,” the writers said. “Thus our participation and the participation of other Orthodox Churches lend credibility and legitimacy” to the NCC and WCC.
Titled “Orthodox Relations,” the report adds, “The very politically-oriented theologies of many Protestant denominations have often threatened to derail the agenda of the councils away from dialogue and unity, and towards political advocacy and activism.”
The paper accuses liberal Protestant groups of hijacking the WCC and NCC agendas through political activism that goes beyond the legitimate expression of Christian and Orthodox faith. Furthermore, conservative Christian denominations have many more adherents than the mainline denominations and are growing through their commitment to the Gospel, the report says.
The 1-million-member OCA is one of eight Orthodox communions in the United States that are members of the National Council of Churches, in addition to the Standing Conference of Canonical Bishops in North Carolina, a loose confederation of Orthodox groups. The largest Orthodox communion among the seven is the Greek Orthodox Church with 1.5 million members.
The OCA is the only Orthodox community in North America with membership in the World Council of Churches, which includes 17 other international Orthodox bodies. Some of the international bodies have ties with the seven North American Orthodox communions in the NCC. The OCA, an offshoot of the Russian Orthodox Church, is what is known as an “autocephalous” body, meaning it is independent of patriarchal authority.
The OCA paper noted that the “mainline institutions of ecumenical engagement … are subject to regular and harsh critiques by the Orthodox – even by those sympathetic to them.” Several critiques are published on a Web site called Orthodoxy Today.
One “Orthodoxy Today” writer, Fr. Johannes L. Jacobse, a Greek Orthodox priest, accused the NCC of not knowing why it existed, of adopting a Marxist philosophy, and twisting “the language of the Christian moral tradition to apologize for totalitarianism.” Unlike the OCA report, other contributions also underscore specific disagreements with the WCC and NCC.
The paper did not call for total disengagement from ecumenical work. It said that the OCA “will need to exercise … caution with regard to conservative Christian groups and movements. Political agendas are obviously present in conservative Christian organizations. Conservative Christians in the USA are similar to liberal Christian organizations in one specific quality – both can be politically-driven. For Orthodox Christians, this means that our alliances need to be formed on an issue-by-issue basis. Withdrawal from groups which are liberal advocacy groups, rather than religious bodies, should not be a pretext for joining organizations which are conservative advocacy groups, rather than religious bodies.”
“This movement towards withdrawal should not be motivated by any ‘fundamentalism’ or ‘anti-ecumenism.’ To the contrary, the announcement of our withdrawal should be framed in the context of a defense of the proper and necessary ecumenical vision.”
In an introduction to the paper about Orthodox unity and ecumenical relations, the OCA said the views emerged from discussions with a group of 40 bishops, priests and laypersons. “In this way, we hope that these papers do express the many voices in our church, and that they will serve as fodder for our deliberations.”
Paula Kincaid of The Layman Online provided much of the research for this article.