In Cyprus, specifically in Paralimni, the temporary seat of the Holy Metropolis of Constantia and Famagusta, will be hosted from 10 to 16 May, the inter-Orthodox Preparatory Conference of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which is attended by about 60 delegates of the Orthodox and ancient Eastern churches.
The meeting aims to better organize the 11th General Assembly of the World Council of Churches (WCC), which will take place in early September in Karlsruhe, Germany.
As the Metropolitan of Constantia and Famagusta Vassilios stated in KYPE, "the General Assembly of the PSE (in which the Church of Cyprus participates as a permanent member), is held every 10 years. It is the supreme body of the institution and is followed by the Central Committee in which the Church of Cyprus is represented by seven people, three women and four men clergy and laity under the chairmanship of the Metropolitan.
He added that "before each General Assembly, a preparatory meeting is held in which all the Orthodox Churches that are members of the PSE are represented, except for Georgia and Bulgaria, who left due to internal problems.
In addition to the delegation of the Church of Cyprus, the orthodox preparatory conference will be attended by representatives of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the Patriarchates of Alexandria, Antioch, Jerusalem, Russia, Serbia and Romania, and the Churches of Greece, Poland, Albania, Greece. .
There will also be participation from delegations of the ancient Eastern Churches, namely the Armenian, Coptic, Egyptian, Ethiopian and Syrian.
The specific Churches, like Eritrea, continued "the so-called Monophysite Churches, are the ones that rejected the decisions of the Fourth Ecumenical Council that met in Chalcedon in 451 AD and the orthodox dogmatic teaching that in Jesus Christ there are two natures, the human and the divine which are united with each other "inseparably, invariably, indivisibly, inseparably".
He also explained that "these churches were afraid that when we said two natures about Christ, we meant two persons and they were called Monophysite because they claimed that in Christ we have only one nature. However, in the dialogue that took place in the modern period, there are texts in which the Monophysite Churches accepted that in Christ we have two natures ".
According to the Metropolitan, the preparatory conference will prepare a joint text of the Orthodox and Eastern Churches regarding the position of the two Churches on the issue of the General Assembly, but also in general on the topic to be discussed and entitled "The love of Christ promotes the world in unity ".
Answering a relevant question whether the ecclesiastical events affected the relations between the Orthodox, Metropolitan Basil did not hide that "since the Moscow Patriarchate waged war against the Ecumenical Patriarchate, because the Ukrainian meetings have collapsed. However, this year will be the first time that all the Orthodox Churches that are members of the PSE will meet in the Diocese of Constantia and Famagusta ". He also expressed the hope that "this preparatory conference may play a decisive role so that consultations can begin at a higher level in order to resolve the problem that has arisen."
Referring to the participants in the preparatory conference, he said that "the high demand for attendance is impressive, since despite the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine, about 60 delegates will attend on May 9, thus proving the importance of the preparatory conference."
At the same time, he characterized as "honorable for Cyprus and our Church the fact that the preparatory conference is always held on the island and is organized by the Diocese of Constantia and Famagusta. It is also important that the Church of Cyprus is in contact with the wider society and our Church must play an important role in the affairs of the World Council of Churches ".
The current situation in Cyprus, said the Metropolitan, "are the appropriate ones to achieve the presence on our island of the Orthodox and other Churches. I hope that the difficulties we face today in implementing the synod system due to the Ukrainian issue and the war in Ukraine will be overcome and that we will return to normalcy. " "It is still an example to all the Churches", he concluded.
Source: KYPE