Rapprochement of the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of Churches in the 1960s: Orthodox attitude to this problem

Abstract

In the article, the author talks about the stage of rapprochement between the Roman Catholic Church and the largest ecumenical organization, the World Council of Churches (WCC), at the turn of the 1950s–1960s, as well as about the continuation of interaction between the Vatican and the WCC within the framework of the Joint Working Group. At the initial stage of the World Council of Churches’ history the Roman Catholic Church refused any ecumenical contacts and n reacted negatively to the ecumenical movement. The article explains the reasons that served to change the position of the Roman Catholic Church in relation to the WCC as major ecumenical organization and to the whole ecumenical movement. The author paid special attention to the attitude to this process of the Orthodox Churches that were WCC members. The latter was an important factor, since The WCC was limited in its actions in case of disagreement on any matter between it member churches and the relationship between Catholicism and Orthodoxy was highly complicated during the second millennium. The article provides Orthodoxy representatives’ statements at meetings of the WCC governing bodies permitting the understanding of the origins of the Orthodox position on the issue of interaction between the Vatican and the WCC, as well as general historical assessments on the matter.

Keywords:

ecumenism, ecumenical movement, catholic, Roman Catholic Church, Orthodox Church, history of Christianity, church, Protestantism, World Council of Churches, inter-church relations