_WORLD WATCH______________________________
____________________ GREECE ________________

A more positive climate
Greek Church sends ecumenical delegation
In a more promising ecumenical development, a delegation from the Greek Orthodox Church visited Rome early in March for talks with Vatican officials. Those talks could signal a policy change for the Greek Church.

Last January, the synod of the Greek Orthodox Church voted to instruct Archbishop Christodoulos of Athens —the most prominent leader of the Orthodox body—that he should not visit Pope John Paul II. And the Greek Orthodox Church was one of the few religious bodies that declined to participate in the inter-faith prayer at Assisi on January 24.

However, two prelates—Metropolitan Panteleimon of Attica and Metropolitan Timotheos of Kurkya and Paxos —headed the Greek Orthodox delegation that was in Rome March 8-13. Officials of the Roman Curia saw the visit as a prime opportunity to improve relations with a sister Church.

The Greek Orthodox Church—not to be confused with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, the most important see in the Orthodox world—has been slow to join in ecumenical talks with the Holy See. Pope John Paul II visited Greece in 2000 only after having worn down opposition among some Orthodox prelates.

In January, when the Greek Orthodox Church declined to participate in the Assisi prayer service, Metropolitan Athanasios—the Greek Orthodox representative to the European Union—said that the decision was made not because of opposition among the bishops, but because of “resistance among the faithful.”