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Press Release on CEC-ETE/WCC Conference in Sambata de Sus, Romania

Some 37 participants joined in a major conference on the future of ecumenical theological education in Eastern and Central Europe in Sambata de Sus Monastery (Romania) from 24 to 28 September 2008 which was organized by the program on Ecumenical Theological Education (ETE) of WCC and the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in cooperation with Volos Academy (Greece). Leading representatives of institutions of theological education, ecumenical institutes and theological educators coming together in order to share experiences in ecumenical learning in this region included participants from Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Greece, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Russia, Switzerland and Ukraine, representing the following Church Traditions: Greek-Catholic, Hussite, Lutheran, Orthodox, Reformed and Roman-Catholic.
The conviction was expressed that in the context of rapid social and political changes in Eastern and Central Europe, institutions of theological education can at present only respond to their historic responsibilities if they seek more mutual cooperation and more ecumenical commitment. Ecumenical theological education according to the conference statement is vital for churches and societies, and the participants therefore recognized the need to promote ecumenical dialogue in theological education in the curricula of their universities and seminaries as well as in the life of the churches of this region. According to the organizers Dr. Viorel Ionita (CEC) and Dr. Dietrich Werner (ETE) there was an enormous enthusiasm and commitment in the consultation, based on the feeling that there is a certain kairos and new longing for ecumenical cooperation in theological education in Central and Eastern Europe, expressed in many new openings, and some innovative new projects of ecumenical learning going beyond the boundaries of denominational and national identities. Several centers of ecumenical education were created in the last years to face and answer the newly evolving stage of the ecclesial and civil consciousness.
Key contributions were presented from Konrad Raiser (Berlin), Stefan Tobler (Sibiu), Anne Kull (Tartu), Teresa Rossi (Rome), Dietrich Werner (Geneva), Constantin Scouteris (represented by Marina Kolovopoulou, Athens), Pantelis Kalaitzidis (paper presented) and Eleni Kasselouri (Volos Academy), Dagmar Heller (Bossey), Vasile Leb (Cluj-Napoca), Antoine Arjakovsky (Lviv), Ivana Noble (Prague) and Kakhaber Kurtanidze (Georgia).
Apart from collecting some major case studies on innovative models for ecumenical learning in theological education participants identified some important principles for ecumenical theological education and also shortcomings in their implementation, and positive strategies towards the future. They recommended that ecumenism as an attitude of sincere openness and dialogue needs to find ways to go much deeper into the structures and contents of theological education. A cultivation of an ecumenical ethos should be encouraged, which allows learning from each other beyond our denominational traditions, encourages the development of friendship and at the same time avoids stereotypes and distorted images about the others as only together the different Christian traditions more fruitfully reach the width and depth of Christian Faith and contribute to a missionary presence of Christian churches in contemporary societies.
The conference proposed to build up a network of Eastern and Central European Ecumenical Institutes and Theological educators, to unfold its potentials and also invited the Roman Catholic Church to join in this project. Both ETE/WCC and CEC were urged to continue playing an initiating, enabling and accompanying role in this new process of networking and equipping an Eastern and Central European Network of Ecumenical Theological Institutions and Educators.

Papers of the conference and a list of important centers for ecumenical theological education and research will be available on the ETE section of WCC website (http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/wcc-programmes/education-and-ecumenical-formation.html).

Source: http://www.ecumenicalstudies.org.ua/eng/ies_activity/