The Orthodox Church in America and the World Council of Churches (according to the documents of the WCC)

Abstract

The Orthodox Churches have been actively involved in the work of the World Council of Churches since the founding of this ecumenical organization. The Greek Churches, led by the Patriarchate of Constantinople, have been decisive in shaping the Orthodox position. However, representatives of other local Orthodox Churches have also made significant contributions to the work of the World Council of Churches. Consideration of the activities in the World Council of Churches of the most prominent members of the Orthodox Church in America is an almost entirely unstudied but relevant research topic. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to identify the representatives of the Orthodox Church in America in the WCC and to characterize their activities in the main ecumenical organization. The main sources for this article are the numerous published documents of the World Council of Churches, which are still little studied in domestic church-historical scholarship.