World Council in Rhodes

In the highceilinged, limestone palace of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem in the Greek city of Rhodes, the policy-making Central Committee of the World Council of Churches gathered last week for its tenth annual meeting. On hand were 72 delegates from 24 countries, plus 36 staff members and 73 observers and guests. But the center of all attention were the delegates of seven Eastern Orthodox member churches and the two observers from Russian Orthodoxy--the first visitors Moscow had allowed to attend a Central Committee meeting. Behind the scenes, a major game of diplomatic move and countermove is going on over whether the Orthodox churches will continue to lean closer to Protestantism or to Rome.

Conversation Needed. The black-robed, bearded patriarchs and metropolitans of Orthodoxy have always been somewhat tentative about their association wjth the World Council. They look with suspicion on the Protestant passion for missions, which they see as a potential peril to themselves, are wary of the proposed merger of the World Council and the International Missionary Council. Said Alexandria's Metropolitan Parthenios of Carthage: "Go slow. I don't know why I fear this, but I fear it."

Orthodoxy also tends to look askance at Protestant disparity and elasticity in matters of faith and order. One paper, read by Professor Chrysostom Konstanti-nidis of Turkey's Halki Theological School, was based on the assumption that Eastern church traditions are closer to original Christianity than Western traditions. Yet few Protestants took offense. Said Lutheran Professor Hendrikus Berghof of The Netherlands: "Our Orthodox friends speak very frankly. They say, 'You are not the church, and we are the church,' and we applaud. We need a real conversation."

What makes the council so anxious for conversation is concern that Eastern Orthodoxy may yet swing toward Rome. Protestants worry that Pope John XXIII intended to invite Orthodox, but not Protestant, delegates to his Ecumenical Council in 1961 (TIME, Feb. 9). Last week the Catholics took pains to allay the fears--at least for the present. At an informal conference. Pere Christophe Jean Dumont, head of a five-man Catholic contingent, explained that the Pope's first announcement had been misinterpreted; none but Roman Catholic bishops were ever to have been invited. Later, though, Pere Dumont tossed out the suggestion that some time in the future Orthodox and Roman Catholic leaders might sit down for a discussion of theological differences.

Blossoming Relations. Even so. Protestant leaders are confident that Orthodoxy is warming up to the World Council. And the climate of Rhodes gave hope for even better relations. The two Russian observers--round-faced, balding Viktor S. Alexeev, 33, a layman on the staff of the Moscow patriarchate's foreign affairs department, and dark, beaky Archpriest Vitaly M. Borovoy, 43, professor of ecclesiastical history at Leningrad Theological Academy, had already spent three weeks studying the World Council at its headquarters in Geneva, and a delegation of W.C.C. leaders will return the visit in Moscow next December. Said the World Council's General Secretary Willem Visser 't' Hooft: "The Russian Church is at the moment in the process of discovering the World Council. If all goes well, it will mean that our relations will develop with churches in Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Rumania and Poland."

As the week-long meeting went on, delegates heard an earful of reports and recommendations. Items:

P:The third General Assembly of the World Council will probably be held in New Delhi in 1961. Its theme: "Jesus Christ, the Light of the World."

P: The Department of Church and Society issued a 56-page report urging white Christians in rich countries to meet the challenge of social changes. Their responsibility is to help colored people in poor countries realize their aspirations.

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