His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivered a stirring call to prophetic renewal and unity to the 34th General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation today.
The Ecumenical Patriarch’s commanding message harks back to the ground-breaking relationships formed between Protestant and Orthodox Christian students at the WSCF 9th General Assembly in Constantinople in 1911, naming that conference as pivotal in the later development of the World Council of Churches and the global ecumenical movement.

The Patriarch's message heralds WSCF’s potential to envigorate and renew the ecumenical movement in its work of reconciliation and in leading the way towards unity.

The Ecumenical Patriarch’s message follows in full below.

Message of His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

to the 34th General Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation

Beloved sons and daughters in Christ,

The 34th General Assembly of your Federation, convoked in Montréal, gives us the opportunity to renew the long dated spiritual links of the Ecumenical Patriarchate with WSCF and to address to you all some words of appreciation and encouragement.

We always keep in mind that the 1911 WSCF Conference held in Constantinople, the See of our Church, was an event of major ecumenical significance. As the late Dr John Mott (the founder of your Federation) pointed out, “although not designed in advance, the distinctive note of this Conference might be characterized as Christian unity”. Indeed, in that early period of the emerging Ecumenical Movement, the Constantinople Conference enabled leading Protestant personalities to be acquainted with the “distant” and “unknown” to them Orthodox East. And it is self-evident that the personal links established by John Mott, Nathan Söderblom and many other Protestant leaders with some Orthodox Theologians, such as Germanos Strinopolous, (later Archbishop of Thyateira) and Nicolai Velimirovic, (later Bishop of Ochrid), had a determining role in the advance of the Ecumenical Movement. For, as it is known, all of them played a key role in the formation of both “Faith and Order” and “Life and Work” Movements, and later on in the genesis and foundation of the World Council of Churches.

WSCF has a history of 113 years behind it. In the course of these years it experienced glorious moments, but it also went through periods of difficulties and tribulations. Faithful to its original mandate, however, even at times of questionings or doubts, the Federation continued serving Christian youth with coherence and perseverance, by encouraging them to draw from the unfailing source of their faith inspiration and strength, in order to fulfil their tasks as agents for reconciliation and renewal in our world.

We are pleased that the target of your Assembly, gathered under Prophet Joel’s aphorism “Your sons and daughters shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28), is to equip the younger generation with a strong vision, that will enable them to give a new breath to the presently stagnating Ecumenical Movement. This was precisely the point we stressed in our homily on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the World Council of Churches last February in Geneva. For we strongly believe that after many decades of discussions and consultations, Christendom urgently needs today a new generation of labourers in the Lord’s vineyard, apt to take over the unfinished task of promoting Christian unity and to successfully continue the mission of the pioneers. The more so as the older generation did not take care, or did not have the will, to form a new generation of committed ecumenical workers.

Dear delegates,

We are confronted nowadays with cosmogonic developments almost in every aspect of human life. In a rapidly changing world, however, we cannot possibly remain indifferent by closing our eyes and ears. If as Christian believers, we intend to give a credible witness in this turbulent twenty-first century, it is imperative to carefully listen to the world, but also to look afresh into our being and our predicament.

May your Assembly convincingly respond to the challenges of the modern age and through the Grace of our Lord and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, become the starting point of a renewed commitment for dialogue, reconciliation, peace and justice in the world, for the well being of humankind and for the Glory of God and Father of all.

At the Phanar, 20th July 2008

Your fervent supplicant before God,

Bartholomew
Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch

Photograph: His All Holiness the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew delivers his homily at WCC's 60th anniversary liturgy in St. Pierre Cathedral, Geneva, 17 February 2008.
© WCC/Peter Williams