14 May 2019

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit sent a welcoming letter to His Eminence Metropolitan Elpidophoros of Bursa upon his election by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate as the new archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America.

“Within the joyful atmosphere of the Easter season, we welcome joyfully your election by the Holy and Sacred Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate to the head of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, one of the most prominent sees of the Church of Constantinople,” wrote Tveit. “We do rejoice for the election to such an important ministry of one member of the central committee of the WCC and a professor of inter-Christian relations at the Theological Faculty of Aristoteleion University in Thessaloniki.”

Tveit noted that Metropolitan Elpidophoros carries with him a very rich ecclesial, academic and ecumenical baggage as well as an important pastoral and spiritual experience.

“We are confident therefore that, in your new position, you will generously share your skills, will continue your ecumenical commitment and will do your best in order to fertilize with your dynamism and your vision the ecclesial and ecumenical life in the new context of your ecclesial and pastoral responsibilities,” Tveit wrote. “We would like to assure you, Your Eminence, that the thoughts and prayers of your many friends and companions in the WCC and the ecumenical movement at-large will accompany you.”

Full letter by WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit

Ecumenical Patriarchate