With the blessing of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, from Saturday 2nd November to 7th November, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas of Thyateira and Great Britain was in Crete, co-chairing two consecutive conferences: first, a meeting of the European Catholic-Orthodox Seminar on the subject of Migration and Human Trafficking as a Result of War, and, secondly, the annual Joint Committee Meeting of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), of which His Eminence is President, and the Roman Catholic Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). Co-chairing these meetings with His Eminence was His Excellency Monsignor Gintaras Grušas, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania and President of CCEE, and both conferences were generously hosted at the Mother of God Centre for Social and Cultural Diakonia by His Eminence Metropolitan Prodromos of Rethymno and Avlopotamos, who gave a warm Cretan welcome to the delegates and showed great kindness to all in attendance.
On Sunday 3rd November, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas presided over a prayerful and reverent hierarchical Orthros and Divine Liturgy at the Church of the Four Martyrs, Rethymno, where His Eminence was joined in the altar by the Very Revd Archimandrite Iakovos Krochak, Grand Syncellus of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who concelebrated with His Eminence and the senior clergy of the Metropolis of Rethymno and Avlopotamos.
Opening the Catholic-Orthodox Seminar on Migration and Human Trafficking as a Result of War on Monday 4thNovember, Archbishop Nikitas drew attention to both the opportunity and the need for the practical ecumenical work which such a gathering can achieve. His Eminence underscored that this was not a dialogue aimed at producing theological agreement, but a search for practical steps which we can take together, as human beings and as followers of Jesus Christ, to meet the challenges and the needs facing the people of our own places and our own times.
Among the objectives which His Eminence set out for the Seminar were: learning from one another about the work which is already being done in this field by organisations such as Synyparxis, Caritas, the Santa Marta Group, and the Arise Foundation; sharing experience and best practice at the levels of dioceses and parishes; pooling resources and helping one another where there are limitations in provision, so that a united effort can be made by the Christian communities of Europe in the fight against human trafficking. His Eminence shared with his fellow delegates the experience of The Office to Combat Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery, a ministry of the Ecumenical Patriarchate entrusted to the Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain, and disseminated copies of Protecting the Vulnerable: Addressing the Sin of Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery , the 2021 collection of essays published by the Archdiocese which includes the diverse personal experience and professional expertise of five different members of the Archdiocese who serve in this field.
Delegates attending the Seminar included Orthodox hierarchs, clergy, and laity from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Churches of Albania, Finland, Georgia, Greece, Romania, and Ukraine, as well as hierarchs, clergy, and laity from the Roman Catholic Church, the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church, and the Maronite Church. Powerful and challenging presentations were given to the seminar by Dr. Tetiana Stawnychy, Vice-President of Caritas Europa and President of Caritas Ukraine, on the work of the Caritas organisation and its experience during the ongoing war in Ukraine, by His Eminence Metropolitan Athenagoras of Ilion, President of Synyparxis, the Ecumenical Refugee Programme of the Church of Greece, on the role of the bishop in ministering to those affected by war, and by Ms. Miriam Cakebread of the Santa Marta Group on the experience of her organisation in building cooperation between local hierarchs and law-enforcement agencies across the globe to dismantle networks of traffickers.
The Catholic-Orthodox Seminar on Human Trafficking as a Result of War was followed by the Annual Joint Committee Meeting of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), of which His Eminence is President, and the Roman Catholic Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (CCEE). Brilliantly organised by Ms Katerina Pekridou and Ms Veronique Engels at CEC, and by Ms Monika Klimentová and Mr David Topping at CCEE, the Joint Committee Meeting was addressed also by His Eminence Grzegorz Cardinal Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź, Poland, His Excellency Monsignor Gintaras Grušas, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Vilnius, Lithuania, and President of CCEE, as well as by Catholic hierarchs, clergy, and laity from the United Kingdom, Greece, Italy, Lebanon, Romania, Slovakia, and Spain, and from CEC by the President, His Eminence Archbishop Nikitas, by the Vice-President Rev. Frank Kopania of the Protestant Church in Germany, by General Secretary Frank-Dieter Fischbach, and by Ms Lea Schlenker of the Protestant Church in Germany and Rev. Dr. Vilmos Fischl of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hungary. The delegates made contributions on witnessing to Christ in increasingly secularised and plural European societies, the challenges of evangelisation in the face of Christian disunity, polarisation and conflict, as well as discussing a draft document setting priorities for ecumenical efforts in Europe in the years ahead.
