Introduction to the World Conference on Faith and Order - Lausanne, August 1927

Following a preliminary meeting of the Continuation Committee of the World Conference on Faith and Order held at Geneva, August 12-20, 1920, the first World Conference on Faith and Order was held at Lausanne from August 3 to 21, 1927. The Orthodox Church was represented by a strong delegation of 23 hierarchs, priests and theologians, headed by Metropolitan Germanos (Strinopoulos) of Thyateira (1872-1951). Metropolitan Germanos, a committed ecumenist, was the main inspiration behind the 1920 Encyclical of the Ecumenical Patriarchate “To the Churches of Christ Everywhere,” which called for the establishment of a world Christian organization. He was responsible for the churches of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Western Europe from 1922 to 1951. The delegation also included notably Metropolitan Evlogy (Georgiyevsky) (1868-1946), head of the Church of Russia in Western Europe from 1921 to 1946, Archbishop Chrysostomos I of Athens (Primate of the Church of Greece), Metropolitan Dionisy (Waledinsky) of Warsaw (Primate of the Church of Poland, and the theologians Father Sergius Bulgakov of the Saint Sergius Institute of Orthodox Theology in Paris, Professors Hamilcar Alivisatos and Demetrios Balanos of Greece, Nicholas Arseniev (then in Poland) and Father Stefan Zankov and Nicholas Glubokovsky of Bulgaria. Bishop Nicholas Velimirovitch of Serbia submitted a paper which was read by Metropolitan Germanos. Eleven Orthodox Churches were represented at the Conference: Constantinople, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria, Serbia, Romania, Cyprus, Greece and Poland.

Orthodox delegates submitted papers or spoke on the principal agenda items: the call to unity (Met. Germanos); the Church’s message (Prof. Glubokovsky); the nature of the Church (Archbishop Chrysostom of Athens); the Church’s confession of faith (Fr. Stefan Zankov); the Church’s ministry (Fr. Sergius Bulgakov); the sacraments (Bp. Nicholas Velimirovitch); the necessity of unity (Prof. Demetrios Balanos). In addition, Metropolitan Germanos made a joint declaration on behalf of the Orthodox delegation, expressing Orthodox thinking on the main Conference Reports prior to their finalization.

The Orthodox papers and interventions listed are taken from the verbatim minutes of the Conference published in 1928. Numbers in [square brackets] are the original page numbers.

Source: H.N. Bate, ed., Faith and Order: Proceedings of the World Conference, Lausanne, August 3-21, 1927 (London: Student Christian Movement & Garden City NY: Doubleday, Doran & Co., 1928).

Edition and Introduction by Paul Ladouceur
November 15, 2016

First World Conference on Faith and Order, Lausanne, 1927. Lower right (l. to r.): Met. Evlogy (Georgiyevsky) of Paris and Western Europe; Fr. Sergius Bulgakov; Met. Dionisy (Waledinsky) of Warsaw and All Poland. Photo: WCC D9593-00.

First World Conference on Faith and Order, Lausanne, 1927.
Lower right (l. to r.): Met. Evlogy (Georgiyevsky) of Paris and Western Europe; Fr. Sergius Bulgakov; Met. Dionisy (Waledinsky) of Warsaw and All Poland.
Photo: WCC D9593-00.