WCC NEWS: WCC shares insights at conference on “Dissent, Power, and Christian Identity after Nicaea”

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is sharing insights at a conference, “Dissent, Power, and Christian Identity after Nicaea” underway from 17-20 September in Thessaloniki, Greece.  Rev. Dr Sotiris Boukis (left) and Rev. Dr Susan Durber (right). Photo: Stephen Brown/WCC 19 September 2025 Organized by the Ecclesiological Investigations International Research Network, the gathering is exploring the question “In what ways does Nicaea continue to shape how we configure the church today—with what opportunities and at what cost?” About 100 participants from all parts of the world are attending the conference, which marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea, the first attempt to reach consensus in the church through an assembly representing all of Christendom. Rev. Dr Susan Durber, WCC president from Europe, offered a keynote address, entitled “The Council of Nicaea: Inspiration for Those Seeking Unity Today,” on 18 September.  Unity, she said, might seem hard to celebrate in a world that values diversity and fears sameness, she said. “Yet, Nicaea can point us to a kind of unity that is at the at the heart of the Christian faith, and might revive our sense of the significance, beauty and vitality of true communion,” said Durber. “My own experience of studying Nicaea has opened up for me a space in which unity is much, much more than ecclesiastical politics, or even an ecumenical movement,” she said. “It is the heart of the gospel and the heart of what we have come to know about God, through Jesus Christ,” Durber continued. Rev. Dr Sotiris Boukis, an ordained minister of the Evangelical Church of Greece and a member of the WCC’s Commission on Faith and Order, was Durber’s respondent. “Nicaea is one of those cases where people outside the church could understand the urgency faster than the church itself, and relied on the church to play a role in the unity, not only of Christians, but also of humankind,” said Boukis, referring to the actions of the Roman Emperor Constantine in the convening of the council. “With all the division and polarization around us, the church has to decide if it will just observe it passively, or whether it will actively take a stand, in a way that contributes to the unity of both Christians and humankind,” he said. Also on the conference schedule was Prof. Dr Angeliki Ziaka, WCC programme executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, as a respondent to Marco Demichelis, a researcher in Islamic studies and the history of the Middle East, speaking on “Divine Word and Spirit in a Human Body.” During the conference, Dr Stephen Brown, researcher and editor of the WCC journal The Ecumenical Review, presented a paper on “Councils, Conciliarity, and Confessing in a Fractured and Unequal World.” See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 356 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland