Commission of the Orthodox Church in Germany
The Commission of the Orthodox Church in Germany (KOKiD) was an organization founded on the initiative of Anastasios Kallis in 1994, which has been merged into the Orthodox Bishops' Conference in Germany (OBKD) since it was founded in February 2010 . The previous work of the KOKiD in the field of pan-orthodox cooperation in the ecumenical , social and cultural area, towards the state and towards other churches is now being continued by the OBKD. The seat of the general secretariat of the OBKD is - as before the office of the commission - Dortmund .
Member churches
The following Orthodox dioceses are represented in the Orthodox Bishops' Conference of Germany:
- Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Germany ( Ecumenical Patriarchate )
- Exarchate of the Orthodox Congregations of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate)
- Ukrainian Orthodox Eparchy of Western Europe (Ecumenical Patriarchate)
- Greek Orthodox Metropolis of the Patriarchate of Antioch for Western and Central Europe
- Berlin Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church - Moscow Patriarchate
- Russian Orthodox Diocese of the Orthodox Bishop of Berlin and Germany ( Russian Orthodox Church Abroad )
- Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Frankfurt and all of Germany
- Romanian Orthodox Metropolis for Germany, Central and Northern Europe
- Bulgarian Diocese of Western and Central Europe
- Western European Diocese of the Georgian Orthodox Church
organization structure
The commission had (since an amendment to the statutes in February 2007) as the highest organ, the Bishops 'Assembly, which is now called the Orthodox Bishops' Conference in Germany (OBKD) and which consists of the diocesan bishops of the ten member bishops and the currently six vicar bishops.
Board and management
Metropolitan Augoustinos (Labardakis) from the Ecumenical Patriarchate is the chairman of the Orthodox Bishops' Conference in Germany, which was now constituted in accordance with the resolutions of the IV Preconciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference of June 2009. The previous managing director of the KOKiD, Episcopal Council Ipodiakon Nikolaj Thon (Russian Orthodox Church) was elected as general secretary of the Bishops' Conference, and the priest Radomir Kolundzic (Serbian Orthodox Church) as its treasurer.
media
Since 1997, on behalf of the commission and now the Bishops' Conference, the “Society Orthodox Media” (based initially in Wuppertal, since January 2008 combined with the OBKD office in Dortmund) has also had its own monthly information service “ Orthodoxie aktuell ” with contributions and News from the Orthodox Church around the world, but especially published in Germany , as well as an annual directory of all dioceses, parishes and institutions of the Orthodox Church in Germany as well as a liturgical calendar.
Theological and pastoral cooperation
A theological working group of KOKiD has existed since 2006, in which theologians from all Orthodox dioceses in Germany work together under the leadership of Assaad Elias Kattan ( Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität in Münster ). In November 2010 this working group was elevated to an official commission of the Bishops' Conference, which according to the statutes is always headed by a bishop, in this case Bishop Vasilios (Tsiopanas) by Aristi. Since 2007 there has also been a working group for the translation of Orthodox liturgical texts into German (coordinated by monk priest Benedikt Schneider from Göttingen ), which in 2009 completed work on a new joint translation of the Divine Liturgy into German. With the approval of the Orthodox Bishops' Conference, this text was printed in 2010 and made available in various places on the Internet. It will apply on a trial basis until the end of 2011 and will then be introduced in its final form, taking into account the amendments received up to that point. In November 2010 this working group was elevated to a commission under the leadership of Archbishop Mark (Arndt) of Berlin and Germany.
Youth and student work
The Orthodox Youth Association of Germany emerged from an initiative of the commission as a nationwide Orthodox youth organization, which is also supported jointly by all dioceses and in which young people from all Orthodox nations living in Germany work together.
A cross-diocesan orthodox student chaplaincy has existed since the beginning of 2007, with student chaplains having been appointed for the most important German university locations. In addition to religious education, this is another field in which pastoral structures are built up that are regional and no longer divided according to the national dioceses.
Further fields of activity of KOKiD are public relations , in particular the supervision of radio and television broadcasts of Orthodox church services, as well as the ecumenical and interreligious contacts of the Orthodox Church in Germany.
Footnotes
- ↑ Johannes Oeldemann: Is the Pan-Orthodox Council coming? Old conflicts and new constellations in the Orthodox Church . In: Herder Korrespondenz , Vol. 64 (2010), pp. 553–557, here p. 553.