European Church Body to Strengthen Orthodox-Protestant Dialogue

A researcher from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland has joined the Conference of European Churches to work on the development of sustained dialogue between Europe's Orthodox churches and the churches of the Reformation.

Dr Kaisamari Hintikka will work in Helsinki as Project Secretary for the Churches in Dialogue Commission of CEC from April through to December this year.

Dr Hintikka will evaluate the way in which the different churches receive the results of the dialogues they are involved in and assess the extent to which the recommendations from the dialogues are being implemented by the respective churches.

Prof Dr Viorel Ionita, Director-designate of the Churches in Dialogue Commission, will supervise Dr Hintikka on the project.

She said: "One of the most important working priorities for the Churches in Dialogue Commission in the next period of time will be the evaluation in a comparative way of the theological dialogues between the Orthodox churches and the other CEC member churches.

"Through this evaluation the Churches in Dialogue Commission hopes to facilitate the reception process of these dialogues as well as a more efficient continuation of them."

Dr Hintikka is Associate Secretary of the Department for International Relations of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland and a researcher at the Catherine Institute of the University of Helsinki, the former Department of Orthodoxy and East European Church Studies.