Ecumenical news miscellany

Dr Pantelis Kalaitzidis presenting
WCC advance copies of the new WCC
book series to the Ecumenical Patriarch.
© Nikos Magginas/ Volos Academy
for Theological Studies

Two useful sources for keeping up with developments of significance for the quest for Christian unity are the news service of the World Council of Churches and Ecumenical News International. The latter news service is supported by the World Council of Churches, Lutheran World Federation, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Conference of European Churches, World Association for Christian Communication, and World Student Christian Federation. Links to a stories from these sources on a couple of recent notable ecumenical developments follow.

The World Council of Churches has issued a press release announcing the launch of the new WCC-sponsored book series Doxa and Praxis: Exploring Orthodox Theology in partnership with Volos Academy for Theological Studies in Greece. Editorial consultants for the series include Metropolitan John Zizioulas of Pergamon, best known outside the Orthodox world for his influential book Being as Communion: Studies in Personhood and the Church (St. Vladimir's Seminary Press, 1997).

Ecumenical News International reports the formation of a new Protestant united church in France. The Reformed Church of France and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of France have merged to form the United Protestant Church of France, effective following the meetings of the respective churches' synods May 17-20. the first national synod of the new united church will meet in 2013 in Lyons.