In mid-November, Dr Andrej Jeftić has been appointed as the new director of the Commission on Faith and Order of the World Council of Churches (WCC). Dr. Jeftić, an Eastern Orthodox theologian from Serbia, has been serving as a research fellow at the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade. He also served as a theological consultant for the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe. Involved in the ecumenical movement since he was a student, he focused his doctoral research on the work of ecumenical theologian Thomas F. Torrance. In 2013, he was delegated as a representative of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Korea. Since then, he has served as a member of the WCC central committee and since 2018 as a member of the WCC Assembly Planning Committee. He was also invited to be a course facilitator in the 2022 program of the Global Ecumenical Institute. He also has collaborated with Volos Academy for Theological Studies and he has contributed many times in its conferences and workshops.

“The work and mission of the Faith and Order Commission correspond deeply with my core beliefs and values which have guided my life and theological development,” he said. “In order to be true to Christ’s calling and the very nature of God’s revelation, which can only be understood as a communal event, I believe that theology needs to be ecumenical.” Dr. Jeftić also believes that theology must be universal. “If locked within imagined boundaries, either academic or ecclesial, theology fails to offer its service to the world” he said.

Volos Academy for Theological Studies wholeheartedly congratulates him for his appointment and anticipates to further collaboration with him.

See the original announcement of the WCC at https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-appoints-dr-andrej-jeftic-as-new-director-of-commission-on-faith-and-order/ .

* Photo credits from WCC website