By Susan Stevenot Sullivan, Staff Writer

ATLANTA--It is a younger Archbishop Iakovos, primate of the Greek Orthodox Church in the Americas, who gazes resolutely from the cover of the March 26, 1965 issue of Life magazine. Standing next to him in the Selma, Ala., photograph is Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thirty years later Archbishop Iakovos will be honored for his pioneering presence and his tenacity in working for ecumenism, civil rights and peace with a banquet to be held in Atlanta Feb. 23.

The event is sponsored jointly by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. (NCC) and forms the centerpiece of a series of ecumenical events between Feb. 22-26 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Atlanta.

More than 1,000 guests, including heads of the more than 32 member denominations and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford are expected to attend.

The banquet is being co-chaired by Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and philanthropist Michael Carlos.

The event marks the 40th anniversary of Archbishop Iakovos’ election as bishop and his appointment as representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch to the ecumenical movement.

The purpose of the event is to raise funds to honor the archbishop with a $10 million endowment in his name which will be used by the NCC and WCC Faith and Order Commissions to promote Christian unity.

The list of endowment committee members includes Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston, Father Theodore Hesburgh, former president of Notre Dame University, both of whom are scheduled to attend the event, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin of Chicago and Archbishop Rembert G. Weakland, OSB of Milwaukee.

As the archbishop nears retirement the endowment fund is an effort to show appreciation for his contributions, according to Neal Ponder, Jr., a member of the planning committee who is active in ecumenical efforts in the Atlanta area.

While the Faith and Order Commissions which will oversee the endowment are concerned with theological questions, the endowment will impact world peace, according to Brother Jeffrey Gros, FSC, associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB).

“In a sense tensions between Christians have their political and social consequences,” Brother Gros said, citing hostilities in Northern Ireland and Bosnia. “You don’t separate mission and action from theological work anymore than you can separate ethical life from ecclesial life.”

Brother Gros said the proceeds from the endowment will bring together scholars and theologians to produce documents which will lead to the healing of divisions in the churches.

“Funds will be needed for translation, education and dissemination of the progress that has been made in such a way as to move forward the reconciliation of Christians around the globe,” Brother Gros continued.

“It is a massive undertaking to heal the divisions of the past and bring reconciliation to the present on behalf of a common future.”

Archbishop Iakovos, 83, was born on the island of Imbros, Turkey, in 1911. He earned a master’s degree in Orthodox theology from the Ecumenical Patriarch’s Theological School Kalki, Istanbul, Turkey in 1934 and was ordained to the diaconate that year.

He was ordained a priest in Lowell, Mass., in 1940 and five years later received a master’s degree in sacred theology from Harvard University’s School of Divinity.

In 1955 he was consecrated Bishop of Melita and in 1956 was elevated to Metropolitan.

Between 1955-59 he served as representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at the WCC in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1959 Archbishop Iakovos was enthroned as Archbishop of the Americas.

Also in 1959, he was received in a private audience with Pope John XXIII, the first Greek Orthodox archbishop to visit the pope in 350 years. He was acting as special emissary of Patriarch Athenagoras I.

In January, 1965, he was a member of the delegation accompanying Patriarch Athenagoras to Jerusalem to meet with Pope Paul VI. Later that year he was an official delegate to the ceremonies in Rome which nullified the centuries-old mutual excommunication between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

He established Orthodox dialogues with Judaism, Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Southern Baptists and with leaders of black churches.

The dialogue between the Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church in the United States takes place on two levels, both of which were co-founded by Archbishop Iakovos, according to Dr. John Borelli, also an associate director of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs for the U.S. bishops.

The scholars’ dialogue between the two churches began in 1965, followed by the bishop’s dialogue in 1979. Both dialogues continue today with the scholars meeting twice a year and the bishops meeting annually.

“This dialogue is the longest dialogue in contemporary times between the Orthodox and the Catholic Church,” Borelli said. “We’d have to say (Archbishop Iakovos) is the major founder who has worked with this dialogue from the beginning. Though he is no longer a co-chair, he is very much remembered.”

Borelli said the dialogue is especially important because the individual patriarchates (such as Constantinople, Antioch, Moscow, Serbia, Romania) of the International communion of Orthodox Churches are represented at the U.S. dialogue since some of their members have immigrated to the United States from these regions.

“Many of the key theological issues have been addressed by the dialogue in the U.S.,” Borelli said. “It is one of the few institutions that responds to the international dialogue.”

Archbishop Oscar H. Lipscomb of Mobile, Ala., current chairman of the Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee for the U.S. Catholic bishops, has participated in the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue since its beginning.

“I found (Archbishop Iakovos) not only a colleague who offered valuable and constructive advice, but a friend as well,” Archbishop Lipscomb said. “In the deliberations and determinations of the dialogue he has always shown himself to be a firmly committed and enthusiastic representative of Orthodox Christianity. At the same time, where possible, he has fostered an openness and friendliness to Catholic Christianity that in spirit and tone guided and facilitated our joint endeavor.”

“He has been a blessing, not only to his own faith, but to all faiths in our nation,” Archbishop Lipscomb said.

From 1959 to 1968 Archbishop Iakovos was a co-president of the WCC. He was vice-president of the NCC Triennium from 1967 to 1969.

While not a member of either the WCC or the NCC, the Roman Catholic Church has been a member of the Commission on Faith and Order since the late ‘60s, according to Brother Gros, as an outgrowth of the Second Vatican Council Decree on Ecumenism.

“Faith and Order has a much wider membership than the World Council of Churches,” Brother Grow said. “The Faith and Order movement has its own integrity within the World Council of Churches. The Roman Catholic Church has been a full member of Faith and Order since 1968.”

Archbishop Iakovos’ involvement in ecumenism and unity did not stop with leadership at conventions. One of the first church leaders to support the civil rights movement, his march with Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1965 has been characterized as pivotal.

“Archbishop Iakovos was one of the first religious leaders to come forward and take a national role in the civil rights movement,” Borelli said.

In 1974 Archbishop Iakovos initiated a major campaign to assist Greek Cypriot refugees following the invasion of Cyprus by Turkish armed forces.

Archbishop Iakovos was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter in 1980, one of the more than two dozen awards for humanitarian, civil rights and ecumenical efforts. In the statement announcing the award, President Carter recounted calling the archbishop to Camp David to advise him.

Archbishop Iakovos has met with every U.S. president since President Dwight Eisenhower. He offered a dedication prayer and officially opened the doors to the Camp David Chapel at the site of the presidential retreat in Maryland during the Bush Administration in 1991.

The banquet will be followed by a theological symposium Feb. 24 and 25 at the Hyatt organized by Rev. Norman Hjelm, director of Faith and Order for the NCC. Friday’s events will begin at 3 p.m. and include a panel discussion on “The Unity We Seek--The American Churches” with representatives from five major denominations.

Saturday’s panel discussion is titled “The Unity We Seek Globally.” It begins at 9 a.m. and features religious leaders from the international community. A luncheon closes the symposium at noon. The symposium is free. For luncheon reservations call (404) 237-3574.

The series of ecumenical activities will close Feb. 26 with visiting church leaders speaking as pulpit guests in local congregations.