Editing World Council of Churches (section)

===Claims of infiltration and influence by the KGB===
It is claimed the [[KGB]] has infiltrated and influenced past WCC councils and policy.<ref name= andrew /> In 1992, Father [[Gleb Yakunin]], a vice Chairman of a Russian parliamentary commission that investigated the activities of the KGB, citing verbatim KGB reports, claimed that its [[KGB#Directorates|Fifth Directorate]] was actively involved in influencing WCC policy from 1967 to 1989.<ref name="active" /><ref name= "gleb">{{cite web|url= http://intellit.muskingum.edu/russia_folder/pcw_era/sect_16e.htm |last= Yakunin |first=Gleb |title= Soviet Active Measures in the "Post-Cold War" Era 1988-1991 | via = The United States House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations by the United States Information Agency |publication-date= June 1992 |issue= 1,1 |work =[[Argumenty i Fakty]] |date=January 1992 |access-date= 2015-02-26}}</ref> For example, in the 1983 WCC General Assembly in Vancouver, one cited document described the presence and activities of 47 KGB agents to secure the election of an "acceptable" candidate as General Secretary.<ref name="gleb" /><ref>Polosin, Vyacheslav (Chair Russian Supreme Soviet's Committee on Denominations and Freedom of Religion), Megapolis Ekspress, January 21, 1992.</ref> The [[Mitrokhin Archive#Penetration of churches|Mitrokhin Archive]] reveals more about the depth of the penetration and influence wielded by the KGB over the WCC.<ref name= "mitrokhin">{{Cite book |last1= Andrew |first1=Christopher |last2= Mitrokhin |first2= Vasili |title= The Mitrokhin Archive |publisher= Penguin |location=London |date=1999 |isbn=978-0-14028487-4}}</ref> [[Nikodim Rotov|Metropolitan Nikodim]] was a KGB agent, codenamed SVYATOSLAV, who served as one of six WCC Presidents from 1975 until his death.<ref name= "mitrokhin" />{{rp|729}}<ref name= "besier">{{Cite book |last1= Besier |first1=Gerhard |last2=Boyens |first2= Armin |last3=Lindemann|first3=Gerhard |title=Nationaler Protestantismus und ökumenische Bewegung : kirchliches Handeln im Kalten Krieg (1945-1990) |publisher= Duncker & Humblot |location=Berlin |page=1074 |date=1999 |isbn= 978-342810032-3}}</ref> His earlier intervention had resulted in the WCC making no comment on the invasion of Czechoslovakia.<ref name= "mitrokhin" />{{rp |636}} As a result of his influence and that of other agents, it is claimed the USSR was rarely publicly criticised.<ref name="mitrokhin" />{{rp|637}} In 1989, copies of the KGB documents claim "the WCC executive and central committee adopted public statements (eight) and messages (three)" which corresponded to its own political direction.<ref name="mitrokhin" />{{rp |637}} Appeals from suffering dissidents both from within the Russian Orthodox Church and Protestants were ignored in 1983.<ref name="mitrokhin" />{{rp|647–8}}  Metropolitan Aleksi Ridiger of Tallinn and Estonia was repeatedly alleged to be a KGB agent codenamed DROZDOV, who in 1988 was awarded an honorary citation for services to the KGB by its chairman.<ref name="mitrokhin" />{{rp |650}}<ref>{{Cite news| first = Felix | last = Corley |title= Patriarch Alexy II: Priest who stayed close to the Kremlin while guiding the Russian Orthodox Church into the post-Soviet era |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/patriarch-alexy-ii-priest-who-stayed-close-to-the-kremlin-while-guiding-the-russian-orthodox-church-into-the-postsoviet-era-1054454.html|work=[[The Independent]] |date=8 December 2008 |access-date=2008-12-06 |location= London|url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20081207082812/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/patriarch-alexy-ii-priest-who-stayed-close-to-the-kremlin-while-guiding-the-russian-orthodox-church-into-the-postsoviet-era-1054454.html|archive-date=2008-12-07}}</ref><ref name="CWNrep">{{cite web |url=http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=13868 |title=Confirmed: Russian Patriarch Worked with KGB | via = Catholic World News | publisher = Keston Institute |date=2000-09-22 |access-date= 2015-03-03 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150303223306/http://www.catholicculture.org/news/features/index.cfm?recnum=13868|archive-date=2015-03-03}}</ref> Despite official disavowals, [[The Guardian]] described the evidence as "compelling".<ref>{{cite web|url=  https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/12/1 |title=Russian Patriarch "was KGB spy" |work= [[The Guardian]] |date=1999-02-12 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150303223655/http://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/12/1 |archive-date= 2015-03-03}}</ref>  In 1990 he became [[Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow|Alexius II]], the 15th Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. Upon his death in 2008, the WCC's official tribute, by its Council officers, described him as "courageous", "supportive and constructive" and the recipient of "abundant blessing", no reference was made to the allegations.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/tributes |title=Tributes from the General Secretary |publisher= World Council of Churches |access-date=2015-02-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150227104653/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/resources/documents/general-secretary/tributes |archive-date= 2015-02-27}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/patriarch-alexy-ii-a-powerful-voice-constructive-and-critical |title= Patriarch Alexy II: a powerful voice, constructive and critical |publisher=World Council of Churches |date= 2008-12-05 |access-date= 2015-02-28 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20150227104730/http://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/news/patriarch-alexy-ii-a-powerful-voice-constructive-and-critical |archive-date=2015-02-27}}</ref>