Fr Prof. Ioan SAUCA, (Orthodox Church in Romania), is the Director of the WCC’s Ecumenical Institute in Bossey, attached to the University of Geneva, Switzerland, from  January 2001. He has first joined the World Council of Churches in 1994 as Executive Secretary for Orthodox Studies and Relationship in Mission and since 1998 he has been serving as Professor of Missiology and Systematic/Ecumenical Theology at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute . 

Prior to joining the WCC he taught mission and ecumenism at the faculty of theology in Sibiu, Romania and later served his Patriarchate as head of the newly established Department of Press and Communication with additional responsibility for the Department for External and Ecumenical Church Relations and of religious education in public schools.

Fr. Ioan studied at the Theological Faculties in Sibiu and Bucharest, Romania and is an alumnus of the Bossey Ecumenical Institute. He obtained his Ph.D. in Theology (Missiology) at the University of Birmingham, UK with the thesis on “The missionary implications of Eastern Orthodox Ecclesiology”.

Some of his publications are:

“The Church beyond our boundaries and the ecumenical vocation of Orthodoxy”;

“What is the meaning of staying together in prayer, in worship and discernment of the will of God? An Orthodox approach”,

“The authority to serve in a community of love: An orthodox perspective on authority in the Church”

„Santiago de Compostela - Ein wichtiger Schritt auf dem Weg zu umfassender christlicher Koinonia; Growing together into full koinonia – Orthodox considerations“;

“The development of the Sacrament of Baptism and its practice during centuries”;

“Orthodox considerations on the ecumenical document BEM”;

“Eglise locale”

“Orthodoxy and cultures : Inter-Orthodox consultation on gospel and cultures” (editor)

The Shabbat and the Sunday (in Romanian), 1977

In: Mitropolia Banatului, an XXVII, nr. 1-3, ianuarie-martie 1977, pp. 48-60

The meaning of the veneration of icons (in Romanian), 1977

In: Mitropolia Banatului, an XXVII, nr. 4-6, aprilie-iunie 1977, pp. 56-62

Glossolalia in the Early Church and its interpretations during centuries (in Romanian), 1982,

In: Mitropolia Ardealului, no.7-9, 1982, pp.480-495

Orthodox considerations on the ecumenical document BEM (in Romanian), 1983

In: Studii teologice , an XXXV, nr. 7-8, iulie-septembrie 1983, pp. 521-534

The development of the Sacrament of Baptism and its practice during centuries, 1984

In: Mitropolia Banatului, an XXXIV, nr. 5-6, mai-iunie 1984, p. 285-307 and an XXXIV, nr. 7-8, iulie-august 1984, p. 428-442

The relationship between the sacrifice on the Cross and hypostatic union in Christ (in Romanian), 1984

In: Mitropolia Moldovei si Sucevei, an LX, nr.10-12  / 1984, pp.745-759.

Orthodox considerations on the contemporary Charismatic Movement (in Romanian), 1984

In: Studii Teologice, no.5-6, 1984, pp.400-416

Growing together into full koinonia – Orthodox considerations, 1993

In: Costly Unity, Presentations and Reports from the World Council of Churches’ Consultation in Roende, Denmark, February, 1993, edited by Thomas F. Best and Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, WCC, Geneva, 1993

Charges ecclésiales et vie privée: De quelques canons dans l’Eglise orthodoxe, 1997

In: Unité Chrétienne, Trimestriel No.125, Lyon, Février, 1997, p.26-31

Echos et commentaries, dans Shafique Keshavjee, Un appel à la communion, Vers une symphonie des Eglises, Editions Ouverture, Le Mont sur Lausanne, 1998, p. 87-92

Missionary Challenges in Post-Communist contexts, 1997

In: The Greek Orthodox Theological Review, vol. 42, nos.3-4, 1997, p.539-543

Orthodoxy  and ideology (in Romanian), 2000

In:  Vestitorul Ortodoxiei, X, July, 2000

La signification des gestes liturgiques dans l’Eglise orthodoxe,

In: Vie et Liturgie. Revue protestante de recherche liturgique et de spiritualité 40 (2000)

Eschatologie et societé aujourd’hui : questions et perspectives. Une approche orthodoxe, 2000

In: Irenikon, no.3-4, 2000, pp.359-373

Eglise locale, 2001

In: Dictionnaire œcuménique de missiologie, Cents mots pour la mission, édité par Ion Bria, Philippe Chanson, Jacques Gadille, Marc Spindler, Cerf, Labor et Fides, Clé, Paris/Geneva/Yaoundé, 2001.

Vocatia ecumenica a Ortodoxiei, 2004

 In: Pr. Prof. Dr. Dumitru Abrudan (editor), Parintele Dumitru Staniloae, teolog al iubirii, 1903-2003, Editura Universitatii Lucian Blaga, Sibiu, 2004, pp.39-50

Orthodox Christians and the Ecumenical Movement: Contemporary challenges, 2004

 In: Works of the Departments of History and of Theology, vol. 6, In honor of the 75th anniversary of the eminent church historian Prof. Todor Sabev, University of Shumen (Bulgaria), Publishing house of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Marin Drinov, Sofia, 2004, p. 53-59.

  • L'autorità nella chiesa : uno sguardo da Oriente, in: Autorità : una questione ap-erta / a cura di Stefano Biancu e Giuseppe Tognon. - Reggio Emilia : Diabasis, 2010, 145-159

  • Co-editor, Building Bridges Between the Orthodox and Evangelical Traditions, Geneva: WCC Publications, 2012, 260 p.

  • Witness and Christian identity in Forerunner 58. November 2011, p. 6-13;

  • Mission and Unity of the Church from an Orthodox Perspective, in: Peter De Mey / Andrew Pierce / Oliver Schuegraf, Mission und Einheit - Gemeinsames Zeugnis getrennter Kirchen? / Mission and Unity - Common Witness of Separated Churches, Leipzig (EVA) 2012, p. 209-219;

  • L'Instituto ecumenico di Bossey e il Vaticano. Quarantesette anni di intensa cooperazione della formazione ecumenica, in Studi Ecumenici, Anno XXIX, aprilie-Giuno 2011, Venezia, Instituto di Studi Ecumenici S. Bernardino, p.287-297