Pan-Orthodox Council
The Pan-Orthodox Council, officially referred to as the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church,[1] is a planned synod of the bishops of all the universally recognised autocephalous local (national) churches of Eastern Orthodox Christianity, to be held in Crete, Greece, in June 2016. The Council, after decades of preparations that had begun in 1961, is being convened to address the problems within the Orthodox Christianity, which have appeared since the beginning of the 20th century, ranging from the relations between the different autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches and the organisation of church life outside of the traditional territories of these Churches to moral and ethical issues. Some of the most contentious issues that have failed to be resolved in advance during the consultations, such as the issue of common calendar and diptychs, have been struck off the original agenda elaborated in 1976.[2] All approved documents of the Council are to be published.
In March 2014, the Primates of local Orthodox Churches convened in Fener, the residence of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, and reached a decision: ″The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will be convened by the Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople in 2016, unless something unexpected occurs.″[1][3]
In January 2016, at the invitation of the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches was held at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambésy, Switzerland.[4] The Primates of the local Orthodox Churches and three official delegations representing the Church of Antioch, the Church of Greece, and the Church of Poland, convened to finalise the texts for the Holy and Great Council.[4] Due to the heightened tensions between Russia and Turkey, a decision was reached to hold the Council in Greece.[5][6]
The items officially approved at the 2016 Synaxis for referral to and adoption by the Holy and Great Council are: The Mission of the Orthodox Church in the Contemporary World; The Orthodox Diaspora; Autonomy and its Manner of Proclamation; The Sacrament of Marriage and its Impediments; the Significance of Fasting and its Application Today; Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World.[7]
References
- 1 2 Message of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches §6: «Ἡ Ἁγία καί Μεγάλη Σύνοδος τῆς Ὀρθοδόξου Ἐκκλησίας θά συγκληθῇ ὑπό τοῦ Οἰκουμενικοῦ Πατριάρχου ἐν Κωνσταντινουπόλει ἐν ἔτει 2016, ἐκτός ἀπροόπτου.»
- ↑ Keynote Address By His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew To the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches (Geneva 22-01-2016)
- ↑ Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches (Phanar, March 6-9, 2014) Message
- 1 2 Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox Churches. Chambésy, 21-28 January 2016
- ↑ Last-minute politics overshadow historic pan-Orthodox council Washington Post, 18 Dec 2015.
- ↑ Patriarch of Moscow: pan-Orthodox Synod to be held in Crete
- ↑ Ἀνακοινωθέν (27/01/2016)
External links
- On the Great Council of the Orthodox Church, First Things