In the summer of 2016 in Greece, in the seaside village of Kolymbari (Crete), a Pan-Orthodox Council was held, where 10 local autocephalous Orthodox churches out of 14 recognized took part. According to the decision taken by the heads of the meeting in March 2014, where Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew presided, this council was planned to be held in Istanbul (Constantinople), but due to the sharp aggravation of Russian-Turkish relations in 2016, at the insistence of the Moscow Patriarchate, the date was postponed June 16-27, 2016.
Eighth Pan-Orthodox Council: how to interpret?
Ecumenical Councils in the history of the Christian Church, there are seven, the last of them took place in the VIII century and was called the Second Nicene. It condemned iconoclasm. The very first Council was held in 325, where the basis of all orthodox Christianity was developed - the Creed.
However, many believers have decided that the 8th Pan-Orthodox Council will be held. But this is wrong, because the "eighth" can only beEcumenical, and it is impossible to hold it, since in 1054 the Great Schism occurred, which eventually formed the Roman Catholic Church. Accordingly, now the name "universal" has become a little inappropriate.
8 Ecumenical Council: concerns of believers
Fear among Orthodox Christians appeared for a reason: according to the predictions of the holy elders, the Antichrist will be secretly crowned at the Eighth Ecumenical Council, the heresy of ecumenism will be accepted (faiths will unite into one), monasticism will be destroyed, a new calendar will be introduced, Orthodox patriarchs will be at worship they will commemorate the Pope in prayers, the fasts will be simplified, the psalms will be silent, the Sacrament of the Eucharist will disappear, bishops will be allowed to marry, etc. In such churches, God's grace will no longer exist, as well as the point of attending them.
In order to hold an Ecumenical Council, all Christians need to unite, but this issue is now very difficult to resolve, and not all canonical churches will want to attend it. That is why the Pan-Orthodox Council was convened - a meeting of primates and representatives of all generally recognized Orthodox autocephalous churches. This includes churches such as Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Hellas (Greek), Cypriot, Russian, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Polish, Romanian, Czech lands and Slovakia.
Agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council
On the agenda of the Council, six controversial issues were adopted for consideration:
- OrthodoxThe Church and its mission in the modern world.
- Orthodox diaspora.
- Autonomy and how it is achieved.
- The sacrament of marriage and what threatens it.
- Fasting and the importance of keeping it today.
- The Orthodox Church and its relationship with the rest of the Christian world.
Ukrainian question
Fuel was added to the fire by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, which, on the eve of the expected meeting of the heads of the Orthodox Churches on June 16, 2016, addressed the Ecumenical Patriarch Filaret on the recognition of the act of 1686, when the Kyiv Metropolis was transferred from the Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Moscow, invalid. And they demanded that the Ukrainian Orthodox Church be granted autocephaly so that it can take its rightful place in the Orthodox family of local churches.
The Moscow Patriarchate criticized the appeal of the deputies, saying that they are not doing their job and behave like a self-proclaimed body in managing relations between churches. Officially, this issue was not considered in Crete.
Meeting format
The Pan-Orthodox Council officially opened on June 20, and 24 bishops gathered there. Any decision was made only after reaching a consensus. It was chaired by the Patriarch of Constantinople. The official languages of the meeting were Greek, Russian, English, French and Arabic.
Metropolitan Savvaty (Antonov) noted that the Pan-Orthodox Council has serious shortcomings and was surprised at the uncertainty on the issuethe jurisdiction of Qatar, the lack of agreement on the documents proposed for approval. But the most surprising thing is the required quarter of a million euros from each delegation participating in the Council. Due to unresolved disagreements, as a result, four generally recognized autocephalous Churches refused to participate: Antioch, Russian, Bulgarian and Georgian.
