In the summer of 2016 in Greece, in the coastal village of Kolymbari (Crete), the Pan-Orthodox Council was held, where 10 local autocephalous Orthodox churches out of 14 recognized took part. By a decision taken by the meeting’s heads in March 2014, chaired by the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, this cathedral was planned to be held in Istanbul (Constantinople), but due to a sharp aggravation of Russian-Turkish relations in 2016, at the insistence of the Moscow Patriarchate, the date was postponed from June 16 to June 27, 2016.
Eighth Pan-Orthodox Council: how to interpret?
There are seven Ecumenical Councils in the history of the Christian church, the last of which took place in the VIII century and was called the Second Nicaea. It was condemned iconoclasm. The very first Council was held in 325, where the basis of all orthodox Christianity was developed - the Creed.
However, many believers decided that the 8th Pan-Orthodox Council would be held. But this is wrong, because only the Ecumenical can be the "eighth", and it is impossible to carry it out, since in 1054 there was a Great schism, which eventually formed the Roman Catholic Church. Accordingly, now the name "ecumenical" has become a little inappropriate.
8 Ecumenical Council: the fears of believers
The 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 take place (faiths will be united into one), monasticism will be destroyed, a new calendar will be introduced, orthodox patriarchs will commemorate the Pope in prayer , fasting will be simplified, psalms will be silenced, the Sacrament of Communion will disappear, bishops will be allowed to marry, etc. There will no longer be God's grace in such churches, as well as the meaning of visiting them.
In order to hold the Ecumenical Council, all Christians need to unite, but this issue is now very difficult to solve, and not all canonical churches will want to attend. That is why the Pan-Orthodox Council was convened - a meeting of primates and representatives of all universally recognized Orthodox autocephalous churches. This includes churches such as Constantinople, Antioch, Alexandria, Jerusalem, Hellas (Greek), Cyprus, Russian, Serbian, Albanian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Polish, Romanian, Czech lands and Slovakia.
The agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council
On the agenda of the Council for consideration were taken six contentious issues:
- The Orthodox Church and its mission in the modern world.
- Orthodox diaspora.
- Autonomy and by what means it is achieved.
- The sacrament of marriage and what threatens him.
- Fasting and the importance of observing it today.
- The Orthodox Church and its relations with the rest of the Christian world.
Ukrainian question
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine added fuel to the fire, 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 recognizing the act of 1686, when the Kiev Metropolis was subordinated from the Patriarchate of Constantinople to Moscow, invalid. And they demanded the granting of autocephaly to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, so that it takes its rightful place in the Orthodox family of local churches.
The Moscow Patriarchate criticized the appeal of the deputies, stating that they were doing their own thing and acting like a self-appointed 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; 24 bishops gathered at it. Any decision was made only after reaching consensus. The Constantinople Patriarch presided over it . The official languages of the meeting were recognized: Greek, Russian, English, French and Arabic.
Metropolitan Savvaty (Antonov) noted that the Pan-Orthodox Council has serious flaws and was surprised at the uncertainty regarding the jurisdiction of Qatar, the lack of agreement on the documents proposed for approval. But the most surprising 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.