Ecumenical Patriarchate Press Office
Under the leadership of His All Holiness
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Orthodox Church worldwide is
preparing to hold a Great and Holy Council on the Island of Crete June
16 -27, 2016.
This gathering of Hierarchs from all Fourteen Autocephalous Churches is extraordinary in our day, but it is also completely consistent with the living tradition of the Church, of the Fathers, and of the great Ecumenical Councils of our one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
This gathering of Hierarchs from all Fourteen Autocephalous Churches is extraordinary in our day, but it is also completely consistent with the living tradition of the Church, of the Fathers, and of the great Ecumenical Councils of our one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
The institution of Greater Councils for the Orthodox Church, following the Great Schism in 1054, are founded on the Endemousa Synod
of Constantinople, Ἐνδημοῦσα meaning the Bishops who were residing
(ἐνδημοῦντες) in Constantinople at any given time. This meant that
Bishops from any part of the Orthodox Church could participate. In fact,
the Endemousa Synod became the fundamental nucleus of such
Councils. Some of the issues the Endemousa Synod addressed various
disputes of theological nature. The decisions of these Greater Councils
referring to matters of faith were entered in the Synodikon of Orthodoxy, read on the Sunday of Orthodoxy.
In the post-byzantine period, the Endemousa Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate continued in the form of the Greater Councils.
These issues were mostly with serious canonical/administrative matters
including: The Sinai issue (1575, 1616, 1648, 1670, 1691); the granting
of patriarchal honor and status to the Metropolitan of Moscow by
Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremiah II (1590, 1593); and the condemnation of
extreme expressions of nationalism and ethnophyletism (1872).
The Ecumenical Patriarchate not only
convened Greater Councils during the late-byzantine and post-byzantine
periods, but also in the modern era. The Pan-Orthodox Conference (1923)
convened in Constantinople under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch
Meletios IV (1921-1923) discussed critical ecclesiastical issues of the
time: such as the correction of the Calendar, the marriage of clergy
after ordination, and the second marriage of widowed clergy. This was
followed by an Inter-Orthodox Commission (1930) convened by
Ecumenical Patriarch Photios II (1929-1935) at the Sacred Monastery of
Vatopedi on Mount Athos. The Inter-Orthodox Commission deemed necessary
the immediate commencement of preparations for a Pan-Orthodox Council
and drafted a preliminary template for a list of its basic agenda items.
The cooperation of the Autocephalous
Churches became more difficult after the well-known tragic consequences
of World War II (1939-1945)—namely, after the subjection of almost all
the autocephalous and autonomous Orthodox Churches of Eastern Europe by
the Soviet Union and its satellites.
The convocation of the First Pan-Orthodox Conference (Rhodes, 1961) by Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras and the subsequent Second and Third Pan-Orthodox Conferences (Rhodes 1963, 1964) worked to promote the proposed Pan-Orthodox Council. The Fourth Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, 1968)
formed a “Secretariat for the Preparation of the Holy and Great
Council” at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in
Chambésy-Geneva. It was also decided to create an “Inter-Orthodox
Preparatory Commission” to submit preparations for consensus at a
regularly convened “Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference”. The First Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, November 21-28, 1976) unanimously
accepted the Recommendation of the first Special Commission concerning
the reduction of the topics on the agenda of the Council to ten, namely:
1) Orthodox Diaspora; 2) Autocephaly and its manner of proclamation; 3)
Autonomy and its manner of proclamation; 4) the Holy Diptychs; 5) the
matter of the Calendar and the common celebration of Easter; 6)
Impediments of marriage; 7) Adaptation of ecclesiastical regulations on
Fasting; 8) Relations of the Orthodox Churches to the rest of the
Christian world; 9) Orthodoxy and the ecumenical movement; and 10)
Contribution of the local Orthodox Churches to the prevailing of the
Christian ideals of peace, liberty, fraternity, and love among peoples
as well as the removal of racial discrimination.
Over the next ten years, work would proceed through the Second Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, September 3-12, 1982) and the Third Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, October 28-November 6, 1986. Through the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission,
the complex matter of the canonical organization of the Orthodox
Diaspora was addressed, albeit slowly, as the early 1990’s witnessed the
emergence of the many Autocephalous Churches from the shadow of the now
collapsed ‘iron curtain.’
The preparatory process of the Holy and
Great Council faltered from time to time during these years, until His
All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew convened the fourth Sacred Synaxis of the Primates at the Phanar (October 2008) to lay the ground for the final approval of the document on the Orthodox Diaspora. The Fourth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, June 6-12, 2009)
then unanimously approved the documents necessary for the creation of
the Assemblies of Bishops around the world which happened in 2010.
At the Sacred Synaxis of Their Beatitudes the Primates of the most holy Orthodox Churches (Phanar, March 2014) a Special Inter-Orthodox Committee was created to expedite the process for preparing the Holy and Great Council. The Special Inter-Orthodox Committee met
on three occasions to finish the agenda and the accompanying documents
for the Great and Holy Council. These documents were ultimately referred
for final approval to the Sacred Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox
Churches. A Fifth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, October 10-17, 2015)
received the mandate from the Sacred Synaxis of Primates of the
Orthodox Churches (Phanar, March 2014) to conclude the preparatory
process even with only eight agreed upon topics for the agenda of the
Holy and Great Council.
Finally, at the Sacred Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox Churches (January 21-28, 2016),
the agenda was fixed. The purpose of the Synaxis was to validate the
achieved preparatory work and also to decide about the convocation,
structure, organization, and operation of the Holy and Great Council, as
well as its agenda. The Sacred Synaxis decided that the convocation of
the Council should occur in Kolymbari, Kissamos, at the Orthodox Academy
of Crete from June 18th to 27th, 2016. It also accepted the documents
of the Fifth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conference (Chambésy, January
10-17, 2015) with certain additions and deletions, approved the Rules of
Organization and Operation for the Holy and Great Council, and
determined the agenda of its deliberations. The topics came to six: 1)
The Mission of the Orthodox Church in the contemporary world; 2) The
Orthodox Diaspora; 3) Autonomy and its manner of proclamation; 4) The
sacrament of Marriage and its impediments; 5) The importance of Fasting
and its application today; and 6) Relations of the Orthodox Church to
the rest of the Christian world.
Over five decades (1968-2015), a truly
momentous task has been achieved, not only for the appropriate
preparation of the selected topics, but also for the reinforcement of
the conciliar self-conscience of the Orthodox Church. The role of the
Ecumenical Patriarch, as primus inter pares and the canonically senior
Hierarch, will continue to manifest the ministry of the First-called
Andrew, who brought his brother to Christ. So now, Saint Andrew’s
successor, His All-Holiness Bartholomew, continues this ministry of love
and service, and brings his brethren to Christ, in the unity of the
faith and the bond of peace