By Theodore Kalmoukos, The National Herald
CRETE, GREECE – Geron Archbishop Demetrios of America, while
attending the Holy and Great Council (also called the Great Synod) told
TNH about his overall experience, about the Council’s work, particularly
the topics that being examined and what they mean to us, the
Archdiocese, and the Greek-American community.
His Eminence stated that “it really is a great experience which I
would say is a great blessing of God for many reasons. The Council is a
very important event in the way it was prepared, announced, expected and
finally realized despite the difficulties and the pessimistic
predictions that the absence of certain autocephalous Churches would
create a major problem, which did not occur and therefore this is a
positive first step. The second is that it is an experience because we
are with priests from many parts of the world with which we had not
previously met, it is the first time.”
He added that “we had three exceptional opportunities during the working procedure, a Vesper and two Liturgies.”
Speaking about the Council’s climate, Demetrios said “we are
experiencing absolute freedom of opinion without limits, without
difficulties, which provides great spiritual comfort. People do not feel
tense, they can speak freely. Nobody has been interrupted or accused
for something they say.”
Regarding the language used in the discussions, His Eminence said
that “the language that dominates is Greek. There is simultaneous
translation to English, French, and Russian and there was also an Arabic
translation but I do not know if there still is since the Church of
Antioch did not attend.” He added that “the interesting thing is that
most of the speakers, the Serbs for example, are fluent in Greek.”
“We have proceeded with the themes of the Church in Today’s World,
the Diaspora, Autonomy, we have already covered most of the material.
The work is moving at a good pace, I must tell you that Patriarch
Bartholomew is chairing the Synod in a truly masterly way because he
listens without interrupting, he intervenes in very proper manner and
thus the whole thing is proceeding without incidents or bumps.”
Regarding the four patriarchates of Antioch, Bulgaria, Moscow and
Georgia, which did not attend the Council, he stated: “the impression
that prevails is a negative one, in other words, we have not heard
anything stated until now, either publicly or privately, that someone or
other was right not to come. Instead, there are feelings of reproach
and also the perception that it is a shame for them to have missed out
on a great opportunity for which they will grieve later.
“The reasons [for why they did not attend] are many and varied and
depend on how the depth and substance of the reasons and motivations is
determined” and added “some things are clear, some were used as
technical terms, i.e. since the differences between Antioch and
Jerusalem were not resolved and there was no possibility for them to be
resolved through the Synod, the Antiochians therefore stated they had no
reason to attend.”
“There were actions which intended to cancel or postpone the Council
because, according to one theory, they perhaps did not wish for the
Ecumenical Patriarch or the Patriarchate to be given prominence.”
MUDDLING MOSCOW
To the question “let’s speak bluntly Your Eminence, do you think that
Moscow blatantly displayed its true subversive imperialist intentions?”
Demetrios replied that “you are not asking a politician, you are asking
an archbishop who is also an academic, I cannot use such language, but I
can tell you that through this situation it became apparent that it was
reluctant to participate in something that is collective, that is the
Church as a whole, perhaps because they would like to have taken the
lead.”
When TNH noted that “their absence also constitutes a sort of
breaking of ties, what effect will it have on the local Assembly of
Orthodox Bishops of America on which you preside? How will their
representatives speak again of unity, cooperation and the like?”
Demetrios noted that “this is a question with many possible answers. A
phenomenon that exists at the moment is the phenomenon of
contradictions, in other words how can you say one thing and do
another.”
He added that “it is a strange mentality of contradiction, or a
mindset of non-consistency, so I will not be surprised by absence, for
them to not come or to come as if nothing is happening.”
When asked, “Your Eminence, allow us to remind you that Christ had
labeled this inconsistency as hypocrisy, and made those exclamations of
‘woe’. How will they appear before you to talk about unity when their
Primates refused to participate in the Council and are disruptors of
unity?” he replied: “That is their problem, and will depend on how they
will look at it. I had heard that there were significant differences in
the stance they held, which I am sure will come forward in retrospect. ”
ONE CHURCH
So, does the Council demonstrate that there is one Orthodox Church, or many?
“It shows that we are one Church and this manifests itself in various
ways. You said ‘shows’, this is the epiphenomenon, if this is part of
goodwill or a belief that is another matter. The language which is used
is a unifying one; it is not a divisive or coercive language.”
As to the Council’s significance to the Archdiocese of America and to
Greek-Americans, Demetrios said “in the past, meetings of an
inter-Orthodox, inter-Christian nature were held with representatives
and that was the end of it. Now, the themes and the atmosphere of the
Council, the event of the Council as a unity, as well as the occurrence
of the Council with the absence of some which means discrimination of a
possibly dangerous kind, this is very rich material which is usable and
we will do just that.”