“When sobornost becomes a grassroots phenomenon, then it will be renewed and open to us in a new way and with greater strength.
This renewed
sobornost will once again help people to overcome the temptations of
separation, individuation, and nationalization (from the word
‘nationalism’), which is the restriction of love to compatriots – loving
only those from your own nation and ethnicity, while withholding love
from anyone else.”
The age of ecumenical councils is over, and we must revive the
original understanding of sobornost within the Church, while looking for
new ways to embody it, including strategies that work “from the bottom
up”, in and through living relationships, said the Rector of St.
Philaret’s Institute, Fr. Georgy Kochetkov, commenting on the situation surrounding the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete, which is scheduled for 16-26 June.
Preparations
for the Pan-Orthodox Council, which was to be the first council of
primates and representatives of the Orthodox Christian churches in more
than a thousand years, have been underway for more than 50 years. The
Serbian1, Bulgarian and Georgian churches, as well as the
Antiochian Patriarchate, have already declined to participate. On Monday
13 June, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church also issued a
statement saying that it “considered it impossible for the Russian
Orthodox Church to participate in the Council in Crete under
circumstances of incomplete representation of [other Orthodox]
Churches.”
“The whole Orthodox world is discussing the convocation
of the Pan-Orthodox Council. It is difficult to say what will happen in
the immediate future, but this really is not the question. In my
opinion, all of the enormous difficulties associated with the
convocation of this Council, the form its meetings should take and how
decisions should be made, are related not just to the disintegration of
church life but to the need to again change the very understanding of
sobornost within the Church.”
Fr. Georgy recalls that prior to the
first Ecumenical Council, “the sobornost or catholicity of the church
was perceived primarily as being ‘gathered’ or ‘collected’ from the
inside perspective, and as shared life in the fullness of the Holy
Spirit – as the ‘unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace’ (Ephesians
4:3). From the time of the first Ecumenical Council, the emphasis has
been shifted and sobornost gained a supplementary meaning – that of
counciliarity. Hence, the Ecumenical Councils themselves are seen as
expressions of sobornost.”
But Fr. Georgy is certain that since
the end of the Constantinian Era, which was associated with the symphony
of church and state, sobornost can no longer be defined through
counciliarity. “We have to return to the understanding of sobornost
which existed in the Church prior to the first Ecumenical Council. Then,
both councils and genuine unity (which is lacking today) will be
possible,” said the SFI Rector.
He expressed confidence that there
is no need to continue the age of Ecumenical Councils: “councils are
gone to return no more.” “Even if the Pan-Orthodox Council takes place
in a week it will not be ‘ecumenical’. Traditionally, we say that there
were seven Ecumenical Councils, for which we can thank God. The history
of the Ecumenical Councils was complicated, ambiguous and troublesome,
but altogether extremely important for the entire Church and for all
Christians. But that era is well and truly over, and we must look for
new ways to express and embody our sobornost,” emphasized Fr. Georgy.
In
his opinion, “we must, of course, begin with local sobornost ‘from
below’, which emerges from living relationships of unity and love
between believers who are faithful to Christ, the Church and each
other.” “When sobornost becomes a grassroots phenomenon and springs out
of the soil of living grace, then it will be renewed and open to us in a
new way and with greater strength. This renewed sobornost will once
again help people to overcome the temptations of separation,
individuation, and nationalization (from the word ‘nationalism’), which
is the restriction of love to compatriots – loving only those from your
own nation and ethnicity, while withholding love from anyone else.” said
Fr. Georgy. He emphasized that “unfortunately, all today’s nations are
inclined to this sort of nationalism in various forms and to varying
degrees; alas, nobody is free of it, and having illusions about freedom
is of no help.” This nationalistic phenomenon, Fr. Georgy reminds us, is
called Phyletism, and was condemned at one of the Constantinopolitan
councils.
“The revival of sobornost within the Church is very
important, because without it there is no catholicity – and where there
is no catholicity, there is no the Church, per se. And at that point
Christ’s gift of life together as the new people of God is gone.
Humanity is now enduring the enormous temptation of rejecting this gift
from God, believing that it has ‘outgrown’ the need for God’s gift. We
point out flaws or sins of individual Christians or Christian
structures, and arrive at the flawed conclusion that Christianity as a
whole does not improve anything in this world and is capable of giving
us nothing more. As the argument goes, even if Christianity used to give
something to humanity as a whole, this era is now over. This is an
utter lie, a slander against God’s grace and against God Himself, and
blasphemy against the Church,” said the SFI Rector.
“But to be
able to prove it, however, we need to change; we need to be renewed in
our understanding, we need to really see the mystery of the Church and
reveal it within ourselves and through ourselves. It is for this reason
that we say that Christians should live in communion and in service. And
Christians should strive – at least strive – to create communities,
brotherhoods and other forms of unity, spiritual movements that are
likely to be more perceptive to God’s will than more rigid church
structures, which tend to be too inert and restricted by external
circumstance,” said the priest.
In his view, “it is impossible and
unnecessary to simply and mechanically continue the practice of
ecumenical or pan-Orthodox councils, because life has gone the other
way.” “If we are trying to bring back the old ways artificially –
dreaming of symphony between church and state and trying to implement it
– the result will be ineffectual and even discrediting to the church,”
said Fr. Georgy. “The Constantinian Era of church history is over, and
the indestructible union of church and state should cease to exist, as
it is something that is not pleasing to God in our times,” he added.
__________1 Nevertheless, on 15 June Patriarch Irinej confirmed that the Serbian delegation would attend the Council in order to “contribute” to ensuring its consistency with “the criteria and standards that have historically characterised authentic Orthodox councils”.