HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL DOCUMENT

Draft Synodical Document

Κυριακή 19 Ιουνίου 2016

HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL


Nicholas Denysenko, praytellblog.com
The Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church is now in session on the island of Crete. Readers may have heard that the Churches of Antioch, Bulgaria, Georgia, and Russia have withdrawn from the council.
The Church of Serbia expressed concerns about the process, but decided to participate in the council. The Ecumenical Patriarchate has stated that the decisions of the council will be binding for all Orthodox Churches, regardless of their participation. Time will tell whether or not the non-participating local Churches receive the conciliar resolutions and declarations.
There is a great deal of literature about the council. Here is one of the best places for updates and publications (including a few posts by yours truly). Two of the best analyses of the drama leading up to the council are an article co-authored by John Chryssavgis and Paul Gavrilyuk and an essay by Sergei Chapnin.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian Parliament issued an appeal to Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, petitioning him to grant autocephaly (absolute independence) to the Orthodox Church in Ukraine to cease the process of Russian colonization of Ukraine. This petition was followed by a moving appeal from Orthodox clergy and laity in Ukraine expressing their support for the Parliament’s petition. The petition added that Orthodox people who wished to remain in the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate in Ukraine should retain that right, a move which would establish canonical plurality in Ukraine and is designed to facilitate peace, reconciliation, and compromise.
The Orthodox Church continues to contribute to our interesting times.