Department for External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate,
Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, celebrated the Divine Liturgy at
the church of Our Lady the Joy to All the Afflicted-in-Bolshaya-Ordynka
in Moscow.
In his sermon after the service,
Metropolitan Hilarion said in particular, “Today we are facing the
prospect of convocation of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox
Church.
There have been many disputes and bewilderments around it. And
tomorrow the Holy Synod is to decide at its session whether our Church
will or will not participate in this Council.
“It has
happened so that the preparation of the Pan-Orthodox Council has been
carried out for 55 years. However, it was not an interrupted process
half a century long as at times the Council was prepared, at the other
time the preparation came to a standstill, then it began to be prepared
again. And the closer we are approaching the Council the clearer we see
that there is no unanimity and conformity of opinions on some issues
among the Churches. Thank God, these are not theological issues – there
is no heresy today for which an Ecumenical Council should be convened.
All the heresies were rejected and overcome with the help of God by the
fathers of the seven Ecumenical Councils. However, there are various
questions posed by the Church and answers are to be given to them. And
we see that the absence of unanimity has already led to the situation in
which three out of the fourteen generally recognized Local Churches
have refused to attend the Council. These are the Churches of Antioch,
Bulgaria and, recently, Georgia. So now we have to decide whether we
will or will not participate. It is a crucial decision that to a great
extend determines the further destiny of the Orthodox Church: whether we
will live in peace and harmony or in conflicts, disputes and quarrels
with other Local Churches.
“We know that the Holy
Spirit has always worked and will work in the history of the Church. And
we believe that the Holy Spirit will prompt the right decision to us.
We know that if the Council is convened to affirm the Orthodox faith in
one mind and one heart, then everyone will assemble and no one will
refuse to come. If it happens so that Churches, one after another,
refuse to attend, it means that something has happened in preparing the
Council, which has made everyone to become vigilant and reflect on
whether we can now, at this stage in church life, make with one mind and
heart decisions on the questions on the agenda.
“Throughout
the 55 years of preparations for the Pan-Orthodox Council, we have
affirmed that it should be a factor of the unity of the Church and by no
means become a cause of division. If we feel that the preparation has
not yet been completed, that some questions have not yet been clarified,
then it would be better to postpone this Council rather than to conduct
it in haste and especially without the participation of several Local
Churches. A Council cannot be pan-Orthodox if a particular Local Church
does not attend it, the more so that there are already three such Local
Churches.
“All this is to be thought over and
considered tomorrow after praying to God and asking the Holy Spirit to
help us in making the right decisions. But whatever decision may be
made, we know that the Holy Spirit always guides His Church, that the
people of God are the guardians of the Orthodox faith, that the Supreme
Authority of the Church is installed by God to be custodians of church
unity. Therefore, we will calmly accept this or that decision with
prayer to God and will hope that the Church will continue living and
developing, as the Lord Himself said about it: I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Mt. 16:18)”.
DECR Communication Service