From 16 to 26 June, on the island of Crete
there was held the Pan-Orthodox Council. The Christians have been
waiting for this event for thousand years, and they have been preparing
for it for half a century.
However, the arrived patriarchs and
archbishops were only a small part of the Orthodox world. The Russian
Orthodox Church, the largest by its flock and influence, and some other
Churches ignored this Congress, having disagreed with the agenda. About
the reasons for this boycott, the attempts of the Patriarch of
Constantinople to impose his own game and about the Ukrainian blackmail —
in the author's column in Realnoe Vremya of the famous orthodox priest,
the archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin.
Is the convocation really Pan-Orthodox?
The
'Pan-Orthodox' Council, which finished on 26 June on Crete under the
chairmanship of the Archbishop of Constantinople Bartholomew I, has not
made any sensation. As it was expected in the last days before the
opening, it was not attended by four Churches, representing the majority
of the Orthodox population of the planet, and most of the bishops,
those persons who are competent to make decisions at such meetings.
However, at the last moment the Serbian Church hesitating for a long
time decided to go.
The documents, the drafts of which had long
been criticized by the bishops, theologians, monks and laymen around the
Orthodox world, have been adopted almost unchanged. So, they positively
refer to the 'ecumenical movement', where the searches for doctrinal
truth have long been lost, for the sake of which — and for the sake of
unity around the truth, if it had been found together — it was created.
'The documents, the drafts of which had long been criticized by the bishops, theologians, monks and laymen around the Orthodox world, have been adopted almost unchanged.' Photo: foma.ru
The special
attention was paid to the activities of the World Council of Churches
(WCC). This organization was also established for the search of the
unity of all who call themselves Christians. They loudly claimed
themselves in the 1950s and 1960s, was the scene of ideological
confrontation between the Soviet and Western 'camps' in the 1970s and
1980s, and then obviously 'was contaminated'. Today, you hardly can find
news about the WCC and about the occupied positions — the Council has
become largely a platform for the consideration of internal bureaucratic
problems and the using of grants received from UN agencies and Western
funds. In the 'profile' document of the convocation — not 'ecumenical'
but intra-Orthodox forum — even 4 points out of 24 are dedicated to that
a half-dead office.
Without the challenges to the global establishment
As
though the criticism has not been heard. Yes, one of the documents
states: 'The Orthodox Church <...> represents an authentic
continuation of the United Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church'. Besides,
on Crete they recognized the ecumenical authority of a number of
cathedrals of IX-XVII centuries, where, in particular, were condemned
Catholicism and Protestantism. In principle, all this can be considered
as a claim to unique possession of the truth — but this declaration is
drowning in an extremely politically correct language of the documents
of the convocation. People who insist on a strict confession of the
Orthodox faith could not ignore the fact that among the observers was a
representative of the 'Evangelical Church in Germany', which at the
regional level approves 'the blessing' of same-sex marriagies, and the
Church of England, where this is also being actively discussed. There
also was represented the WCC, in the leadership of which there are
communities, who are actively 'wedding' the homosexuals and allowing
them to serve as 'pastors' and 'bishops'.
The tone of the public
position 'Bartholomew's convocation' reminds the rhetoric of the 1970s.
Quasi-pacifist condemnation of a war, the sluggish criticism of the
global economic injustice, 'the fight for peace', soft environmental
calls… And nothing that really would challenge the world elites or would
induce the Christians to overcome the threat of terrorism or aggression
by the only way it can be overcome — by military force. In general, on
the difficult and urgent problems they answered in general form.
'The real goal of the organizers of the forum, primarily the 'phantom' Patrirchate of Constantinople <> — it is the development of a mechanism to control more numerous Orthodox Churches, particularly the Russian.' Photo: SEAN HAWKEY (orthodoxcouncil.org) — Bartholomew I of Constantinople
However, the real goal of the organizers
of the forum, primarily the 'phantom' Patrirchate of Constantinople
located in Istanbul but the well-known by its tangled games with the
world political and financial elite, — it is the development of a
mechanism to control more numerous Orthodox Churches, particularly the
Russian. For that purpose, they are trying to make such meetings regular
and to declare their decisions compulsory for all, like international
law. By the way, on Crete there were statements about the desirability
of convening similar meetings in a few years or even this year.
Ukrainian bargaining chip
In
order to force all Churches to renounce their 'sovereignty' in favor of
viscous 'Constantinople' they can use speculation on their internal
problems. Such problem for the Russian Church is Ukraine. Recently, the
Verkhovna Rada has appealed to Patriarch Bartholomew with the proposal
to repeal the act of 1686, according to which the Kyivan Metropolitanate
(which, by the way, included Lithuania and Belarus) became a part of
the Russian Church. 'Constantinople' was also offered to head in Ukraine
'a unification convocation'. It was not accepted any decision in this
regard on Crete. However, the Patrirchate of Constantinople has already
declared that they will consider the issue on their own. And, probably,
they already trying to blackmail Moscow: you do not recognize the
outcome of the Cretan assembly and will not involve in the future
'common' work — and we will begin to tear away Ukraine from you. To
succumb to this blackmail, it means not only 'to lose face' but also to
allow the newly created international mechanism, financially dependent
on the European Union and the Greek diaspora in Europe and the United
States, to govern the Russian Church.
Anyway, the Ukrainians also
should not nourish high hopes. 'Constantinople' do not need them — as
usual, someone wants to use them as a bargaining chip in someone else's
game. Even if the bishops living in the Istanbul quarter of Rum Fener
hold in Kiev a meeting or appoint to Ukraine its representative (there
were rumours about this during the Cretan forum), they will try as long
as they can to 'suspend' the situation, control it and use it for their
own purposes. They do not need a Church-independent Ukraine — they would
like to have it under their control.
'Constantinople' was also offered to head in Ukraine 'a unification convocation'. It was not accepted any decision in this regard on Crete. Photo: GOA/DIMITRIOS PANAGOS (orthodoxcouncil.org)
However, the
liberal-ecumenical tendencies in the activities of 'Constantinople' do
not let it become a real leader of the conservative Orthodox world. Even
on the Mount Athos, canonically subordinated to Rum-Fenero, they
expressed disagreement with the 'ecumenical' projects of the Cretan
documents. Constantinople has no spiritual authority. That is why to the
blackmails and intrigues Moscow — both ecclesiastical and political —
must respond with solidarity with those hierarchs, pastors, monastics
and laity who are standing for the purity of Orthodoxy, including in the
Greek and Romanian environment, as well as in Ukrainian and Western.
You should work with an active majority but not with a bunch of
bureaucrats, even influential. It is what will allow us to put an end to
the manipulations, harmful to the Russian world and to the world
Orthodoxy.
By Vsevolod Chaplin
Reference
Vsevolod Chaplin – a priest of
the Russian Orthodox Church, the archpriest; rector of St. Nicholas on
the Three Hills Church, Moscow. A Candidate of Theology.
- He was born in 1968 in Moscow in the family of a professor Anatoly Chaplin.
- After he finished secondary education in 1985, he joined the staff of the Publishing Department of the Moscow Patriarchate. He entered the Moscow Theological Seminary, graduating in 1990.
- From October 1990 to March 2009, he was in the Department for External Church Relations (DECR) of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- He was elevated to archpriest in 1999.
- From 2009 to 2015 – chairman of synodal department for the Cooperation of Church and Society of the Moscow Patriarchate.
- A presenter of the programme Vremya Doveriya on Radio Komsomolskaya Pravda. Constantly published in the newspaper Rus Derzhavnaya.
- The author of several fictions under the pseudonym Aaron Chamier.