THE DOCUMENTS OF THE GREAT AND HOLY COUNCIL OF 2016 CONCERNING THE INNER LIFE OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH. DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOCUMENTS’ CONTENT

ANDRZEJ KUŹMA,  Associate Professor at Christian Theological Academy (Warsaw),
Studia Theologia Orthodoxa, 1 (2017), pp.29-38

ABSTRACT. The present paper examines four Documents of the Great and Holy Council of 2016 concerning the Inner Life of the Orthodox Church: 1) The Importance of Fasting and Its Observance Today, 2) Autonomy and the Means by Which it is Proclaimed, 3) The Orthodox Diaspora and 4) The Sacrament of Marriage and its Impediments. The author note the significant evolution of certain texts and assumptions that appear in the documents in the process of preparation. Keywords: The Great and Holy Council, Importance of Fasting, Autonomy, The Orthodox Diaspora, The Sacrament of Marriage. The Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church, which took place in 2016 on the island of Crete, accepted six documents which had been previously elaborated and confirmed by the Pre‐Conciliar Pan‐Orthodox Conferences and later submitted to the Council as official document texts. In addition, the Council accepted two other documents which were entitled “The Encyclical of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church” and “The Message of the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church to the Orthodox people and to All People of Good Will”1. Among the six official documents, two express the position of Orthodoxy and the Orthodox Church to the contemporary world: 1) Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World, and 2) The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s World. The Contribution of the Orthodox Church in realizing peace, justice, freedom, fraternity and love between nations and eliminating racial and other forms of discrimination. However, four of the those documents make reference to issues that are related to the inner life of the Orthodox Church: 1) The Importance of Fasting and ItsObservance Today, 2) Autonomy and theMeans by Which it is Proclaimed, 3) The Orthodox Diaspora and 4) The Sacrament of Marriage and itsImpediments. 

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