Posted on 06/20/2016 4:01:22 PM PDT by NRx
June 20, 2016
In addition to discussing the six documents prepared beforehand at previous conferences, participants at the ongoing council, begun yesterday on the Great Feast of Pentecost on the island of Crete, are also to deliberate over and publish the official "Message" of the council.
A draft of the document covers an array of topics including the questions of remarriage and marriage to non-Orthodox, the oneness and unity of the Church in the holy Eucharist, the importance of the Patristic Tradition, and the Church's vision of conciliarity which places no one bishop over all others, among other matters, according to a source familiar with the document.
While the document mainly "states the obvious" on such topics in terms that all the Local Churches can agree on, the draft document, in large part prepared by theologians of the Greek and Serbian Churches, does contain some more noteworthy passages.
In it, the current gathering is referred to as a preparatory council for a further series of councils, rather than a one-time event, noting that the absence of four Local Churches is properly speaking the failure of all involved, and that the issues preventing certain Churches from participating in the current council are to be resolved before the convening of the next, that all might attend in good conscience.
Notably, the draft document currently under consideration also recognizes as ecumenical the Photian Council of 879-880, already sometimes referred to as the Eighth Ecumenical Council, which condemned the Latin addition of the Filioque into the Nicene Creed; the hesychast councils of Constantinople held between 1341 and 1351, already sometimes collectively referred to as the Ninth Ecumenical Council, which upheld the distinction between the essence and energies of God and man's ability to commune with these energies; the 1642 Council of Iași (Jassy) which countered certain Catholic and Protestant heresies which had exercised some degree of influence on Orthodox theology; and the 1672 Council of Jerusalem which refuted Calvinism and also rejected the Filioque.
Regarding these councils, the document especially notes their statements against Western scholasticism and the imbalanced emphasis on reason as obstacles to unity, and in light of the Councils of Iași and Jerusalem, states that the Catholic and Protestant confessions in no way make up a part of the Church, while avoiding the use of the word "heretic."
The overall atmosphere at the current council is one of a favorable impression of the document, according to the source. However, it is as yet a draft document and it remains to be seen what precise message the participating bishops and Churches will release.
20 / 06 / 2016
This is all light on very important details. Very few in the Church have held the latter two synods to be OEcumenical in nature while the 8th and 9th Councils have been received as great Councils (though not all call them Ecumenical) and their teachings are considered dogmatic. That said, what I am reading is hugely encouraging.
Let us pray for the success of this preliminary meeting and future meetings of a Great and Holy Council of the Church.
Ping
> their teachings are considered dogmatic
Dogma, when based on facts, can be educational. It’s when opinions expressed as fact become vague that leads to division.
It’s good that the Serbs are involved!
We celebrated Pentecost in our OCA parish yesterday, and have started praying for the Council in the Divine Liturgy!
One can hardly call this an “Ecumenical Council” with two of the five of the Pentapatriachates absent (Antioch and Moscow), plus the autocephalus churches of Bulgaria and Georgia.
The Patriarch of Constantinople sounds dangerously like an “Eastern Pope” when he asserts that this Council will be binding on all Orthodox, whether or not they are represented in its deliberations.
If the posted material is correct, then the EP would seem to be backing away from claims that this meeting is a Great Council of the Church. It is being called a preliminary meeting, with the expectation that the issues keeping some of the churches away will be resolved before the Great Council actually meets.
Of course this is all based on a somewhat vague report. So we will see. But I hope it is true.
The Serbian Orthodox Patriarchate said that it would stand up for all the Local Churches not present at the Council, and that the Council must eventually continue with all represented:
http://www.spc.rs/eng/communique_12
That’s the main reason I said that it was good that the Serbs are included!!
The subjects to be discussed at the Council also do not sound like an “Orthodox Vatican II” as many of us have feared!
And Patriarch Bartholomew is hardly a John XXIII.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.