Posted on 06/09/2016 4:44:21 AM PDT by marshmallow
Belgrade, June 9, Interfax - The Serbian Orthodox Church joined a number of local Churches which do not consider participation in the Pan-Orthodox Council slated for late June on Crete possible.
"Our Church sees obstacles to participation in the Holy and Great Council and proposes to postpone it for the time being," the letter of the Serbian Orthodox Church Synod to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, who is responsible for coordination of the preparations of the Council, said.
Before holding this historical event it is necessary to resolve the differences between the local Churches, reach a consensus and revise the draft documents due to be adopted at the Council, the press service of the Serbian Orthodox Church cited the letter as saying.
As reported, the convocation of the Pan-Orthodox Council, which has not been convened for more than a thousand years, has been prepared for over half a century and has been slated to take place on Crete in late June, was brought into question after the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Antiochian Church refused to participate in it.
The Moscow Patriarchate proposed to hold an urgent Pan-Orthodox Pre-Council Conference not later than June 10. It pointed out that the non-participation of at least one local Church in the Council makes the convocation of it impossible. It also said that several churches and monasteries of Athos proposed amendments to the draft documents of the Council that are in sync with the proposals of the Russian Church, and "require fundamental consideration for the purposes of finding Pan-Orthodox consensus."
However, the Patriarchate of Constantinople, which is responsible for coordination of the preparations for the Council, declined the proposal to discuss the problems obstructing the convocation of the Council and said that it will take place regardless of the refusal of several Churches to participate in it.
Another one bites the dust. . . another one gone, another one gone, another one bites the dust. . .
What are the issues that are driving this?
In the case of the Antioch Patriarchate, it is currently involved in a "jurisdictional dispute" with the Jesrusalem Patriarchate and therefore felt unable to participate in the Eucharist. As a result, it withdrew. A turf war by any other name.
As for the Bulgarians, they listed six objections. These included the absence from the agenda of the council topics of particular importance for Orthodox Christianity “that have contemporary relevance and require a timely Pan-Orthodox Council resolution”.
The Bulgarian Synod did not say what these topics were.
The Holy Synod said that the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches had already officially declared disagreements on some of the texts already approved for the council meeting.
It also objected to the rule that at the Pan-Orthodox Council, texts being discussed would not be subject to editing in the course of discussions.
Further, the Bulgarians objected that the proposed seating arrangements for the primates of the Orthodox Churches in the meeting room “violates the principle of equality of the primates of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches”.
It also objected to the “inappropriate location of observers and guests of the Pan-Orthodox Council”.
Finally, the Holy Synod objected to the need to undertake “large and unjustified” expenses for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to take part in the Pan-Orthodox Council.
I'd call that "trivial"
As for the Serbians, who knows? However, I suspect that both the Serbs and the Bulgarians have been put up to this by Moscow which doesn't really want the Council to go ahead and this is its way of flipping the bird to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.
“As for the Serbians, who knows? However, I suspect that both the Serbsc and the Bulgarians have been put up to this by Moscow which doesn’t really want the Council to go ahead and this is its way of flipping the bird to the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Constantinople.”
That’s very likely with the Slavs but highly unlikely with the Antiochians. Their complaint about the Pat. of Jerusalem is sound and in the Orthodox world generally seen as very important. Jurisdiction and jurisdictional boundaries are ancient canonical matters with consequences far beyond any conception the Latin Church might have. The Bulgarian complaints, like the Church of Bulgaria, are nonsense. In the meantime, Black Bart of Istanbul seems to be way over playing his hand. As we learned years ago during the “Spyridon Wars”, the best way to rein him in is cut off the money. That darn near lead to his removal by the other crowned heads in the Synod. He removed Spyridon and the money tap opened.
If this Council goes through and anything even remotely controversial comes out of it, we’ll reject it and him too.
I see this very much in terms of a power-play between Moscow and Constantinople.
“What are the issues that are driving this?”
This document is a start, but I’ve read a lot more sincere concerns beyond the ones mentioned here:
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