You beat me to this post. I see no compelling reason for a Great Council of the Church and would prefer that this not occur. There are no grave theological issues of the sort that necessitated the previous nine councils. This seems like an invitation for trouble. The only upside is that as long as the Russians are there I am fairly certain that nothing too crazy will go through.
I guess one could say that I have very low expectations for the Council and will be pleased if everyone sleeps through the whole thing.
Keep the dread example of Vatican II before your eyes at all times! I hope the Orthodox don’t get blindsided like that - in other words, a council driven by a few people with a secret agenda.
That said, changing it to Crete sounds like a wise move.
“This seems like an invitation for trouble.”
I doubt it. In any event it won’t have any Vatican II effects. In Orthodoxy, NOTHING a council (even an ecumenical one) says or does becomes dogma (or even a binding discipline) absent the Great Axios of the People of God, the Laity. We are the guardians of Orthodoxy, not the crowned heads!
Were that not enough, without the presence of Rome it can’t be an ecumenical council capable of defining dogma.