A Message from Mount Athos Regarding the Holy and Great Synod of Crete

A Message from Mount Athos Regarding the Holy and Great Synod of Crete

On this day the 17th/30th of June 2017 convened in Karyes.

No. Φ.2/32/1400 2/7

The 206th Extraordinary Double Sacred Synaxis of the Holy Mountain, consisting of twenty Extraordinary and twenty Ordinary Representatives of the Holy Community, in the wake of the many notifications made during the last period of the official texts of the Holy Mountain - both of its position regarding the Holy and Great Synod, as well as the evaluation of the final texts of the Synod - out of a feeling of loyalty and respect towards our Holy Church and the fullness of those within her, is aware of the following.

Athonite Romanian Skete of Saint John the Forerunner Denies Cessation of Commemoration of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew

The Romanian Skete of St John the Forerunner (Prodromos) of Mount Athos has issued a communique in which it denied the cessation of commemoration of the Ecumenical Patriarch at the divine services, as false information disseminated by the media.

Moreover, the communique sheds light upon the case of some monastics, excluded from the Skete, who have spread false information on behalf of the Romanian Skete.

Please find below the full text of the communique.

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26 June 2017

Communique

No. 169

Because through various means of information, especially on the Internet, there continues to appear news that does not reflect the reality of the Romanian Skete of the Prodromos of Holy Mount Athos, which cause offense and bewilderment among believers, it is our duty to make the following clarifications:

The Ecclesiology of the Holy and Great Synod

By Bishop Christopher of Karpasia

Before and after the convergence of the Holy and Great Synod there were expressed many different complaints and objections regarding whether the text "Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World" corresponds with the ecclesiology of the Orthodox Church.

On this question I would like to offer some initial theological thoughts, reserving to later, God willing, present something more comprehensive and integrated.

Interview with Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos on the Holy and Great Synod (video)

Nafpaktian News interviewed Metropolitan Hierotheos of Nafpaktos at the Metropolis of Nafpaktos on July 4, 2016 regarding his impressions of the Holy and Great Synod. Below are summarized highlights from the interview for those who don't know Greek.

- History and the faithful will judge how this Holy and Great Synod will be viewed.

- It was a joy for me to participate in this Great Synod of the Church.

- There were both positives and negatives about this Synod.

A Reply to Those Who Speak Ill of the Holy and Great Synod

By Metropolitan Paul of Sisanio and Siatista

(An Excerpt from a Homily Delivered on the Sunday of the Holy Fathers 2016 by a Hierarch in Greece)

You heard today the Apostle Paul in the Apostolic Reading, and how he felt that by going to Rome he would die, for which he called upon the presbyters (bishops) of Ephesus and said to them:

"Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you bishops. Be shepherds of the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number, men will rise up and distort the truth to draw away disciples after them" (Acts 20:28-30).

He says that savage wolves in sheeps clothing will emerge, and try to cut off the faithful from the Church. And we unfortunately will easily leave, because we are egotistical.

The Pan-Orthodox Synod and Saint Porphyrios

By Kostas Nousis

The voices against the future Pan-Orthodox Synod do not seem to cease. Freedom of expression is a given. Besides, the disclosure of the pre-synodal texts gives and indirectly solicits the use of this right.

On the other hand, however, we should consider soberly and seriously whether the objecting voices are essential and not affected by fundamentalism, and not necessarily produced by malicious pens. As I write the above I have in mind the recent document of the Bulgarian Church and letters from certain monasteries of Mount Athos. I will begin with the Bulgarian text, which of course in its substance is relevant to the texts of the protests and disagreements produced in the letters from Mount Athos.[1] One thing that seems to strongly annoy is the term "Church", when it is attributed to the heterodox. According to dogmatic precision, this is a proper objection. The Church is one and single, the Body of Christ. It is undivided and unpartitioned. It is identified without fail with the Orthodox Canonical Dioceses. Beyond this however there should be a flexibility in dialogue and in the terminological uses with those we are in dialogue with. Moreover, the ecclesiastical and patristic tradition testifies to the freedom of the Church against words and names and in the persistence of seeking the substance, the truth of things: "Truth and piety is not in words, but in reality," says Gregory the Theologian. "We make our struggle on behalf of doctrine and reality. In matters of reality we are unanimous, though we differ in words" (Synodal Tome of 1351).

The Calendar Issue (Metr. Seraphim of Piraeus)

By Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus

The Holy Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches, meeting in Chambesy, Switzerland from 21 to 28 January 2016 EU, considered it appropriate, with regard to the calendar issue, that "each Church be freely permitted to keep the calendar it considers profitable for the spiritual edification of its flock, without affecting the common to all Orthodox celebration of Pascha."

Official Announcement and Agreed Texts of the Synaxis of Primates Regarding the Holy and Great Synod 2016

The Orthodox Academy of Crete in Chania, Crete

Announcement of the Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox Churches 

(01/27/2016)

(Read text here in English)

The items officially approved for referral to and adoption by the Holy and Great Synod are:

The Location and Dates of the Holy and Great Synod of Orthodoxy 2016

According to Amen.gr, the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will take place at the Orthodox Academy of Crete in Kolympari of Chania. The Synod will be presided over by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, with the Primates and their delegations participating from all the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches. The dates the Synod will be convened will be from June 16th to the 27th. On the Sunday of Pentecost, June 19th, a Panegyrical Divine Liturgy will be celebrated by the Ecumenical Patriarch and concelebrated with the various Primates at the Cathedral Church of Saint Menas in Herakleion.

The Holy and Great Synod Will Take Place in Crete in June 2016

The Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church will meet in June this year, according to the Athens News Agency-Macedonian Press Agency (ANA-MPA).

A decision was made as the Primates are gathered in a Synaxis at the Orthodox Center of the Ecumenical Patriarchate in Chambesy, Geneva, whose work is done under the presidency of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew.

Of course, for the Holy and Great Synod of the Orthodox Church to meet in June, during the period of Pentecost (06/19/2016), the Primates in Geneva must definitely choose the themes and regulations.