Russia suggests postponing historical all-Orthodox meeting

The Russian Orthodox Church said Monday it would not go to a historic meeting of all of the world’s Orthodox churches because other churches have walked out.

The Moscow Patriarchate’s decision is crucial as the Russian Church holds sway with other Slav churches and is a blow to Ecumenical Patriarch Vartholomaios’s hopes to bring together leaders from 14 independent Orthodox churches and promote unity among the world’s 300 million Orthodox Christians.

Bulgaria’s Orthodox Church put the plans in jeopardy last week saying it would not attend, citing differences over the agenda.

Be Civil – It’s OK to have a difference in opinion but there’s no need to be a jerk. We pray that the impending Council, so much anticipated and so long prepared, will bear forth the fruits of the Spirit, the first among them being the Pan-Orthodox unity. Do you expect the council to take up issues that are roiling the Western churches, such as homosexuality, gender issues, etc.? The representatives of the local Churches that wish to jeopardize the work of the Council by further delays should not intimidate the rest of the Orthodox leaders that wish to carry out the commitment to have the Council on this year’s Feast of Pentecost.

In an open letter addressed to the Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I and posted on the patriarchate’s website, Ilia II said, “the unity of the Orthodox Church must first be achieved before holding an event of this scale”. The “great schism” that divided the Roman Catholics and the Orthodox followed in 1054 amid disputes over the Vatican’s power.

Other Orthodox churches had already announced they were not planning to participate as a result of various grievances, including the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the Patriarchate of Antioch, and the Serbian Orthodox Church had also requested a postponement.

Legoida said the Moscow Patriarchate made it clear it won’t attend the council, which was set to open later this week in Crete, Greece, if it’s not postponed. This month’s Council was confirmed by Orthodox leaders in January, but since then different Churches have objected to drafts of conciliar documents as well as to more practical issues including such matters as seating plans.

“In a situation when councils of this level have not gathered for many centuries, maybe it requires more time”, Chairman of the Russian Orthodox Church Synod’s department for relations with society and media Vladimir Legoyda told the Rossiya 24 television channel in an interview on Monday.

The Moscow patriarchate has refused to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council that was expected to be held on Crete on June 16-27.

The hierarch believes that “we should learn lessons from it and understand that the voices of Churches can not be ignored”.