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The Holy and Great Council

CHRISTOPHER HILL 1
OTHER CHURCHES, not least members of CEC have been looking with
profound interest and prayer at the planned Holy and Great Council of the 14
independent and autocephalous Orthodox Churches throughout the world
which met in Crete from 20–25 June. It has been debated, argued over officially
since at least 1961, but the germ of the idea goes back to the 1920s not least to
the Ecumenical Patriarchate and the important Pan Orthodox meeting on
Mount Athos in 1933. While it may not result in dramatic immediate
developments it is the beginning of a global Orthodox synodical process which
all Christians ought to be attentive to.
The last Council counted ‘Ecumenical’ by the Orthodox is that of
Nicaea in 787, convened by a woman, the Empress Irene. This council settled
the controversy about the use of icons in worship by deciding that icons could
be venerated with honour and respect, adoration being for God alone. Since
then Islamic rule, rupture with Western Christendom and the Soviet
domination of Eastern Europe have made it impossible to convene a fully
ecumenical council. In any case the Orthodox only count a Council as
ecumenical after it has been genuinely received over time and by the wider
Church. Nevertheless, there have been important local councils, for example in
the 14th century and a very important council in 1872 which condemned the
‘love of ethnic identity’ above ecumenical communion among the Orthodox –
the heresy of ‘ethno-phyletism’. This is not just a historical point. In the 20th
and 21st centuries the Orthodox Churches have expanded through their
diasporas throughout the world: in Western Europe, the USA, Canada and in
Australia. But there remain competing parallel jurisdictions. This problem lies
behind much of the ferment for the Council and last minute problems. How
does Orthodoxy respond to the culture(s) of the new world? Is everything still
to be determined by the past determination of theology and culture in Eastern
and Southern Europe? Sometimes in the past and even today intra-Orthodox
disagreement on jurisdiction has been exacerbated by national governments.
The recent clashes between Turkey and Russia have meant that the originally

1 Bishop Christopher Hill is CEC Observer to the Council. This article first appeared in
instalments in the Church Times. It has since been edited and appears here as a single piece for the
first time.

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