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Pan-Orthodox Council in Charnia Cathedral on Sunday (26 June) with the
other Primates of the autocephalous (independent) Orthodox Churches. A
large number of laity also communicated and all, including the Ecumenical
Observers, received the blessed bread. The diptychs (the solemn lists of all the
Primates in canonical communion) were duly prayed, significantly including the
absent Patriarchs of Russia, Georgia, Bulgaria and Antioch. The late
withdrawal of these churches had been a shadow over the Council, but they
had not been ignored. Rather than condemnations there have been numerous
explicit hopes that the absent churches would eventually receive its work. The
Church of Romania had acted as an unofficial proxy bringing Russian requests
for amendments. At least two bishops from Georgia and Bulgaria had
communicated their regret at their Synod’s decisions to withdraw. Unlike any
previous Council the absent and the present had been in daily communication
in an iPad ecclesiastical age. While ultra-conservatives in the four churches will
no doubt claim the Council lacks unanimous authority other churches such as
Albania are asking for the Russian interpretation of consensus to be reviewed.
Underlying the debate lies the recent development of an ethnic ecclesiology of
national churches which includes members of those ethnic groups in any part
of the world. This is the reason for the stalled debate about overlapping
jurisdictions, though the Council’s important endorsement of regional bishops’
assemblies is a step forward. The rules of the assemblies approved at the
Council look very much like a synod in all but name. Despite the absentees it is
significant that ten out of the fourteen churches were present, articulate and
agreed. There have been no excommunications.
The last document of the Council to be signed was the strenuously
debated ecumenical text. The Orthodox Church has always understood itself
to be the one, holy and catholic apostolic church. Nevertheless, this has not
prevented it historically from engaging ecumenically. Today however a minority
of the Orthodox Churches are facing fundamentalism within themselves and
proselytism from without. So there are some who hesitate to use the word
Church of other Christians. On the other side delegates from the Americas,
Western Europe and Africa protested that they were in daily contact with
other churches. After much argument a consensus was achieved with the
descriptive phrase ‘non-Orthodox Churches’. The retention of the word
Church was a significant victory for an open Orthodoxy. While the final text is
less than some Orthodox ecumenists wanted, it is positive and important
because it brings the ecumenical movement into the synodal DNA of

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