CAN A COUNCIL OF ORTHODOX BISHOPS IMPART "ECCLESIALITY" TO THE HETERODOX?
The challenge of the upcoming Great Council
Professor Demitrius Tselegidis
Instructor of Dogmatic Theology
The Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
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{Editor's Note: This is by far the best theological analysis of the
dogmatic errors and unorthodox approach of the coming Council. If you
read only one text on the Council, I recommend you read this.
Our many thanks to Fr. Nicholas K. for his sacrificial and loving-kindness in laboring to translate this into English. }
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Standing here I feel an obligation to publicly thank, from the bottom
of my heart, our gracious host, the intense warrior and good shepherd,
who has been honored time and time again with the reproach that Christ
spoke of in the Beatitudes, Metropolitan Seraphim of Piraeus, for taking
the responsibly to organize this excellent Pan-Ηellenic Theological
Conference for the enlightenment of the Church’s flock, especially at
this crucial moment in time. Because the topic we are dealing with here
transcends the bounds of our local Church and concerns the One, Holy
Catholic and Apostolic Orthodox Church throughout the earth.
It seems, at this point, based on the proceedings and the issues at
hand, that the Holy and Great Council which will soon convene, will be
anything but Holy and Great.
To be sure, we could make
the case that it is only making a show at being Holy. And we say this
based on the lack of actual conciliarity which it exhibits. Primarily,
this is due to the severe lack of Orthodox ecclesiastical consciousness
by which it is ruled. This great lack of Orthodox ecclesiastical
consciousness is particularly and unquestionably proved by the erroneous
ecclesiology which is proposed by the text: “Relations of the Orthodox
Church with the Rest of the Christian World,” which has been put forward
for ratification. From what has been said it is clear that the Council
in question is not “following the Holy Fathers.” Consequently, it can’t
be Holy.
Furthermore, it is also making a show only at
being Great. Rather, it should be self-distinguished as minor, since
only a few chosen bishops will even be present. In reality it is an
expanded Council of Primates. The great majority of local Orthodox
bishops will be absent, without the possibility of voting and unable to
express the dogmatic consciousness of their Church’s faithful.
Specifically, less than one third of the bishops of the Church of Greece
will be present, where as the Church of Russia will not even have ten
percent of its bishops at the Council. In reality, not even the bishops
present at the Council will have a direct vote, since their vote will be
expressed only through the Primate, and that only if it is a majority
of the representatives of the Local Autocephalous Church. A phenomenon
clearly anti-Canonical and unprecedented in the history of the Church.
What we have before us is rather a parody of a Pan-Orthodox Council, at
which all of the Orthodox bishops will not be present. Thus, we are
unwittingly reminded of the Council “according to merit” [ἀριστίνδην]
which took place under the dictatorship! Yet, it even surpasses that
Council in anti-canonicity.
The straight and honest answer to the
title of our talk, “Can a Council of Orthodox bishops give ecclesiality
to the heterodox” is an unequivocal “no.” No Pan-Orthodox Council is
able to impart ecclesiality to the heterodox if it wants to infallibly
express the Orthodox identity throughout the ages, as the One, Holy,
Catholic and Apostolic Church, consistent with the definition of the
Second Ecumenical Council, the well-known Symbol of Faith.
The dogmas of the Church, as believed and lived by the faithful, are
salvific. That is to say they have a soteriological character, because
they express succinctly the Holy Spirit filled content of the life of
the Church. The life of the Church is divine-human and is sacramentally
transmitted to its body by its life giving and sanctifying Head, the Son
of God, one of the Holy Trinity.
Our bishops do not
attend councils, to ratify that which other bishops and theologians
prepared for them and in their absence, let alone to sign already drawn
up statements. This act is a mockery of the Church’s conciliarity and of
the Holy Spirit. Bishops attend councils, as the highest ecclesiastical
leaders of the local churches, to establish (“on equal terms” with
their fellow bishops) the right teaching of the faith and to express the
divine life of the Church, to confront the new controversies and
challenges within the new conditions of life, always humbly and
“following the Holy Fathers.” In this way they act in accordance with
the Holy Tradition of the Church.
