Monday, February 28, 2011

Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission Completes Its Work

[Is it mean-spirited to point out that the OCA is not represented? No. It is a fact.]

"On 26 February 2011, the Inter-Orthodox Preparatory Commission for the Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church completed its work at the Orthodox Centre of the Patriarchate of Constantinople near Geneva.

Representatives of the fourteen Autocephalous Orthodox Churches took part in the meeting chaired by Metropolitan John of Pergamon, Patriarchate of Constantinople. The delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church, led by Metropolitan Hilarion of Volokolamsk, chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate’s Department for External Church Relations (DECR), included archbishop Mark of Berlin, Germany and Great Britain (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia); archpriest Nikolai Balashov, DECR deputy chairman; and interpreter Anatoly Churiakov.

The Commission, which task was to elaborate questions for the agenda of the Pan-Orthodox Council, continued to consider the issue of signing the Tomos of autocephaly. As a long discussion has not led to the unanimous decision, the necessity of further studying of the issue of autocephaly was recognized.

The Commission discussed the issue of diptychs, considered canonical and ecclesiological aspects, described the current practice of the Orthodox Churches and the criteria of including the Churches into diptychs and the order of the Primates’ names in them and also noted the necessity of compiling the uniform diptychs of the Orthodox Church.

Also considered was a wish of the Polish and Albanian Orthodox Churches to reach uniformity in regard of the place of their Primates in diptychs of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches. The Commission suggested to take these requests into account and to consider proper changes in diptychs.

The requests of the Georgian Orthodox Church concerning its sixth place in diptychs and of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus concerning a higher place of its Primate in holy diptychs were presented at the meeting. Consent has not been reached either on this issue, or on the differences in holy diptychs of some Churches due to the lack of Pan-Orthodox agreement on the number of the recognized autocephalous Churches.

Under Art. 16 of the Rules of the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conferences, documents on all issues on the agenda shall be approved unanimously".

9 comments:

Isa Almisry said...

"Is it mean-spirited to point out that the OCA is not represented?"

Depends on the spirit in which it is mentioned. What the mentioner points to determines which spirit motivates them.

"It is a fact."

So is the OCA's autocephaly, and as Pres. Reagan pointed out, "facts are stubborn things": "Consent has not been reached either on this issue, or on the differences in holy diptychs of some Churches due to the lack of Pan-Orthodox agreement on the number of the recognized autocephalous Churches."

We are all agreed on the top 14, and agree in not recognizing seperatist Churches in Ukraine, Macedonia, Greece, etc. So that only leaves the diagreement on the 15th, the OCA, accepted by the plurality of the autocephalous Churches and the vast majority of the Orthodox Faithful.

"Under Art. 16 of the Rules of the Pan-Orthodox Pre-Conciliar Conferences, documents on all issues on the agenda shall be approved unanimously."

The OCA is already in the EA, and has been in communion with even Constantinople for all 41 years of its autocephaly (not the usual fate of disputed autocephaly). One can be a little pregnant for only so long. I know the Phanar is hoping for a miscarriage, but this baby is coming to term.

Unknown said...

Angela, Isa is obviously an angry woman with pent up prescription grade abandonment issues on a trajectory towards schism… pray for her sanity, she’s obviously substantiate in her own little stratosphere of irrationality

Jeremiah said...

Really? I hope that with Lent approaching, you will repent of such insults being hurled at Isa.
She was simply making rebuttals, and you make wild claims like that? Please change you sign in name. THere is nothing of the Orthodox Church in your statements.

Unknown said...

Jeremiah with lent approaching your hope will go unanswered. If you dont like it you can always change the channel.You're so John the baptist these days. Repent!

Isa Almisry said...

"Angela, Isa is obviously an angry woman with pent up prescription grade abandonment issues on a trajectory towards schism… pray for her sanity, she’s obviously substantiate in her own little stratosphere of irrationality."

LOL. You didn't even get my gender right. I am a he.

As for schism, I'm an Alexadrine in the jurisdiction of Antioch in North America. So if you presume I'm in the OCA, you're wrong again.

I can't make much else out of your rant. I will mention that I haven't seen you post anything for some time on your blog (like a posted here a little while ago, I check in time to time to see what the other side is saying).

Jeremiah, thanks for the kind words, pearls...

Jeremiah said...

I got your back, bro. You might not want to mention the Antiochian jurisdiction. There are some who think Met Phillip acts like the Taliban. (I say that to rib some observers of this thread) I am in the same jurisdiction.

Angela Damianakis, LCSW said...

REPOST:Metropolitan Phillip of the Antiochian Orthodox Church is at it again. Now embolden he has initiated and asserted himself as the Supreme Leader with his Taliban mindset. He has declared that he will set the church agenda making any cross talk by his bishops or clergy an infraction. He has declared the cassock outside of church illegal and has removed Father David Moretti from his Church and released him. Metropolitan Phillip now seemingly unable to manage his own ego has taken pointers from secularists like Ataturk. Metropolitan Phillip and his hounda is on the march.We must remove the holy and sacred from the public square. Rather then increasing our orthodox visibility we must blend and stand amongst the American clerics. We can appear as a good Roman Catholic or Presbyterian but must shake off our cassock. The Metropolitan has redefined self rule and resigned himself and his church to his own irrational understanding. Unity and loyalty are not synonymous with gag orders or the casting off of traditional and uniquely orthodox customs.
All this while Ephremites are attacked for their traditional stances. Wrongly compared with Evangelicals heterodox rather then as being the keepers of the traditions. The Reformed Jew doesn't believe that the Orthodox Jew is polluting the Jewish faith but rather they are the keepers of Judaism. Those who keep the faith and practice it in their lives can't rationally be perceived as a destructive force. It is only through infidelity or disregard that one is destructive. It is when those like Met. Phillip assert that the tradition limits his own reign. His is blinded by his own pride and fails to realize that his legitimacy comes only from the Church and her Canons and Dogma. Only in the Orthodox Christian faith do reckless individuals assault the devout to excuse their own infidelity.
Too many attend church for Christmas and Pascha too many which to dispense with confession, fasting and moral living. Christian living is difficult; actually apart Christ, impossible. The problem doesn't rest with the Church protocol; it resides within the dismissal of what is sacred, holy and understood as uniquely Orthodox. We are fighting an adversary who has been before the the fall and he wishes nothing less then for us to forsake the light unto our path.

Jeremiah said...

Thank you for proving my point...

Jeremiah said...

Thank you Elias, for replying so promptly. Have a nice Lent.