Archbishop Anastasios of Albania has again called for the convening of a council to resolve the schism in Orthodoxy. The Archbishop had called for the convening of a council from the time the crisis in the Church began. There is however a serious risk in convening a council now.
There have been very serious developments since Patriarch Bartholomew intervened in Ukraine. Bishops in Greece and Cyprus have entered into communion with the fake entity in Ukraine. The Patriarchate of Alexandria recognized the fake entity.
The Russian Church broke communion with some bishops (including the primates) in Greece and Cyprus. It has broken off communion entirely with the Alexandrian Patriarchate. Unlike Constantinople which did not break communion with Moscow (after Moscow broke communion with Constantinople), Alexandria has broken communion with Moscow.
There is therefore a full rupture in communion between Alexandria and Moscow. This happened after the Russian Church established a presence in the territory of Africa after Alexandria refused to reverse its recognition of the fake church in Ukraine. Then there is the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Would the convening of a council change anything for the better at this time? A council at this point might have the opposite effect of what the Archbishop hopes will happen. As long as the war in Ukraine continues, anti Russian sentiment will continue and the State Department will not relinquish its grip over the Greek speaking Churches.
The best course of action is to wait for the war to end and international tensions to ease. A council can only be effective if political interests do not intrude. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union tried to use the Russian Church for its own goals.
The US is doing likewise with the Greek Churches today. A successful council convening under the guidance of the Holy Spirit must happen. But when the time is right.
During the iconoclastic controversy, it took sixty years before the Church fathers gathered at Nicea to discern the truth. Even after that, iconoclasm made comeback and it was not until another fifty six years that the truth prevailed against the iconoclasts.
Saint Athanasius struggled against the Arian heresy for decades even after the first Ecumenical council of 325 AD. There need be no rush to convene a Council. We do not need to risk a repetition of the debacle that occurred at Crete in 2016.
One reply on “On the Convening Of A Council”
I don’t see a Council being productive until there is new leadership at the Patriarchate. Bartholomew has unfortunately been very vocal in his criticisms of the Russian Metropolitan and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, it has cost him his credentials as a fair intermediary. Nothing constructive can be achieved until we have new leadership, the well has been poisoned.