The Stakes of the Synods

[Disir]

After a century Orthodox priests discussed the opportunity of summoning a new Pan-Orthodox Synod, they finally decided the date and the place: St. Irene Church in Istanbul, in June 2016. It was the result of an unexpected agreement between the two actual rulers of the Orthodox world: the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I and the Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia Kirill I.

Today’s Orthodox churches are either national, representing communities on the territory of a national state (first of all Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia), even if some of them represent a minority to other dominant confessions (such as in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Estonia or Albania), or “historical”, representing regions that are formerly Byzantine (Syrian Antioch, Jerusalem, Egyptian Alexandria) that once enjoyed massive prestige in the Christian world, but are underrepresented today and especially exposed to waves of Islamic aggression. There are also the Churches of Diaspora, in the USA by example, where, for many generations, various immigrants of Orthodox confession reunited in rival Ecclesiastic organizations. Precisely the issue of Diaspora will be one of the debate points of the forthcoming Pan-Orthodox Synod, because the existence of several Orthodox bishops in one area strikingly contradicts the principle of unity. Actually, the synod is exposed to the risk of debating mostly church policy issues, meant to divide the influence circles of various churches and focusing less on matters related to the adaptation of Orthodoxy to the contemporary world. There are few chances that this synod would be a reformist one, after pattern of the Catholic council Vatican II, and a conservative consent is predictable. Anyway, the mere reunion at a sole table of dialogue of Churches that lead an autonomous life for a few centuries, without having the responsibility of seeking each other’s opinion in controversial matters, if a challenge worthy of some hopes.

The stakes of the Synods

Twenty cherry picked Hierarchs from each church. This was originally announced in back in March. There sure isn't a whole heck of a lot of excitement.