ROCOR: Forthcoming Pan-Orthodox Council Documents Raise Concern

Documents to be considered by the forthcoming Pan-Orthodox Council, scheduled to take place on Crete, give rise for concern to many European Orthodox dioceses. This was said on April 19 by the First Deputy Chairman of the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Archbishop of Berlin and Germany Mark (Arndt), reports RIA Novosti.

The document “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World” is the most problematic of the Pre-Conciliar documents. The ecclesiological terminology used throughout the text is ambiguous. The repeated references to “various Christian Churches and confessions” are unacceptable for us,” said the archbishop in his address at St. Tikhon’s Orthodox University in Moscow.

According to him, in Europe the tension in relations with other Christian denominations, in particular, with the Protestant communities, has increased.

Archbishop of Berlin and Germany Mark noted that this document of the Council does not say that the division of the church, which at its time was the result of schisms and heresies, continues. "We may not say to a Protestant every day that he is heretic, but we must remember this," stressed the hierarch.

The ROCOR spokesman said that the Orthodox Church cannot "just say that we suggest all should return". Also, in his opinion, it is impossible to talk about any equality of denominations.

"It would be much easier to call the forthcoming Council not a council, but a meeting. This would remove all the tension," concluded Archbishop Mark.

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