The Pan-Orthodox Council, which is due to begin on Sunday, was hanging in the balance this week after two of the 14 invited churches withdrew and others expressed major reservations.
As the council neared collapse, 50 Orthodox scholars signed an open letter urging the churches to press ahead with the gathering.
But Metropolitan Hilarion, the Moscow Patriarchate’s foreign minister, reiterated the Russian Orthodox Church’s official view that the council should be postponed.
The open letter came shortly after it emerged that Pope Francis had asked two senior Vatican officials to attend the summit as observers. The officials are Cardinal Kurt Koch and Bishop Brian Farrell, respectively the president and secretary of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity.
In the open letter, sent to the 14 primates of the “autocephalous” churches, 50 Orthodox scholars said the council was a chance to “commence a new phase of Orthodox witness. As the eyes of the whole world are upon the Orthodox Church, we beseech all of our leaders to hear the Spirit’s call to conciliar unity.”
The council, for which preparations began in 1961, was supposed to bring together all 14 Orthodox churches. But after the Bulgarian church pulled out, the Moscow Patriarchate said the meeting could not go ahead unless all the churches were present. The Georgian church also announced on Sunday that it would not come. The Patriarchate of Antioch said it might not attend, while the Serbian Orthodox Church said it would rather the meeting was considered a consultation, not a council.
Patriarchs condemn silence over genocide of Christians
Syriac patriarchs have denounced “the ethno-religious genocide” of their people and called for the liberation of those areas, in a joint statement marking the second anniversary since ISIS expelled Christians from a large part of Iraq.
Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignace Joseph III Younan and Patriarch Ignatius Aphrem II of the Syrian Orthodox Church of Antioch said that “the wound of forced emigration is still bleeding”.
“Two years passed since the uprooting of our Syriac people from the land of our ancestors in Mosul and the Nineveh Plain, following the criminal act which amounts to an ethno-religious genocide, committed by Daesh [ISIS] and other terrorist groups,” they said.
In all, about 150,000 people were forced to flee their homes.
The two leaders welcomed the genocide declaration by US Secretary of State John Kerry and called on other nations to follow suit.
The patriarchs said:“Today, two years after the calamity that was brought upon our people, the decision-making countries and the international community remain silent and inactive towards the ethnic cleansing of a historical people who founded the civilisations of the area.”
Pope dismisses goal of ‘perfection’
Love and solidarity are what make the world a better place, not a focus on physical perfection, Pope Francis has said.
“The world does not become better because only apparently ‘perfect’ – not to mention fake – people live there, but when human solidarity, mutual acceptance and respect increase,” the Pope said on Sunday, celebrating Mass for the Year of Mercy jubilee of sick and disabled people.
Areas of Catholic Herald business are still recovering post-pandemic.
However, we are reaching out to the Catholic community and readership, that has been so loyal to the Catholic Herald. Please join us on our 135 year mission by supporting us.
We are raising £250,000 to safeguard the Herald as a world-leading voice in Catholic journalism and teaching.
We have been a bold and influential voice in the church since 1888, standing up for traditional Catholic culture and values. Please consider donating.