RESOLUTION
OF THE SCHOOL OF PASTORAL AND SOCIAL THEOLOGY
OF THE ARISTOTLE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI
FACULTY OF THEOLOGY
ON
THE HOLY AND GREAT COUNCIL OF THE ORTHODOX CHURCH
Thessaloniki,
18 May 2016
The School of Pastoral and Social Theology of the
Faculty of Theology of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, following
discussions held at its Assembly, session no. 563/18 May 2016, salutes the
decision of the Synaxis of Primates of the Orthodox Autocephalous Churches
(21-28 January 2016) for the convocation of the Holy and Great Council of the
Orthodox Church during the forthcoming Feast of Pentecost (18-27 June 2016) at
the Orthodox Academy of Crete, Kolymbari, Chania, and prays for the fruition of
its work.
After an interlude of several centuries, the Synodical Institution is being restored,
on a pan-Orthodox level, by the “dutiful responsibility of the Ecumenical
Patriarchate as the presiding Church” and in “cooperation” with all other
Patriarchates and Autocephalous Churches, especially their Primates. This event
fills all with joy and hope, with regard to the witness of Orthodoxy in the
contemporary world.
As responsible academics, we belong to a School,
which, through its members, had and continues to have particular involvement in
the Pre-Conciliar process, to this very day. We carefully monitor the public
dialogue and the statements of hierarchs and theologians who move within the
institutional framework, taking into account the official texts and proceedings
of the Pre-Conciliar Conferences. Pursuant to the above, we note the following:
1.
By the convocation of
the Council the unity of the Orthodox Church is affirmed and, in great measure,
insularity is overcome, which over the last few centuries, principally on
account of ethno-phyletism, threatened ecclesiastical unity and troubled the
Orthodox Church.
2.
Thus, a response is
offered to the accusation that the Orthodox Church is unable to function
synodically on a Pan-Orthodox level and that the Synodical Institution, this
fundamental ecclesiological principle, has in some way been debilitated over
the last few centuries, a claim that is inaccurate.
3.
The local Orthodox
Churches are proceeding with decisiveness towards greater Pan-Orthodox
cooperation in order to contend with lasting pastoral, social, canonical problems,
such as that of the Orthodox Diaspora, marriage, and other issues noted in
inter-Orthodox and inter-Church deliberations. As it stands before these new
challenges, which in many ways are currently putting ecclesiastical discourse
to the test, it is of utmost necessity for the primary, Pan-Orthodox, synodical
instrument to make responsible decisions.
4.
Inasmuch as the Orthodox
flock has, at present, spread throughout the world, proper pastoral concern
must be expressed through innovative and appropriate synodical decisions. The
competent pastors of the Church cannot remain indifferent to these new
problems, structures and challenges (ethics, bioethics).
5.
Hence, with the Holy and
Great Council a new beginning is inaugurated, which we hope and pray will
continue. Moreover, His All Holiness, the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew
himself publically announced as much at the last Synaxis of Primates. For many
decades, from the beginning of the 20th century to today, the expression of the
Synodical Institution, as both a theological principle and ecclesiastical
practice, has been renewed. We, as responsible academics, are all obliged to
assist the Church in her work because this is precisely how we express
theology, not only as an academic vocation but as diakonia to the living ecclesiastical community, as it is applied
and elucidated in the contemporary world.
With greetings in the Risen Christ,
we pray for the success of the Council.
On behalf of the Faculty Assembly of
the School of Pastoral and Social Theology,
The President
Professor Konstantinos P. Chrestou
