Bulgarian Orthodox Church withdraws from Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete

The Bulgarian Orthodox Church withdraws from the Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete unless it is postponed to a later date. The Holy Synod said that at its June 1 meeting, reports the official site of the BOC.

The Holy Synod of the BOC had held “extensive discussions” on issues related to the convening of the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in June 16-26, 2016. The Bulgarian Orthodox Church’s leaders found a number of pretexts to call for the postponement of the Pan-Orthodox Council meeting and to say that unless the council was postponed, the Church would not participate.

The objections included the absence from the agenda of the council topics of particular importance for Orthodox Christianity “that have contemporary relevance and require a timely Pan-Orthodox Council resolution”. The Holy Synod said that the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches had already officially declared disagreements on some of the texts already approved for the council meeting. It also objected to the rule that at the Pan-Orthodox Council, texts being discussed would not be subject to editing in the course of discussions.

Further, the Bulgarian Church objected that the proposed seating arrangements for the primates of the Orthodox Churches in the meeting room “violates the principle of equality of the primates of the Autocephalous Orthodox Churches”. It also objected to the “inappropriate location of observers and guests of the Pan-Orthodox Council”.

Finally, the Holy Synod objected to the need to undertake “large and unjustified” expenses for the Bulgarian Orthodox Church to take part in the Pan-Orthodox Council.

The Holy Synod said that it had decided unanimously for the Pan-Orthodox Council to be postponed while preparations continue, and unless this postponement happened, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church would not take part in the Great and Holy Council of the Orthodox Church in Crete in June 16-26, 2016.

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