Russian Orthodox Church will call into question the status of Pan-Orthodox Council if convened

In the case the Pan-Orthodox Council is convened on the island of Crete in due period June 16-27, the Russian Orthodox Church will hold a new session of the Holy Synod to discuss the legitimacy of the decisions that may be taken at the Council. This was stated by the Chairman of the Synodal Department for relations between the Church and society Vladimir Legoyda, reports RIA Novosti.

"Of course, if it is decided to hold the Council within a specified time, then, as to the ROC position, one more session of the Holy Synod is needed, which will determine the attitude to the Council. As a preliminary view, I can say that we do not consider it possible to talk about the convention of the Pan-Orthodox Council in the absence of at least one church – and today it is clear that five churches have officially refused to take part in it. This situation will naturally raise the question of the status of the Council," said the spokesperson of the Russian Orthodox Church.

According to him, in this case we can talk about the status of the Council as inter-Orthodox. "The question of the legitimacy of the decisions taken will be raised because they must be adopted with the full unanimity of the delegations of the Churches which is obviously not the case," said Legoyda.

He also stressed that the proposal of the ROC to postpone the Council is absolutely realistic. "We just need to resolve the existing problematic issues and hold it in new terms. Let's wait for a response to our proposal," concluded the Chairman of the Synodal Department.

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