Expert: period after the Council will be more important than the Council itself

The discussion of the documents adopted by the Pan-Orthodox Council will become more important than the Council itself, said the director of the Center for the Study of Religion and Society of the Institute of Europe, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Roman Lunkin. This is reported by RIA Novosti.

On June 26 the Council in Crete was over. The participants issued a message, which says about their attitude to the major events and issues of the contemporary world.

"I think it's important to note the initiative of the summit so that this kind of pan-Orthodox meetings would be regular. I believe that real discussion around Conciliar documents will begin only after the Council within the framework of inter-Orthodox consultations and pan-Orthodox conferences, which were decided to set up. I think that just post-Council period will be more important to develop a common position of all the Orthodox Churches, as well as to adjust the document "Mission of the Orthodox Church in the modern world" and "Relations of the Orthodox Church with the rest of the Christian world," said Lunkin.

According to the expert, in the light of today's message of the Council, where, in particular, it was stated that "the Orthodox Autocephalous Church is not a confederation of churches, but the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church", the Russian Church claims that there is no principle of consensus at the Council "are not without foundation", and the disputes around the documents prove it.

The Council was attended by Primates of 10 out of 14 local autocephalous Churches. Among those which withdrew from the participation were the Russian, Antiochian, Bulgarian and Georgian Orthodox Churches, which are home to two-thirds of the Orthodox believers. Four of the Churches did not agree on the regulations of the Council, draft texts of the adopted documents and preparation procedures of the Council.

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