THE ORTHODOX CHURCH AND THE REST OF THE CHRISTIAN WORLD

The Orthodox Church and  the rest of the Christian World

The ‘Holy and Great Council’ in Crete 2016

Preface to the English Edition

Introduction to the Greek Edition

Part 1 - Basic Theological and Ecclesiological Issues with regard to Councils and Dialogues with the Heterodox

1. The Theology of the Ecumenical Councils

The First Ecumenical Council (325)

The Second Ecumenical Council (381)

The Third Ecumenical Council (431)

The Fourth Ecumenical Council (451)

The Fifth Ecumenical Council (553)

The Sixth Ecumenical Council (680-81)

The Seventh Ecumenical Council (787)

The Eighth Ecumenical Council (879-80)

The Ninth Ecumenical Council (1351)

2. The Theology of Perichoresis

1. The Term Perichoresis and its Theological Meaning

2. Significant Points

3. Conclusion

3. The Christological Foundation of the Church

1. The Church as the Body of Christ

2. The Church as a ‘Communion of Deification’

3. The Church is not an Image of the Holy Trinity but the Body of Christ

4. The Council of the Three Patriarchs in 1756
    and Contemporary ‘Baptismal Theology’

1. Strictness and Economy according to Metropolitan
     Chrysostom Constantinides of Ephesus

2. The Council of the Three Patriarchs in 1756

3. The Views of the Elder Metropolitan Apostolos Danielides
   of Derkoi

4. ‘Baptismal Theology’

5. The Second Vatican Council and its New Theology
    and Ecclesiology

1. The Subject Matter of Protopresbyter Peter Heers’s
    Thesis

2. The Basic Views of the Thesis

3. The New Theology and the New Ecclesiology

6. The ‘New Ecclesiology’ of the Second Vatican Council

1. The Contribution of Theological Schools to Research
    on Contemporary Ecclesiastical and Theological Issues

2. Three Basic Issues in Protopresbyter Peter Heers’s
     Thesis

3. The Conclusions of the Thesis

4. My Concluding Note

7. The Theology of St Gregory Palamas as
    the Basis of Orthodox Confession and Orthodox
    Dialogue with the Heterodox

1. Depictions of St Gregory Palamas in Churches

2. Significant Theological Views

3. The Letter from St Gregory Palamas to Paul Asanes

4. Timely References to Ecclesiastical Life Today

5. The Church according to St Gregory Palamas

8. ‘Dialogue between the Orthodox
    and Roman Catholics’

1. Outline of the Paper by Professor Anthony Papadopoulos

2. Comments on Important Aspects of the Paper

a) Political Vested Interests and Reactions

b) Lifting of Anathemas or Lifting of Excommunication?

c) The Theological Documents of the Meetings

d) St Gregory Palamas’s Teaching on Dialogue

e) The Theological Meaning of the Phrase ‘that they may be One’

9. Theological Dialogues between the Orthodox and
    Roman Catholics – History and Prospects

1. History of the Dialogue

2. Comments on the Dialogue between the Orthodox
     and Roman Catholics

3. Conclusions

10. ‘Confessional’ Doublespeak, Obscurity and
       Confusion

1. ‘The Ecumenical Co-operation of the Christian People’

2. ‘The One Church and the Churches’

3. Ecclesiastical Applications

a) “The Roman Catholics”

b) “The Anglicans”

c) “The Copto-Armenians and Ethiopians”

d) “The Lutherans and Other Protestant Christians”

4. Conclusion

Part 2 - Before the Convening of the ‘Holy and Great Council’
(March 2014 until early June 2016)

1. The Synaxis of the Primates of the Orthodox
    Churches in 2014

1. The Agenda of the Holy and Great Council

2. Unanimous Decisions

3. One Voice and Vote for Each Church

4. Theological Terminology

2. Documents I Submitted to the Synod of Church of Greece, Minutes of the Synod, and Reports by Representatives of the Church

1. My Proposals to the Holy Synod for Correcting the
    Texts

2. Questions to the Holy Synod about Preparation of the 
    Texts

3. Extracts from the Minutes of the Standing Holy Synod

4. Extracts from the Minutes of the Session of the Standing
   Holy Synod in April 2015

5. Reports by Representatives of the Church of Greece on
    the Special Commission to Review the Texts

6. Views on the Texts to be Discussed at the ‘Holy and Great  Council’

1. ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of
     the Christian World’

2. ‘The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s
      World’

7. Comments on the ‘Holy and Great Council’ during the
   Synod of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece (8 March 2016)

1. The Identity of the Holy and Great Council

2. Theological Comments on the Prepared Texts

8. Proposal to the Standing Holy Synod concerning the Commemoration of the Great Councils in the time of St Photius the Great and St Gregory Palamas in the Message of the ‘Holy and Great Council’

3. The Truly Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox 
    Church

4. The Essential Problems with the ‘Holy and Great
    Council’

1. A Council of Primates

2. Bypassing Great Councils

3. Insufficient Preparation

4. Ecclesiastical Doublespeak

5. The Term Sister Churches

6. ‘Valid’ and ‘Substantial’ Baptism

7. The Mistaken Doctrine of the ‘Ontology of the Person’

8. Conclusion

5. Theology and Politics

1. The Theology of Pentecost

2. Contemporary Theological Trends

3. The Intrusion of Politics into Relations between Orthodox Churches

6. The Decisions of the Hierarchy at the Meeting of
    24 and 25 May 2016

7. Just before the Holy and Great Council

1. The Self-Awareness of the Council

2. Western Christianity

3. Church – Orthodoxy – Eucharist

4. The Decisions of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece

5. Conclusion

Part 3 - My Interventions at the ‘Holy and Great Council
(June 2016)

My Interventions at the ‘Holy and Great Council’

1. The Organisation and Working Procedure

    of the Council

2. My Interventions in the Discussions

First Intervention

Second Intervention

Third Intervention

Fourth Intervention

Fifth Intervention

Sixth Intervention

Seventh Intervention

Eighth Intervention

Ninth Intervention

Tenth Intervention

Eleventh Intervention

The Term Church

Twelfth Intervention

The New Proposal by the Church of Greece

Part 4 - After the ‘Holy and Great Council’
(from July 2016 until the end of 2017)

1. After the ‘Holy and Great Council’

1. Evaluating the Work of Councils

2. Present and Absent Churches

3. Subjects Discussed at the ‘Holy and Great Council’

4. Historical Continuity in the Church

5. Ecclesiological Concerns

6. My Interventions

2. Why I did not Sign the Text ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’

3. Theology and Confession

4. Report on Public Discussion about the Council of
   Crete

5. The Decisions of the Hierarchy of the Church of
    Greece on the ‘Holy and Great Council’ and their
    Fate

1. The Basic Points of the Hierarchy’s Decisions

2. The Encyclical of the Standing Holy Synod

3. Texts that were Amended

a) ‘The Mission of the Orthodox Church in Today’s
     World’

b) ‘Autonomy and the Means by which it is Proclaimed’

c) ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’

4. The Encyclical of the ‘Holy and Great Council’

5. Conclusions

6. Intervention at the Extraordinary Synod of the Hierarchy of the Church of Greece,
    23-24 November 2016

7. The Church of Greece at the ‘Holy and Great
    Council’ of Crete

1. The Preparation of our Church for the Council

a) The Presentation by His Eminence Metropolitan Chrysostom of Messinia

b) The Reports of the Special Inter-Orthodox Commission to Review the Texts of the Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox Conferences

2. The New Proposal by our Church for the Orthodox Church and the Rest of the Christian World

a) Unsound Arguments for Using the Term Church for Heterodox Groups

b) The Anti-Orthodox Theory of Heterodox Churches

Conclusion

8. The History of Paragraph 6 of the Text
   ‘Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World’

1. The Text and the Report by the Secretary of the Commission

2. The Discussion between Representatives of the Orthodox Churches

3. The Text Takes Shape

4. The Gradual Transition from Ontological-Actual-Historical Existence to Historical Name

5. Realism and Nominalism in Ecclesiology

6. General Comments

7. Appendix

a) In the Text ‘Strictness and Economy’, as presented
    by Metropolitan Chrysostom of Myra

b) In the Text of the Third Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox
    Conference 1986

c) In the Text of the Synaxis of the Primates

   (January 2016), as Proposed by the Fifth Pre-Conciliar

   Pan-Orthodox Conference

d) In the Final Text of the Decision of the Council of
    Crete (June 2016)

9. Charismatic and Canonical Boundaries of the
    Church: Pentecost and Divine Eucharist

1. Charismatic and Canonical Boundaries of the Church

2. Pentecost and Church according to Sacred Hymnography

3. Communion between Christians in the Sacrament of the Divine Eucharist

4. The Divine Eucharist in Apostolic Times

a) The Divine Eucharist in the First Church Community

    in Jerusalem, according to the Acts of the Apostles

b) The Charismatic Church of Corinth

5. ‘All Truth’ is the Church as the Body of Christ

10. The Term Churches as a ‘Technical Term’

1. What is Meant by a ‘Technical Term’?

2. ‘Technical Terms’ in Confessional Texts

3. Things and Names, with Reference to the Terms Church and Churches

4. Definition, Apophaticism and Definition by Others

5. A ‘Technical Term’ Used as a Substantive Term

11. The Theology of the Person at the ‘Holy and Great
      Council’ and the Pre-Conciliar Conferences
     (History and Exposition of the Subject)

1. The 1986 Text and the 2016 Text

2. Discussion at the Fifth Pre-Conciliar Pan-Orthodox
      Conference about the ‘Human Person’

3. Person and Individual

4. Observations by the Holy Synod of the Russian
     Orthodox Church Outside Russia

5. Discussion at the ‘Holy and Great Council’

6. The Person in Contemporary Theology and Patristic Theology

7. Conclusion

12. The Terminology of the ‘Holy and Great Council’

1. ‘Human Person’

2. ‘Episcopal Assemblies’

3. ‘The So-Called Heterodox Churches and Confessions’

4. ‘Divine-Human Communion in the Image of the Holy Trinity’

5. Councils ‘of Universal Authority’

13. Briefing on the ‘Holy and Great Council’ of the
     Orthodox Church

1. My Personal Involvement with the Council of Crete

2. From the Idea of Holding a Great Council until its
     Birth

a) The Idea of Co-operation with the Christian World
    (1902-1961)

b) The Conception of the Idea of the Council

    (1961-1976)

c) Gestation of the Council (1976 - March 2014)

d) Deciding on the Council and the Beginning of its
    Birth (March 2014)

e) Pains of Pregnancy (March 2014 - January 2016)

f) The Days before the Birth (January 2016 - June 2016)

g) Labour Pains (May 2016 - June 2016)

h) Birth of the Decisions of the Council (June 2016)

i) The Period after the Birth (June 2016 onwards)

3. My Final Evaluations

4. After my Talk to the Meeting of Clergy and Laity

14. General Assessments

1. The Aim of the ‘Holy and Great Council’

2. Positive Aspects of the Council

3. The One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church

4. Negative Aspects of the Council

5. Accepting the Decisions of the Council of Crete

Epilogue

The Church, the Body of Christ, as ‘Eternal Beauty’

1. Summary of the Contents of the Book

2. The Italian Translation of the Book

3. My Last Word