CWN - The recent Holy and Great Council of the Orthodox Church was not a pan-Orthodox council, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church has said.
The Russian Orthodox Church—the largest of the 14 autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches—was one of four Orthodox churches that chose not to attend the council in the weeks preceding its opening.
“The Holy Synod determined that the Council, which took place in Crete, cannot be regarded as pan-Orthodox, and the documents it approved as expressing a pan-Orthodox consensus,” said Vladimir Legoyda, spokesman for the Russian Orthodox Church.
At the same time, Legoyda described the council as “an important event in the history of the Orthodox Church council process” and that the Russian church’s biblical and theological commission will study its documents.
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