To the reverend clergy and pious faithful people of our Holy Metropolis 

Dear Fathers and brethren, ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΑΝΕΣΤΗ! CHRIST IS RISEN!

Certainly you have been informed that beginning on the Sunday of Pentecost for some ten days the so-named Holy and Great Synod will take place in Crete. This is a Pan-Orthodox Synod: in other words, all the autocephalous Orthodox Churches will participate, represented by hierarchs and headed by their leaders, that is to say their Patriarchs and Archbishops. Some have called it an “Ecumenical Synod,” although recently in particular, for certain reasons, they have avoided this title.

A Synod of this magnitude is unique for the second millennium, that is; it is the only one after the break of Rome from the unity of the other Churches – namely, from the body of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church – as we confess in the Creed. The importance of this Synod and the high hopes and expectations concerning it can be readily be perceived. 

Therefore I consider it my pastoral responsibility to address you, to inform you of its ethos and its significance, since the laity («ο λαός» – the people) according to our ecclesiastical tradition is not a mere spectator of events, but participates through prayer, dialogue and with its healthy responses to the life of the Church.

A Synod of this dimension is convened in the name of the Tri-une God, chiefly for spiritual purposes, in order to unite the body of the faithful, to support them, to indicate the road of truth, to heal their perplexities and at the same time to bear witness to the contemporary world in the context of her sacred mission, that is; to reveal the one truth of God “to all nations” according to the exhortation of the Lord (Mt 28:19). This is to be done supported by the Holy Gospels, interpreted correctly, and according to the Holy Tradition of previous Synods, and the teachings of the Holy Fathers, and of course – with reference to the problems of the modern age. 

It is immediately obvious that the findings of this kind of Synod must be crystal-clear, very powerful, prophetic and inspired by God. It is as though God Himself opens His mouth to speak after a thousand years of Synodical silence and at that; to a “warped and crooked generation” (Deut. 32:5), a generation that is: full of confusion, compromises, dead ends, delusions and heresies, in denial, full of atheistic madness, a generation which overthrows  basic timeless values. There is a threat from all sides to the human being, in an age of worldwide insecurity, where technology has super strength; digital imprisonment; co-ordinated insults against God; mass destruction of ancient civilizations; the violent uprooting of peoples from their historical roots; and apocalyptical persecutions of Christians.

The voice of the Church must be “the rush of many waters” (Ps 29:3) or “the sound of great waterfalls” (Ps 42:7) – it must rattle the world! …and resurrect dead lives. If we are not ready for something like this – perhaps then it might be better for us to wait, even at the last moment – to postpone the Synod for a later time. 

For 400 bishops merely to be photographed together in Crete with conventional smiles, having previously said nothing, or having signed texts without the blood of truth or the water of life, without the razor-sharp edge of spiritual speech or reason, with meaningless theological formalities that camouflage the truth and over-adorn materialistic-reality, all this would not only render the Synod meaningless, but more importantly would damage the integral prestige of the Orthodox witness now and for ever.

The Synod must take place only if it has something to say and to show so powerfully that it will resurrect all our hopes, enlighten our darkness, negate the suspicions of politicians and the egoistic expediency of our times – even of ecclesial leaders. The whole world thirsts for truth, hope, light, strength, life and authenticity. This is what is missing in our age. We are congested by lies, compromises, mediocrity, suspicious expediency, dead religions, faith without substance, religious fanaticism without substance, shallow and ridiculous displays and hypocritical embraces.

We can no longer endure secularization, syncretism, vagueness, double-talk, and a kind of theology that is “politically-correct,” the degeneration of the Church from the mystical revelation of the true God and the manifestation of His will into a semi–religious concoction with a worldly orientation. We hope and pray that the Synod will be a witness to unity (which is most certainly not something small), but also that it will be a prophetic message. 

Indeed, despite varying languages and mind-sets, despite our faults and human weaknesses, despite our misunderstandings and contrasts, our possible differences and conflicts, the fact that all the Orthodox churches will meet and announce that we share this ONE FAITH (in the Triune God and in our Lord Jesus Christ; the Theanthropos, in the holy mysteries of the Church and of the people)and this common faith; this is what we confess and proclaim: this is great and holy and this is alone what makes the Synod Greatand Holy. 

The Synod’s rationale however, must be God inspired. It must make (as the past Synods did) an impact on history, and impart honor and weight in our times as nothing else has done! It must make an indelible mark on the life of the Church. It will be the voice of God today! Otherwise it would be of no value – His silence is enough. We do not wish to hear the merely human words of contemporary bishops, nor to learn the thoughts of the more educated and clever among them. We want to hear the voice of God from the lips of our bishops and even more from the convocation of our Synod. 

If today’s lay Christians are not comforted, if we are not supported and illuminated, if coming ages do not have recourse to this Synod as a source of irrefutable truth, then why should it be convened? The rationale, the raison d’être of the Church cannot be banal or of half measure or little. And without question, what the Synod has to say and what it should say is certainly no small thing.

In a millennium inspired by theological wisdom such as that of Saint Gregory Palamas (14th century), an experience of unceasing continual worship, analyzed indeed by theologian saints like Nicholas Kavassilas (14th c.) and Symeon of Thessaloniki (early 15th c.), a time of confession and the blood of the new martyrs, watered by the sweat of great ascetics such as Saint Seraphim of Sarov (Holy Rus) and the contemporary Saint Paisios (of Mount Athos), sealed by signs and miracles of the saints up to the present day such as Saint Nektarios (Aegina) and Saint Lukas (of Crimea), the saints of the Russian Church, of the Balkan Churches and of Greece, and of the whole world – it is unthinkable that a sojourn through the sea of the grace of God, and within ecclesiastical unity, would not be marked as the “word of our times,” as to the message of the Great Synod. Today when man has become a biological machine or a mere number, or has degenerated into an ephemeral entity or a clog for controlled thought, how is it possible that the Orthodox witness of communion with God, engraved and documented through historical experience in our churches and in our monasteries, in our sacraments and in our life – how is it possible that it would not to be a proud Pan-Orthodox “bugle call” in our times?

It is impossible to imagine that in this age of insidious and ferocious persecution of the Church, unprecedented spiritual asphyxiation, confusion and “[on the earth], nations [will be] in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea”(Luke 21:25), in an age full of the anguish of the last days, that this Great and unique Synod of the Orthodox will be content with a mere news report, a communication with photographs, bereft of meaning and dry in content. 

This Synod is the only one after the Schism. The secession of the West from the trunk of the ecclesiastical tree has most certainly caused errors, different teachings and heretical beliefs – for which perhaps today’s Western Christians may not be so much to blame – as is often presented. The Synod has the immense responsibility to protect us from every danger of this sort, not harshly treating without pity those who unwittingly inherited the errors, but identifying these with pain, love and theological accuracy.

It also has the incalculable responsibility first and foremost to challenge the Orthodox ourselves to repent at the same time, so as to live consistently within the truth which, by the grace of God, we have inherited (or discovered along the road). In order for others to return, we  first must repent. If we do not live this then the Orthodoxy we confess will be unhealthy (sickly, depraved). And if the Synod does not tell us this, it may be great – but it will not be Orthodox.

Is ecumenism a heresy? Could it be a blessed initiative in some circumstances? Is anti-ecumenism always acceptable to God? Can the Church be One and not Holy and Catholic? In other words, giving emphasis to the Orthodox confession (ομολογία) and notto her corresponding missionary testimony? Could she (the Church) be Catholic without being One? that is; to pursue the unity of Christianity, sacrificing its uniqueness, in other words its consciousness that it is the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church? 

We expect this Synod to speak persuasively about the uniqueness, actual holiness, Catholicity and apostolicity of the Church in an authentic dialogue, full of repentance and practical holiness to those Orthodox, to speak with respect and love to those with other beliefs and not with overweening triumph or empty sweet talk in order to keep the worldly balance. We need to learn the meaning of “paternal tradition’s esteem” [«πατροπαράδοτον σέβας»] through which our ancestors in Constantinople showed that they were ready and willing to die.

“We shall not deny thee, beloved Orthodoxy, nor will we be false to thee, paternal tradition’s esteem. We were born to thee, we will live in thee, and in thee we will be laid to rest. If the times call for it we will die for thee many times over.”

«Οὐκ ἀρνησόμεθά σε, φίλη Ὀρθοδοξία• οὐ ψευσόμεθά σοι, πατροπαράδοτον σέβας•… ἐν σοὶ ἐγεννήθημεν, ἐν σοὶ ζῶμεν, καὶ ἐν σοὶ κοιμηθησόμεθα• εἰ δὲ καλέσοι καιρός, καὶ μυριάκις ὑπὲρ σοῦ τεθνηξόμεθα». – Joseph Bryennios

If our ecumenism is not mission-minded or prophetic it cannot be Orthodox and ecclesiastical. 

My beloved brothers and sisters, I call you all; to humble vigilance, to heartfelt prayer, to struggle and to repentance, for God to give the Synod His voice and for the Synod’s rationale to be truly God inspired, and that it will inspire our hearts to be resurrected and convinced that “The Lord LIVES” today!

We have so much need of this: everyone does! Only in this way will the Synod be Holy indeed – and not by economia. If the Synod is not Holy, neither then will it be Great. And if it is not Great, then the question why it was convened will be the only thing great about it.

__________________

Shared humbly with my esteemed con-celebrants of the holy mysteries and brothers and sisters in the Faith, with deep respect and love for His Eminence Metropolitan Nikolaos  

 

Prayerfully yours, 

+christodoulos, ierokyrix 

Greek Orthodox Metropolis 

of Atlanta