The Holy Synod Rejects the Council of Crete as Pan Orthodox and its Texts as Reflecting Orthodox Teaching
The Holy Synod of the Church of Georgia has met and discussed the "Council of Crete." We are now in possession of a summary* of the Decision which the Holy Synod of the Church of Georgia issued at its recent meeting regarding the Cretan gathering.
It was initially reported that the Holy Synod had "tabled" a conclusive decision regarding the "Council of Crete" until a theological commission could examine the documents the Council produced. This is true, however, we now have learned that as it pertains to the Council's organization and its claim to Pan Orthodox authority, the Holy Synod has already spoken definitively.
In the synodical decision issued by the Georgian Orthodox Church the hierarchy of the Church of Georgia stated that:
1. The Cretan Council is not a Pan Orthodox Council, as four Churches did not participate in it;
2. The decisions of the Council of Crete are not obligatory for the Georgian Church, since the Council of Crete abolished the principle of consensus;
3. The documents issued by the Council of Crete do not reflect important critiques made by the Local Churches, and thus it is necessary for them to be corrected;
4. The documents of Crete need to reflect the teaching of the Orthodox Church; this is not the case with the present set of texts.
5. It is necessary for the Holy and Great Council to be held and we are confident it will be and that this future Council will make decisions by consensus, based on the teaching of Orthodox Church.
6. It is, thus, for this purpose that the Holy Synod has formed a theological commission to examine the documents accepted in Crete and to prepare for the future Council which will be Pan Orthodox.
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*This summary was provided to us by a member of the Church of Georgia and is not a direct translation of the encyclical issued by the Holy Synod. We expect a full translation to be available in the near future and we encourage our readers to wait on that patiently.