SPC to be at Pan-Orthodox gathering - but could walk out

SPC to be at Pan-Orthodox gathering - but could walk out

The statement said that the Holy Synod of Bishops in its broader composition met in Belgrade on June to consider "the situation created after the ordinary convocation of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church."

"First of all, having in mind the importance and significance of the Council, our Church wants, in a spirit of ecclesial upbuilding, to contribute in the way that also this Holy and Great Council fulfills criteria and the measure of true Councils in the history of the Orthodox Church and justifies its title," the patriarch announced, and added:

"On the other hand, our Church requests that problems and matters not only of the Serbian Orthodox Church, but also of the other most Holy Churches that cancelled their participation in the Council, be considered at that Council."

With this aim in mind, the statement continued, "the Holy and Great Council should last as long as these questions have not been considered, and it cannot be a hostage of in advance laid out and accepted rules. Exclusively with the full consensus the Council can be considered as Holy and Great Council."

The patriarch said that lastly, "our Church insists that the gathering on the island of Crete be a beginning of a Conciliar process, that the matters in question should be solved during its working process, but in the spirit of synodic tradition of the Church of Christ."

"In case that the Churches present at the Council, with the Ecumenical Patriarchate at head, persist in the position that the absent Churches without a real reason boycott the work of the Council, and in case that the already present Churches reject to take into consideration all the matters in question, problems and disagreements, the representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church at the Council will be, regretfully, forced to leave the sessions of that Council and in that way join the Churches that are already absent," the statement said, and concluded:

"This is by no means a threat or ransom, but a consequent implementation of the position and decisions of the Holy Assembly of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church held in May 2016."