Tuesday, June 14, 2016

Pat. Theodoros II: "get up from [your] richly ornate thrones"

(Pravoslavie.ru) - Theodoros II, the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa, appealed to all Local Orthodox Churches to participate in the Pan-Orthodox Council on Crete, reports Sedmitsa.ru, with reference to Romfea.

In an interview given to radio station 98.4, Patriarch Theodoros regarded as an historical Church Council that which is to take place in June 2016 on the island of Crete. The Alexandrian Patriarch stated that “the Orthodox Church should be far from political, national, and racial affiliations.

“It’s impossible to imagine that it would be possible in the last minutes to not come to the Church Council, in line with personal aspirations and dissatisfactions related to primacy in the diptychs and the role of the coordinator, fulfilled by the Patriarch of Constantinople, although the decision was earlier made unanimously!” Patriarch Theodoros said.

The primate of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church believes that the Bulgarian Church will not change its decision, in contrast with the other three Local Churches, which didn’t say “no” in such a categorical fashion.

According to Patriarch Theodoros, the primates of those Churches which are putting forth such worldly issues as the primacy of honor, “should get up from their richly ornate thrones and visit Africa, to understand the meaning of the poor and humble children of Christ.” I don't know of any of the Churches not going who stated primacy as a reason. One can in fact read the quite lengthy reasons provided by them all.

6 comments:

  1. http://byztex.blogspot.com/2016/06/moscow-sends-letter-to-constantinople.html

    They've squabbled about chair arrangements, and I think this is the sort of ethos Theodoros is referring to.

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  2. Can we appoint him First Among Equals right now?

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  3. Seating arrangements are important. Primacy of honor is as well. We manifest what we believe through signs and symbols. It's not ego.

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  4. "We manifest what we believe through signs and symbols. It's not ego."

    I agree with the first part, but the second seems difficult to see in these cases. Why not give the first seat to the smallest or newest Archbishop/Patriarch, in the spirit of being "servant to all" and letting "the last be first"?

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  5. Bulgaria is correctly concerned about being seated in an apparently junior position to press and heterodox observers.

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  6. Aren't they all bishops? Why are they seated according to their ethnic identities on the day of Pentecost? What a state of Babel the church has come to! Kyrie eleison!

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