The Sacred Community of Mt. Athos: the ambiguity of Crete Council documents poses a threat to the unity of the Church

The commission of the Sacred Community of Mt. Athos has made the conclusion on the results of the Crete Council. The document was sent to members of the Sacred Community on November 13/26, 2016, but is being published only now, reports Agionorus.ru.

The document was compiled by Hieromonk Chrysostomos of Koutloumousiou, Hieromonk Luke of Grigoriou, Archimandrite Joseph, abbot of Xeropotamou, Archimandrite Elisha, abbot of Simenopetra, and Archimandrite Tikhon, abbot of Stavrnokikita.

The majority of the bishops went to the council in order to “express the self-consciousness of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, and not to welcome and support the ecumenicist position,” stress members of the commission.

“We cannot but note the brilliant attempt to improve the conciliar documents undertaken by the primates and members of the conciliar delegations,” – acknowledge the Athonite monks. – However, some statements in the text “Relations of the Orthodox Church with the Rest of the Christian World” still “allow for a double interpretation and they await a more precise formulation, that the truth would shine forth, the faithful would receive consolation, and arguments and conflicts would stop.”

Athonite monks emphasize that the current divisions and conflicts within the Church “without a doubt contribute to allowing a dual interpretation of the texts of the Crete Council. The ambiguity of these documents creates the prerequisite for interpreting them in an ecumenical spirit and consequently poses a threat to the unity of the Church.”

In conclusion, the Holy Kinot’ s commission emphasizes that “the documents of the Crete Council must overcome their one-sidedness which is due to the neglect of the theological tradition, traced by the modern God-bearing elders and authoritative theologians, who have looked upon the path of ecumenical dialogue as an ecumenistic deviation from truth. Not only the so-called ‘zealots’ but also sound voices seek the words of truth, to find and ensure rest.”

“We look with hope for further theological revisions and more accurate formulations of the conciliar documents,” states the final proposition of the commission of the Sacred Community.