Press Release
By the Grace of God, the Genuine Orthodox Churches of Greece, Russia (the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), and Romania held a major Inter-Orthodox Consultation, in which a total of forty one persons—Hierarchs, Presbyters, Deacons and lay representatives—participated.
The Consultation took place in Acharnai, Attica (near Athens) on Thursday, May 13/26, 2016, at the invitation of His Beatitude, Archbishop Kallinikos of Athens and all Greece, and lasted from 10 a.m. until 7 p.m.
[Program] [Archbishop's Opening Address]
Among those in attendance were His Eminence, Metropolitan Agafangel, First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, from Ukraine, Archbishop Georgiy of Chişinău (Kishinyov), from Moldova (Russian Orthodox Church Abroad), and three Hierarchs from Romania: Their Graces, Bishops Sofronie of Suceava, Glicherie of Iaşi, and Evloghie of Sibiu.
The following Hierarchs from the Church of the Genuine Orthodox Christians of Greece were present: Their Eminences, Metropolitans Gerontios of Piræus and Salamis, Chrysostomos of Attica and Boeotia, Gregory of Thessalonike, Photios of Demetrias, Moses of Toronto, Demetrios of America, and Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle; Their Eminences, Bishops Ambrose of Philippi, Silvano of Luni, and Auxentios of Etna and Portland; and Their Graces, Bishops Ambrose of Methone and Klemes of Gardikion. The remaining Metropolises and Dioceses of Greece and abroad were represented by their Locum Tenentes and by clergy and laity.
The Secretariat of the Consultation consisted of Their Eminences, Metropolitans Photios of Demetrias and Cyprian of Oropos and Phyle and His Grace, Bishop Klemes of Gardikion.
The aim of the Consultation was to study and deliberate broadly on two important documents, on which full agreement was reached:
a) “The Confession of Faith of the Genuine Orthodox Christian,” with a view to its adoption as a common inter-Orthodox declaration against Ecumenism, [HERE] or [HERE]
and
b) “True Orthodoxy in Opposition to the Heresy of Syncretistic Ecumenism.” [HERE]
These documents, which will soon be published, and especially the second, bear directly on the so-called Great Synod of the Ecumenists, which is due to convene in Crete at Holy Pentecost (June 6/19, 2016).
The Inter-Orthodox Consultation was distinctly and profoundly aware that it was preparing the ground for a Major Pan-Orthodox Synod of Genuine Orthodoxy, which will deal, on the basis of Synodal Tradition, with the pan-heresy of Syncretistic Ecumenism.
At the Consultation, the Hierarchs examined the reasons for which, one way or another, it is impossible to regard the upcoming convocation of the Synod of the Ecumenists as “Great and Holy,” and they were presented with an historical retrospective, charting the course of the apostasy of the so-called Ecumenical Movement, which made its appearance at the beginning of the twentieth century, went through numerous stages, and by now, in our days, has reached its zenith.
This historic and extremely important Inter-Orthodox Consultation was conducted in an atmosphere of mutual respect, mutual understanding, and concord, and in a spirit of peace, unalloyed zeal, and love in Christ.
From the Secretariat of the Inter-Orthodox Consultation